Understanding gains from on-campus cultural events

Abstract

Undergraduate seniors at a residential liberal-arts college reflected on their experiences attending on-campus cultural events. These focus groups were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using a grounded theory-derived approach to understand how these events shaped their college experience. The resulting communication artifact revealed a variety of student outcomes tied to on-campus cultural event attendance. The findings have implications for the design, implementation, and assessment of academic and co-curricular programming, particularly in terms of articulating the purpose of such programming and enlisting faculty in its delivery.