ResEdChat Ep 83: The Importance of Living Learning Communities with Chester Miller

Dustin Ramsdell:
Welcome back everyone to Roompact’s ResEdChat podcast. Every other week we feature a variety of topics of interest to hired professionals who work in and with university housing. So as time goes on, I think we recognize new different topics that we want to talk about. And this episode will be a one-on-one crash course on living and learning communities, LLCs. Obviously, they’re a big part of a lot of residence life, residential education programs, and we’re going to give them their respect and dive in with them.
So just we’ll cover as much as we can in this episode. Then I’m sure we’ll go into more even deeper dives in the future to talk about different shapes and forms that LLCs can take. But we have with us somebody who has a lot of experience in this space, Chester Miller, and you have a very unique professional background, which I’m excited to explore in addition to talking all about LLCs, but if you do want to give a brief overview of your professional background and what led you to be where you are today.

Chester Miller:
Dustin, thank you so much for having me. Good morning. My name is Chester Miller. I serve as director for Residential Learning at North Carolina State University here in Raleigh, North Carolina. I have over 20 plus years of experience in higher education, specifically within housing and a unique background where I spent some time in private industry working at IBM here in Research Triangle Park. Started my career at North Carolina A&T so I have the small historically Black college and university experience where I began working in housing as well as I started a PhD program in computer and electrical engineering. I did not finish that program because I discovered my love for working with students outside of the classroom, particularly helping North Carolina A&T State University formalize their Living Learning Program there, working specifically with the first-year engineering students, and that’s where I got my love for working with students outside of the classroom.
It was an impactful experience for me. From there, I spent roughly five years at North Carolina, A&T and a position opened up here at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and I’ve been here ever since. So coming up in August of this year, I will have served here at North Carolina State for 17 years. All in housing first, working on the Res Life side, supporting students in the community as an assistant director for our apartments community, working tangentially with our Living Learning Programs back then. After a housing program review in 2016, an external review of our program, we created a position as of living and learning initiatives in 2017. And I was fortunate enough to transition into that role where I’ve spent the last eight years, if you will, formalizing and standardizing our practices, looking at best practices across the country when it comes to implementing and executing Living Learning Programs, collaborating with campus partners, and where I’m today, my position has evolved to residential learning.
So not just focused on living learning communities, even though that is the lion’s share of my work. Also, oversee our curriculum, our residential curriculum here at NC State as well as recruitment selection, training, assessment and student leadership. So a host of things that I oversee at the campus, but obviously my love for living learning communities is deep within my desire and passion for working with students.

Dustin Ramsdell:
I’ve always had a fascination or just a respect for the premise of a living learning community of how that can really amplify the potential of students living on campus. There’s a lot of just known benefits of that just as it is, but then if it’s like, “Okay, let’s take that and put a little bit more intentionality on that.” I know we’ve talked a lot about residential curriculums and I feel like LLCs are maybe a precursor to that or helped have that wave sort of rise up. But if somebody is not familiar and maybe even acknowledging over your career how you’ve seen what an LLC is and how it’s maybe changed, how would you define a living learning community today to somebody who is like, “Oh, I don’t know what that is?”

Chester Miller:
So living learning communities, they bring together students who share similar academic interests, passions, identities and values. They’re designed to integrate the curricular and co-curricular experience. So students who are taking classes together live together and they learn together not just in the classroom but outside of the classroom. So those experiences are integrated. Students are able to make meaning of what they’re learning in the classroom and actually apply their learning outside of the classroom and intentionally designed experiences.
They allow students to develop deep bonding relationships with their peers, faculty and staff that implement and execute the living learning experience on a day-to-day basis. They help our students cultivate a sense of belonging and connectedness to the institution. I think increasingly a focus on our living learning communities have to be on well-being as well as helping to promote learning. When you think about the larger context of institutions focusing on student success. And when these experiences are thoughtfully done, our students, they grow, they thrive, they persist, and they graduate together.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah, I feel like these things they happen by accident or students can sort of stumble into it, but it’s really important. I think if you can build up a very robust offering of certainly people need to opt into these to, I think really reap the full benefits. So it’s not as if it’s like any of these things cannot happen unless you are organizing LLCs, but I think they’re more likely to happen. You may be measuring them and quantify it and sort of ensure it a little bit.
Like I said, LLCs, I feel like, I guess my brief career, I’ve been… Right for this past decade, and I feel like they were pretty well established at that time. Do you feel like evolution of the residential experience versus just like, “Oh, people are living together. They’re going to classes together and all that. We’re kind putting more intentionality behind it.” Do you feel like that’s been a trend line that it’s been growing more and becoming more common?

