The College of Arts and Sciences Student Advisory Council (CASSAC) grew out of a realization I had during my first year as dean: namely, that dean is a job in which it could become very easy to spend a lot of time talking about students and not enough time talking with them, unless I created some ways to ensure continued direct engagement. With that insight, and with lots of help from CAS recruitment and retention specialist Eileen Hickey, CASSAC launched in Fall 2015. Our primary goal was to develop a means for CAS students to provide college leadership with ongoing direct input on issues of interest to them. Four years later, CASSAC still does that, but it has also become a powerful leadership group on campus.
CASSAC currently numbers 22 members. Our students come from almost every major within the College of Arts and Sciences, and they are engaged across campus as athletes, peer mentors, student ambassadors, and more. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds: some have lived in Chicago all their lives while others are from far away; some started as first-year students while others transferred to Roosevelt from community colleges or other four-year schools; some live on campus while others have always commuted. But every member of CASSAC is united around a common purpose: they want to play an active role in ensuring that that they – and all Roosevelt students – have the best possible experience during their time at the university.
As CASSAC has evolved, its members have become increasingly committed to service. They provide insights and welcome to prospective students at admissions events, and they frequently share the student perspective with Roosevelt alumni at their gatherings. They serve current students through a range of programming – for example, this past fall’s “Grad School: A to Z” event attracted a standing-room-only crowd of students who were eager to unlock the mysteries of grad school applications and decide whether additional study might be right for them. In all of this work, it has become clear that CASSAC members have a great deal of insight to share – which is why we have created this blog. We want to extend CASSAC’s good work and insights to a wider audience, and share the student perspective with you.
In the coming weeks, you’ll see a variety of posts on this blog – about academics, about the student experience, about life in Chicago, and more. If there are topics you’d like to see CASSAC address on this blog, let us know! You can send your comments and suggestions to cassac@roosevelt.edu
In the meantime, welcome to the CASSAC blog, and thanks for reading!
Dean Bonnie Gunzenhauser, College of Arts & Sciences