Chapter 1 Who is SWaSI?

Please contact Brian Clark with questions or suggestions for improvement – preferred via Teams, otherwise .

Please use the following when referencing this document: Clark, B. A. M. (2023). Place-Based Belonging 1.0. Office of Assessment and Research, Division of Student Life, University of Oregon.

1.1 Who is SWaSI?

The Student Wellbeing and Success Initiative is:

  • an ongoing, multicohort, longitudinal research program designed to holistically understand institutional inputs to undergraduate students’ wellbeing and success across the college experience
  • an educational program designed to equitably improve wellbeing and success outcomes, particularly among historically marginalized populations (e.g., first-generation students, Black students)
  • an assessment and evaluation program designed to gauge whether various programmatic activities, including but not limited to the ones internal to the Initiative itself, are meeting their stated goals

Better understanding better informs us, affording opportunities to improve institutional practices that equitably support students’ learning and development and foster their achievement and persistence. Unlike many for-profit companies, which use data to sell people, this is a strategy that uses data to empower people.

The Student Wellbeing and Success Initiative is led by Brian Clark, Assistant Director of the Office of Assessment and Research in the Division of Student Life. It is supported primarily by the Office of the Vice President for Student Life with integral support from units of the Division of Student Life – the Department of Physical Education and Recreation, the Erb Memorial Union, and the Office of the Dean of Students – and across campus from many and varied units in Global Engagement, the Office of the Provost, Student Services and Enrollment Management, UO Libraries, and Undergraduate Education and Student Success.