Chester Miller:
I believe that the trend for living learning communities have become more prevalent in a residential environment because of the impact that they have on student success. I think all of the data shows that when students participate in these programs, they yield positive student outcomes, not just for the student but the institution. When you think about four-year, six-year graduation rates, our students’ ability to persist. And I think increasingly institutions of higher learning are being evaluated on their ability to meet and sort of substantiate their existence by their ability to prepare students for what happens after they leave the institution.
And I think living learning communities allow and sort of sit at the foundation to help students not just transition into the institution, but also help the students really think about their trajectory as they navigate through the college experience. And so the intentionality and the structure of the program, the peer mentoring and interaction with upper class student leaders who are trained, whether they’re resident advisors or peer mentors, the intentional opportunity to interact with faculty over time, what literature has shown is that students are challenged with connecting with faculty in general in the classroom.
But when you integrate the ability of faculty to build relationships with students outside of the classroom, it helps to humanize our faculty and it enables students to kind of see them in a more welcoming light for lack of a better term. And I think increasingly what you’re seeing that as the data shows and there is more assessment done, it’s not just anecdotal evidence that people are starting to see, there’s more intentionality that folks are able to tie causality to being a part of the living learning community to positive student success outcomes.
Whether it is GPA, these experiences tend to be the gateway to additional high impact experiences on campus, whether it’s undergraduate research, study abroad experiences, internships, co-ops and like in talking to students or again, looking at the data, these experiences tend to be the gateways that catapult students to other experiences that hone in and bring into focus what their long-term goals and aspirations are.

Dustin Ramsdell:
I mean, I think there’s so much about what an LLC is that I think in and of itself enables what we know are really important parts of a college experience, peer-to-peer community, and certainly faculty connections and different things like that, and that it would build someone’s confidence or willingness or interest and furthering that, I guess, versus maybe starting from zero. It’s like, “Well, you’re living where you live,” which is much of your time in college is already sort of integrated with everything else versus feeling separate which is weird to say on-campus housing could feel separate because it’s like… I don’t know. I think inits most basic form, it is kind of like its own little hub when it’s just like, “Oh, you’re just living in the building or keeping the building running,” and there’s just the community in that building that feels sort of disjointed perhaps from the rest of the campus community and then from your classes and all that.
It’s like, “That can be well and good,” but I think at least offering for somebody who does have a really specific interest or some sort of shared identity and those sort of things, I think there’s certainly the folks who would opt into those things I think are probably more likely to get a lot out of them. But hopefully just be able to, like you said, over time, we’d be able to make the case for them, I think much easier and a much more compelling way to continue to expand those and create more different LLCs and just justify, I guess their existence.
I mean, I think it’s just so much of the idea of, like I said, it’s just a really good way to amplify and maximize the potential of the student’s living experience. It could be like, “Well, I’ve got a lot of good friends on my floor and in my hall and all that,” but it’s like we have none of the same classes together. It’s just all the randomness of it, but there can be a beauty and a magic in that. But when you put a little bit of structure and try to at least remove some of the friction, I would feel like… This will be, I guess, a brief follow-up for you is like I would think an LLC, whatever focus or structure it has would be especially helpful for a first generation student to navigate things.
I think if somebody understands all the sort things that you’re supposed to do to get the most out of college, they could live just in any building anywhere and maybe be pretty well off. But if you’re coming in and starting from scratch, it’s like it’d be great if you had a bunch of people that lived on your floor that are also in the same classes and that there’s a live-in faculty member who you could interact with that you don’t have to jump through as many hurdles or whatever.
So I guess just your take on that for that population in particular of first generation students, do you feel like an LLC I think would be especially helpful for them to navigate an institution?

