TASK FORCE ON ENROLLMENT & RETENTION MANAGEMENT

Recommendations made by the Task Force committee members:

1.  Given the critical roles of faculty in student success, the University, through the offices of Academic Affairs and the colleges, should continue to address issues of faculty orientation and preparedness for the first week of classes.  These efforts should include full- and part-time faculty.

a.  Review part-time faculty contracts and consider how office hours and professional development opportunities might be rewarded.  Because of limited office space, seek ways to address the office space shortage.

2.  To extend the reach and reinforce the importance of New Student Orientation for all students, the University should direct resources toward the development of online components for new student orientation.

3.  Working on campus deepens students’ involvement with and knowledge of their university.  Considering the campus work environment for USI students, the Task Force recommends that the University:

a.  Continue current employment practices, policies, and compensation strategies for student workers and, when possible, we urge a commitment to providing more long-term opportunities for employment;

b.  Provide compensation flexibility for positions of special importance and which have more stringent selection criteria or require higher levels of commitment and sacrifice (such as Supplemental Instruction assistants or tutors);

c.  Continue to monitor compensation competitiveness of similar positions on and off campus and respond when budget monies allow.

d.  Involve managers in student job design and see student employment as mission-critical by supplementing routine clerical functions with a deliberate introduction to broader office and professional skills.

e.  Value student worker engagement and skill development and, when appropriate, have student workers report to managers.

f.   Develop more on-campus internship opportunities in units wherein students could learn professional skills and gain organizational knowledge. 

4.  Student preparation for college level work is often addressed through developmental coursework.  These courses enhance preparedness but they slow progress to graduation if the student delays or ignores placement testing guidance.  Furthermore, class attendance is closely tied to student success.  Chronic absenteeism can slow the progress of a prepared student, but for a student needing developmental preparation the impact can be terminal for a college career.  That said, the Task Force recommends that the University:

a.  Reinstate the reading placement test with mandatory placement in the course stipulated within the first year of matriculation;

b.  Provide students who place in two or more developmental courses with additional support such as required enrollment in a college transition course, help from a peer mentor, or a study skills tutor;

c.  Consider dropping students from courses when they do not have the appropriate course prerequisites.  A check of Banner system capabilities will indicate if this can be automated and allow for notification to affected students in a timely manner.

5.  A student’s experience during the first year of college is critical to retention.  Relevant to improving the first year experience for new students the Task Force recommends that the University:

a.  Develop a First Year Seminar for virtually all first year students.  We already offer a “freshman seminar” to conditionally-admitted students and this recommendation proposes the expansion of that class;

b.  Continue and expand with permanent funding the Living Learning Communities program;

c.  Continue and expand the Bonding through Books program; and

d.  Continue and expand the Supplemental Instruction (SI) program.  This program enhances the learning experience for students who serve as SI instructors, and for the students in those classes accessing the resources of the SI program.

6.  Task Force members recognized the need for systematic data collection beyond the enrollment reports issued by the Registrar.  The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment will develop an annual Institutional Fact Book which will contain key data points to monitor patterns in the enrollment and retention of USI students.