Historically, institutions of higher education focused their efforts on programs and services to support traditional students' integration (i.e., the eighteen year old who enrolls in college immediately after graduating from high school) into the college environment. Integration into the university environment contributes to student retention. Underrepresented students, specifically community college transfer students, are left out of the retention planning process. With the increase of transfer students transitioning to four-year universities, this study explored transfer students' integration experience within their initial six weeks of attendance at a receiving institution. This action research study implemented an E-Mentoring Program utilizing the social media platform, Facebook. Results from the mixed-methods study provided evidence that classroom connection interwoven with social rapport with peers, cognizance of new environment, and institutional and peer resources matter for integration within the first six weeks at HUC (a pseudonym). The information gained will be used to inform higher education administrators, student affairs practitioners, faculty, and staff as they develop relevant services, programs, and practices that intentionally support transfer students' integration.

With budgets on the decline, university officials are seeking alternative methods to maintain and increase the type of services provided to students. By incorporating social entrepreneurial competencies in the daily actions of university staff members, staff members will be able to perform their work more effectively and help students acquire skills such as innovative thinking, which is needed in today's society. Social entrepreneurs are defined as change agents for society; these individuals seize opportunities missed by others, improve systems, create solutions, innovate and adapt, leverage resources they do not control, and advocate for what they and others need to be successful (Ashoka, 2010a; Bornstein & Davis, 2010; Dees, 1998). Universities will be more successful in respect to helping students with a workforce of social entrepreneurs capable of leveraging resources. Through action research, this study utilized a phenomenological perspective with both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis to introduce social entrepreneurial competencies to the live-in housing professionals (pro-staff) at Arizona State University (ASU) and then examined the incorporation of the competencies into the pro-staff's daily work. Ten current pro-staff participated in two phases of the study, each of which consisted of surveys and workshops. Participants' responses indicated that there are five competencies and three strengths related to social entrepreneurship that are significant to the pro-staff position and their daily work at ASU.