Chester Miller:
My short answer is yes, but obviously I would say specifically for this population, the thoughtfulness by which it’s created. First in college students, they have not really experienced… Well, just like all freshmen being admitted to the university, it’s a special experience for them because often the connection with anyone who has particularly a parents have not had a college experience. And so it’s more important, I think, for this population that ease and transition to college life and what that can look like.
So being a part of a living learning community can help make the college campus seem small. It helps to connect those students to resources. All of these things are organic to the living learning experience, as I mentioned, whether it’s the staff and peer mentoring that happens being a part of these programs, these residential programs, it really helps the student feel grounded and feel connected to the institution and really begin to help them focus and organize in a pretty clear way fairly quickly, sort of how to navigate campus and the college experience.
Those avenues of engagement or involvement whether it’s taking classes and what faculty members to take for your class or the wide array of experiences that are offered from the living learning community program, those activities really helps students to open their mind to the possibilities of what the college experience can be for them moving forward. And as I mentioned earlier, in terms of living learning community sort of serving as a gateway to other experiences, I’ve talked to students in many settings, particularly in focus groups where first generation college students have told me specifically that being a part of a living learning community and connecting with their peers and having a relationship with peer mentors has really helped them thrive not just in the community, but at the campus as well.
They’ve been able to develop a really tight-knit support system and they’ve experienced… They have similar backgrounds. If there is a specific living learning community focused on first-gen students, obviously they have similar backgrounds and experiences and can navigate attending classes as a cohort together and letting those experiences lead them to a particular pathway that they may be interested in to satisfy their long-term goals. But no matter the living learning community experience, particularly for first-gen students, I think it really helps them establish themselves and really feel a part of the institution.
And it really not just benefits the students, it benefits the institutions because we’re able to retain them when they have that sense of belonging and feel connected to the institution and understand, if you will, their compass for navigating the college experience.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah. I mean, I think it’s so important that you would have that sort of catch point for that, the idea of where you live. It’s a bunch of peers who are going along this journey with you, and whether they’re first-gen themselves or not, just that support network and helping with the wellbeing and just the compass, I guess being a good metaphor of helping them navigate things and just be much more in a place where they’re set up for success and certainly still on them to manage their time and get their assignments done and do them well and all that. But I think just trying to account for as much as possible, I think anybody in this moment for higher ed would certainly appreciate that idea of, “I feel like we’re exhausting all options for these students and giving them as much as we can to support them.”
So this could be… Obviously, well try to keep this as brief as possible, but the idea of anybody listening if they’re looking to get started with LLCs or expand or evolve their current offerings, just, I guess, perspectives on that, I guess it feels like… I’m sure for some folks might feel very daunting or something. So any sort of reassurances or we’ll certainly get into advice and resources and stuff. Just whatever comes to mind, I guess, to help folks either start LLCs or expand or evolve their current offerings.

Chester Miller:
And that’s a great question and a very important one. I think first and foremost, depending on your campus institutional culture and structure for Living Learning Programs, I would imagine that there is some process for establishing living learning communities. And if not, there should be a formalized process, whether it’s a sunrise process or sunset process for establishing living learning communities on your campus. And it’s also important to note, Dustin that these programs cannot be created in a vacuum. There are best practices for establishing living learning communities. Certainly encourage folks to take advantage of the resources that are available, that sort of grounds the formulation of living learning communities in a best practice. And when done well, what these programs should include.
Most important in the creation and establishing of LLCs are your partnerships. Partnerships across campus. And so assuming that you do have a sunrise process, there is a pretty detailed and lengthy timeline. Again, depending on the structure of your campus and the campus partners involved for establishing them. Defining a timeline, when you begin those conversation, how does that align with department and institutional goals? And just beginning there as a starting point and thinking about the overarching program. If you have a strategic plan, how does creating or establishing an LLC program fit within that?
And it is also important to look at the resources that are involved, whether it’s staffing, financial or the physical space. All three are critically important. I can’t highlight one more than the other, but also, what is the purpose of the LLC? What population will it serve? What are your outcomes and objectives that you’re trying to achieve? And is this the right thing for your campus or for the students? And most important of that as well, I think students need to be involved in this process in some way.
If students are expressing a need that could lend or could directly tie into establishing an LLC, making sure that is also integrated into your process. I would encourage folks to understand what the best practices are. Again, there are a lot of resources out there on the web. I actually just purchased and received a follow on book to Karen Inkelas, Living-Learning Communities in Practice that was just released. So I’m starting to read that as well to see what updates have been made to the best practices model that was shared in the first version of the book.
So it’s important to align best practices with whatever you’re doing on your campus within your institutional structure and context, make sure that there are a core group of folks on your campus that are involved in the process. Again, LLCs cannot be created in a vacuum, nor can they be sustained in a vacuum. It takes a village to run these and to do them well, and you will see that very quickly if students… Many times these are opt-in experiences, so if students can’t determine the value of the benefit of being a part of the community, they will not opt in.
And if you are not living up to what you promised them in the experience, they will opt out. I’ve seen it time and time again. So making sure that as part of your practice, you are assessing the impact of the experience and using that to improve that cycle of assessment where there’s continuous improvement involved in the process to ensure that you’re doing everything that meet students’ needs and you are adjusting as needed based on institutional changes, political changes in students’ needs. We have to constantly evolve every year just to ensure that we are developing an experience that our students want and need.

