Work in progress: A pilot project to assess the added value of engineering and student affairs collaboration on student cognitive and affective development

This Work-In-Progress paper describes a pilot project at Western Michigan University to assess the added value of academic and student affairs collaboration on student cognitive and affective development. The academic performance in first-year science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses as well as retention to STEM are used as measures of cognitive development, and the students´ experience in co-curricular activities as captured in their written summaries is used as a measure of their affective development. While there is no statistically significant difference in individual course performance, first-year Engineering House (EH) students have a statistically significant higher GPA than non-EH in fall 2010, and they have a statistically significant higher fall-to-spring retention to engineering and applied sciences than non-EH students.