Project Overview

Contributors:

• Elizabeth Chilbert Powers, Associate Professor of English

• Richard Lumb, Lecturer of Justice Studies

• B.J. Kitchin, Executive Director of Academic Services

• James Cook, Associate Professor of Sociology, Principal Investigator

This research project was launched in Spring 2023 as a modified replication of recent collaborative research at the University of Maine under the leadership of Professor of Political Science Robert Glover and Tamra Benson ’23. Their research, presented to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees by Tamra Benson on July 11, 2022 to favorable reaction by Board Chair Trish Riley, established an association between levels of pay for student workers and a variety of personal and academic outcomes, such as student dissatisfaction, family financial insufficiency, food insecurity, and poor mental health that are known to be negatively associated with student academic and life success. We have received consent and endorsement for our replication work from the UM research team.

Our research is not intended to describe general trends among student workers across the system, but rather to describe specific empirical patterns among student workers at the University of Maine at Augusta. Our research method closely followed the UM student worker survey, with minor modifications to reflect the UMA campus and student population, and to align with questions on economic conditions and food insecurity that are posed by the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and the USDA’s Economic Research Service. In sharing this report, we hope to provide insight to institutional decision-makers interested in better tailoring the student worker experience at UMA to maximize probability of student academic and life success.

This report aligns with strategic planning priorities. Student diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are prioritized in the most recent University of Maine System 2023-2028 strategic plan and in the University of Maine at Augusta 2021-2025 strategic plan. The UMS strategic plan includes the following relevant commitments, priorities, goals, and actions:

● Priority 2: “Express values of sustainability, quality, affordability, and justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

● Commitment 3: “Making our System a destination for public higher education and a respected, engaging, and rewarding place to work.”

● Student Success Actions Goal 1.2: “UMS will publish clear, easily understandable student success data on System and university websites, and share it with prospective students and their families.”

● Place to Work Action 1: “Action 1: Increase our capacity to address student and employee mental health as a prerequisite for student persistence, completion, and well-being, and employee effectiveness and well-being through plans to be developed by Spring 2024.”

● Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Actions Goals 1.1 and 1.2: “Goal 1.1: Welcome and support a range of DEI perspectives, including constructive disagreement, and honor a diversity of viewpoints.” “Goal 1.2: Centrally support the implementation of specific university-level DEI goals in consultation with faculty and staff leaders…”

The UMA strategic plan includes the following relevant key strategies and action:

● Strategy 1: “Setting high expectations while also providing strong support” and “Developing a student-centered success and retention agenda designed for scale.”

● Action 1.1.3: “Expand efforts to deliver financial literacy programming, with an emphasis on personal finance, budgeting, and debt management.”

● Action 4.2.1: “Strive to create a working environment that engenders a unity of purpose and sense of belonging that makes UMA a great place to work.”

● Action 4.3.1: “Ensure human, financial and other resources are sufficient to sustain the quality of the educational program and support the mission.”

● Action 5.2.5: “Conduct an equity audit”.

● Action 5.3: “Foster a culture of inclusion to ensure that all employees feel valued and welcomed within our institution.”

● Action 5.5.4: “Encourage self-reflection on DEI principles and the personal DEI work necessary to build individual and institutional capacity.”

● Action 5.5.6: “Develop channels for students and others to identify further support structures and pathways needed to improve success.”

● Action 5.6.6: “Conduct regular surveys of UMA’s underrepresented student populations to identify how to better provide equitable access, and include them in our programming.”

● Action 5.8.2: “Disaggregate data about student success (e.g., retention, participation in co-curricular activities, and use of tutoring services) to identify and address existing shortcomings in our commitment to DEI principles.”

Pursuit of these strategic goals is well-served by the conduct and dissemination of this research into elements of the experience of UMA student workers.

The University of Maine at Augusta and the University of Maine System are charged with pursuing their activities in as transparent a manner as possible in pursuit of the public interest as possible, making the publication of this report in a manner accessible to the people of the state of Maine advisable.