Centering the Student: Reflection, Belonging, and Business Education at LaGuardia

“Maybe I’m the agent of belonging.”

Case Study

For more than a decade, Andrea Francis’s work with high impact practices has been rooted in intentional design and deep student connection. Her journey began in 2014 through the Center for Teaching and Learning, where she was part of LaGuardia’s inaugural First-Year Experience Task Force. “That was my first experience with HIPs. I met George Kuh… and we were in the throes of developing a first year seminar. It was like meeting educational royalty.” Working alongside colleagues like Raj Bhika, she helped design the First-Year Seminar for business students—an effort that would prove transformational, not just for students but for her own pedagogy.

Initially, Francis understood HIPs conceptually. But it was through the First-Year Seminar that those ideas truly coalesced. “It was the nature of the course. The student is truly at the center… researching themselves. That just really changed the way I looked at my own pedagogy.”

That student-centered design, she says, is what sets First-Year Seminar apart from even other HIPs like Capstone. “My capstone is never going to have the student at the center in that same way.” In First-Year Seminar, students reflect deeply, connect with faculty and peers. This engagement is unlike that of any other course. Students are vulnerable as they participate in sustained reflection. “The ePortfolio is key. You are carrying on the work that we’ve been doing in the class.”

For Francis, HIPs aren’t a checklist, they’re a pedagogical stance. “We reviewed the key features of HIPs,” she says, “when the Task Force designed the First-Year Seminar and we realized our course touches almost every one of them.” She credits the course’s longevity, over a decade, as proof that intentional design and faculty commitment can sustain a high-impact learning environment. “It’s sustained, doable. We’ve managed to have it happen because of design and faculty commitment.”

Institutional support, Francis adds, has been essential to the course’s success. From a dedicated studio hour to coordination by leaders like Ellen Quish, and a strong faculty community, the First-Year Seminar model benefits from a collaborative infrastructure. “There’s a community of faculty built around this. There’s a sense of belonging.”

That sense of belonging extends to the students, many of whom enter unsure of their place in college or in the business world. “Many of them haven’t had the best educational experiences elsewhere,” Francis explains. “Maybe I’m the agent of belonging.” She focuses on her ability to share her story and her experiences with students as a key to her success. In the same way students are vulnerable in the course, she too, shares things that she might not in another course. That helps to build a strong connection between Francis and her students.

“Business is the place where people who look like us maybe haven’t had a sense of belonging. I have to go a step beyond—do you belong in a corporate environment?” By creating a space where students feel seen, through ePortfolio, classroom conversation, and storytelling, she helps students imagine themselves not only in college, but in the professional world.

That personal investment has shaped her broader teaching. “I owe them the curriculum, but before that, I owe them to see them,” she reflects. Through her commitment to storytelling and shared experience, she’s tried to break through the perceived barrier between professor and student. “I’ve become less dogmatic. It’s more student-centered… and we’re still getting through the curriculum.”

The First-Year Seminar has also increased students’ sense of agency. “This course can create agency if the students are willing to engage.” Students who remain engaged demonstrate stronger self-regulation, confidence, and clarity about their academic path. “This course is often a very hopeful endeavor.”

At the same time, the landscape of teaching has shifted. “Stamina for learning has decreased significantly,” Francis observes, citing the “attention economy” as a major challenge. With writing and reflection at the core of HIPs like First-Year Seminar, she notes a drop in both quantity and quality of student work. “It’s really the thinking I’m after. I have to do much more to sustain engagement in the classroom.”

She is quick to stress that students aren’t to blame. “The system is so much bigger than all of us. It’s going to be up to us to decide to disengage or not… and some of it is at addiction levels.” In this context, she argues, institutional support becomes even more critical. “If we’re serious about scaling HIPs, it cannot be only faculty-led. We need financial support, time, and energy.”

Looking ahead, Francis sees internships as an underused but vital HIP, especially in business education. “Internships are crucial. Companies are mainly hiring interns.” Yet, she points out, internships have at times been dismissed as vocational. “They should be integrated within the student experience because they are a high impact practice.”

Her recent work in the Capstone course illustrates how HIPs can extend beyond the classroom. Focusing on Grameen Bank, a micro-lender, Francis guided students through projects that combined liability calculations with real-world business impact. “Some of my students even had family members who had used microloans,” she shares. The project revealed not just academic growth, but deeper insight into financial institutions and community trust. “Often the world of banking is not built for them—or for us,” she says.

Whether in the Capstone or First-Year Seminar, Francis returns to the same principles: belonging, reflection, and connection. “My practice has changed,” she says. “It’s really changed.”

Courses Targeting High Impact Practices

• BTF 101: First Year Seminar for Business
• BTA 202: Intermediate Accounting II

Other High Impact Practices Used

• Capstone Courses

About

Andrea Francis is a Professor in the Business & Technology Department at LaGuardia Community College, where she teaches accounting and coordinates the First Year Seminar for Business. Professor Francis is a graduate of the University of Cape Town and holds a Bachelor of Business Science with majors in Accounting and Finance (Honors) and a Master of Science in Accounting from Baruch College – CUNY. She also holds the Chartered Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst designations. Her research interests include the first year experience, financial literacy, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and oral histories. Before joining LaGuardia, Professor Francis was a manager at Deloitte & Touche. Her interests outside of work include reading, watching cricket, and spending time with her husband and two daughters.