The Student Sunrise project has established three student advisory groups to advise the project on key impacts and effective ways to engage with students as the university transitions to Workday Student during the 2024-25 academic year.
The advisory groups will provide the project with greater insight into how students may respond to the system once it goes live. This input will inform strategies for student engagement and support throughout the balance of the implementation.
The advisory groups are comprised of 36 students representing all schools on the Danforth Campus and the School of Medicine. The participant selection process occurred earlier this spring.
At the School of Medicine, program leaders nominated one student from each of their programs to serve on the School of Medicine advisory group. Students on the Danforth campus applied directly for a position on an advisory group. Project leaders, including the Steering Committee, then selected 25 Danforth students out of dozens of applicants to ensure balanced representation from the different schools and student populations.
“We’re really excited that our advisory groups have great representation across the university. This will ensure that the project takes into consideration the unique experiences of students in different schools,” said Danielle Bristow, co-chair of the student advisory groups.
The School of Medicine advisory group met on April 18, 2023, to meet each other and learn more about the project and their role.
“I’m looking forward to participating and sharing my experiences as a student in a newer program at the School of Medicine,” said Isabella Salerno, student in the first cohort of the Medical Physics PhD program that began fall 2022. “It’ll be cool to be one of the first students to see the new system, too.”
The Danforth campus advisory groups representing the graduate and undergraduate students met for the first time on April 24. They also received an introduction to the project and what’s to come.
The advisory groups will meet twice per semester beginning Fall 2023 with opportunities to participate in optional additional activities, like testing the system and reviewing self-help materials.
“The voices of our current students and the fact that many of them will be using Workday Student in 2025 is invaluable not just to the project, but to me and the university at large,” says Provost Wendland, who participated in the Danforth kickoff.
“These students have the very special opportunity to share their unique insights about the systems and processes we use today and how what we are changing will impact them.”