Fisher Recognized for Housing, Dining Assessment Efforts

St. John Fisher University was recently recognized with a 2024 Benchworks Assessment and Impact Award in Housing, given by Benchworks by Elentra, which specializes in surveys and assessments in the higher education space.

Fisher was one of three award recipients, earning recognition for its high survey scores related to student satisfaction with dining services and housing, as well as learning outcomes related to self-management skills and academic success.

The University’s Division of Student Affairs has partnered with Benchworks to collect data on community-building within its residential housing programs, including perceptions of resident and resident assistant (RA) relationships and the dynamics between residence hall roommates. Based on feedback, Fisher re-centered its RA programming model to focus on frequent, small group interactions versus large programs to foster more interpersonal interactions between residents and RAs. The University also restructured its “Roommate Dialogue Form” to incorporate structured questions that can facilitate deeper conversations between roommates.

In addition, the Division collected student feedback on dining services, hours, and accessibility. The results and recommendations prompted the University to adjust and standardize operating hours and boosted student satisfaction in dining services by 10 percent.

“We gather data to serve a purpose: create a positive community that is conducive to student success,” said Terri Travaglini, assistant dean of students. “The value of Benchworks lies in uncovering unexpected insights, compelling us to dig deep and thoroughly evaluate our practices.”