Randolph-Macon College Dean of Academic Affairs and Political Science Professor Lauren C. Bell has been named an Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina.

Bell is one of 10 professionals nationwide to receive this prestigious award. The award recipients will be honored at the 36th Annual Conference on The First-Year Experience in Atlanta, Georgia, which will take place February 11-14, 2017.

“Professor Bell is one of the most passionate and effective advocates I have known anywhere for the transformational value of a liberal arts education in the life of each and every student – and most especially our first-year students,” says RMC President Robert R. Lindgren. “The mark she has made on Randolph-Macon College during her nearly two decades of service is remarkable. I can think of no one more suited to receiving this prestigious award.”

The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition serves education professionals by supporting and advancing efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education.

In Bell’s administrative roles, her work has been intentionally focused on supporting first-year students at Randolph-Macon College as Dean of Academic Affairs (2014-current) and
Associate Dean of the College (2007-2014). During her tenure in the Provost’s office, from 2007 to 2016, the freshmen-to-sophomore retention rate at the college has improved from 77 percent to 85 percent.

“Success in college depends so much on what happens during a student’s first few months on campus,” says Bell. “From my administrative position, I’ve sought to apply what I have learned as a classroom teacher and academic advisor to the work of crafting realistic programs that meet students’ needs and help them to accomplish their goals. I am truly honored that my work in this area is being recognized, and I look forward to continuing to work on transition issues with so many outstanding colleagues who support our students every day.”

Lauren C. Bell
Bell joined the faculty of Randolph-Macon College in 1999. She was twice awarded the student-voted Thomas Branch Award for Excellence in Teaching and was appointed Dean of Academic Affairs in 2014, after nearly seven years of service as associate dean and more than 15 as professor of political science.

One of Bell’s most successful innovations was the Early MAP (Macon Academic Progress) program, created in 2010 to improve the retention rate of low-performing first-year students. Bell also designed and hired for the college a Director of Student Transitions, and worked closely with the transitions office and Higgins Academic Center staff to ease the challenge of the transition to college. Bell also created and leads a strategic retention committee of faculty and staff who together have spearheaded numerous student support initiatives across campus.

During her tenure at Randolph-Macon, Bell has taught 13 different political science courses, ranging from general education courses for first-year students to senior seminars.

She is the author of Filibustering in the U.S. Senate (Cambria Press, 2011), Warring Factions: Interest Groups, Money, and the New Politics of Senate Confirmation (The Ohio State University Press, 2002) and The U.S. Congress, A Simulation for Students (Thomson/Wadsworth, 2005) as well as co-author of Slingshot: The Defeat of Eric Cantor (Congressional Quarterly Press, 2015) and Perspectives on Political Communication: A Case Approach (Allyn & Bacon, 2008).

In addition, Bell has published single- and co-authored articles in the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, The Journal of Legislative Studies, The Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, and Judicature; previously, she served on the editorial board of Justice System Journal. Her work has also appeared in or been cited by The New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Roll Call, The National Journal, The Huffington Post, ForeignAffairs.com and The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Bell earned her B.A. from the College of Wooster, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at The University of Oklahoma. She served as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow on the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary during the 1997–1998 academic year and was the United States Supreme Court Fellow at the United States Sentencing Commission in Washington, D.C. in 2006–2007.

More About The National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition
Building upon its history of excellence as the founder and leader of the first-year experience movement, the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition serves education professionals by supporting and advancing efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education. Its core commitments are to student transitions, connections between research and practice, inclusion, collaboration and lifelong learning.

It achieves this mission by providing opportunities for the exchange of practical and scholarly information through conferences and other professional development events such as institutes, workshops, and online learning opportunities; publication of scholarly practice books, research reports, a peer-reviewed journal, electronic newsletters, and guides; generating, supporting, and disseminating research and scholarship; hosting visiting scholars; and maintaining several online channels for resource sharing and communication, including a dynamic website, list serve, and social media outlets.