Dustin Ramsdell:
I think it’s so crucial what you’re saying of building that kind of coalition fellow faculty and staff and everything, but certainly also having students as part of that, because I think it could be whether you’re starting from nothing or trying to evolve and expand to better meet student preferences, like just doing surveys, gauging interest and really getting pretty substantial student input to know like, “We want more of this, less of that. We’d rather have these kind of communities or those sort of things.” A.
Nd knowing who might be able to serve as peer mentors, they’re interested in that sort of thing. As much sort of preparation to show that you’ve put a lot of thoughtfulness into it is important. Because that would be the ultimate tragedy is if you do a lot of work and then you’re offering it in a new academic year and no students sign up. That has to be a part of the equation here.
And I think you can’t just base things on your thoughts or you assume students might want or need. I think there’s so many benefits and I think knowing that there’s some good resources out there. I mean, that one book in particular that you’ve mentioned, but I’m sure there’s a lot of folks like yourself out there if you kind of want to talk shop or up coming conferences and events and everything. But I guess, is there any other specific organizations or books or things that you would want to mention that we could put in the show notes? Because I know the one book that you mentioned we could definitely put in there, but just anything else that you’d recommend.

Chester Miller:
Yeah. I don’t know. A shameless plug, kudos to Karen Inkelas, Mimi Benjamin, and Jody Jessup-Anger. This book was just released. I received my copy last week and started reading it. This is a great resource if you want to understand how do you not just create, but maintain and sustain intentionally designed and successful living learning communities. Strongly advise folks to take advantage of that resource. Get involved. Whether it’s a community of practice, which I love communities of practice because it allows peers to come together at different institutions to basically talk shop. What’s happening on your campus? How are you navigating different challenges of problems?
Oftentimes, when we attend conferences, we’re sharing some of the similar challenges with not just creating, establishing living learning communities. So if you’re not able to attend a conference, whether it’s academic initiatives through [inaudible 00:26:50] the Residential College Symposium, the National Learning Communities Conference Organization as well, these are great resources.
Folks are digitally engaged and often sharing resources and best practices that I think could be super relevant and helpful as folks work to establish and evolve their programs on their campus. I constantly receive articles or look for articles quite often or attend conferences where I can connect with peers to see what they’re doing, what challenges that they’re facing, and get a pulse of what they’re experiencing, whether successes or challenges, and just to make sure that we are looking at things intentionally here at NC State as well.
So lots and lots of resources out there, but I think most important of all is on your campus not just establishing relationships with campus partners and academic affairs or your colleges on campus admissions, advising parents and family services. Those folks need to be at the table. If living learning communities on your campus have been long standing or whether you’re looking to start these programs on your campus, you need a very diverse group of thought leaders on your campus to help establish these programs for the benefit of students.
And oftentimes, as I mentioned earlier, these are tied to student success outcomes for the institution. Again, university strategic plans here at NC State University, I’m part of the QEP, Quality Enhancement Plan implementation team for high impact experiences offering my insight on living learning communities here on my campus. So get involved. These programs cannot be established again in a vacuum. Take advantage of the resources, whether they’re on your campus or literature or connecting with folks at other institutions.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Good advice. I mean, both sort of local and kind of global connections and the book like you mentioned too sounds really great. And I think all really important stuff because I think you can obviously start trying to build those foundations at your institution and then check over your shoulder with other folks in the field to troubleshoot things and just make sure you’re doing your homework and doing the reading and doing all that stuff to know that’s a more formal understanding of everything as well.
So yeah, just really appreciate your time giving us the crash course here and sharing some great perspectives and resources and things and what ways to connect with you and keep the conversation going if folks are interested. But just thank you so much for your time and all that you shared.

Chester Miller:
Thank you, Dustin. It was great to be with you and hopefully what I shared is beneficial to your audience.