RIT Strategic Planning Student Success Task Force
Student Success Definitions and Goals
Monday, March 10, 2014
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Student Success Definitions:
The Four Pillars of Student Success:
1.
Academic Preparedness

Competency in major

Critical thinking skills

Finding meaning in work
2.
Campus Engagement

Active involvement in the campus community, in both the academic arena and cocurricular

Positive contributions to campus community

Collaborative

Respectful to all
3.
Holistic Wellness:

All facets including; career, emotional, financial, physical, spiritual
4.
Self-efficacy:

Ability to live independently

Make appropriate, ethical choices

Can self-advocate

Understanding of resources and how to access them
Academic Preparedness:

Problem solving / flexible, life-long learner

Academic skills and soft skills

Student opinion: T-shaped individual – being interdisciplinary to create this type of person

On-time graduation for all students (4 in 4; 5 in 5) o with a “C” average or better for undergraduates (“B” average or better for graduate students)

Is the word “career” still relevant? Look from the outside in.

Demonstrate ROI – was investment in RIT worth it?

What aspects of RIT will students remember that helped to transform their life? o Transformative experience o “RIT did this for me”

Openness and access is unparalleled at RIT compared to other colleges – dedicated faculty and staff

Start developing career/connections while still a student at RIT

Achieving learning outcomes with their degree – retention, outcomes, academic skills, life skills
(communication, leadership, teams, diversity, integrity, cooperation), engagement

Faculty’s ability to be adaptable


Wegmans as an example – it’s an experience

“Culture”

Innovative in all aspects of their lives

Education and experience as defined by the student that prepares and launches them into their next life stage and beyond

Fluent in field of study

Well rounded in the sciences, technology, engineering, arts, and maths (STEAM)

Real world experience

Providing a fast paced high level environment for learning how to obtain new knowledge, how to integrate and apply the new knowledge in both professional and personal settings

Ability to achieve next level of goals after graduation (job, graduate school)

Intuitive sense

Are we bringing the right students to campus? o Defining/qualifying what kind of student we’re looking for?

Traditional student drawn to RIT is a dwindling group o Goal to attract certain students

Reporting on transfer students – how do we measure their success?
Campus Engagement:

Student opinion: T-shaped individual – being interdisciplinary to create this type of person

Student opinion: Leadership experience for resume

Student opinion: Engagement – active both on-campus and in the external community

“Culture”

Community – access to administration experiences

Involvement with campus community activities each year of attendance

Keeping in contact with students after graduation
Holistic Wellness:

All facets including; career, emotional, financial, physical, spiritual
Self-efficacy:

Student opinion: ability to get a job after graduation

Student opinion: T-shaped individual – being interdisciplinary to create this type of person

Life skills

Start developing career/connections while still a student at RIT

Innovative in all aspects of their lives

Ability to cope with a diverse range of people

Aware of local and global surroundings and the impact they can have

Civic engagement

Balancing continuous professional and personal change

Other:

Our definition of success or the student’s definition?

Student loan debt

Students definition of success changes year to year while at RIT

Students who leave?
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BF (P,E) – behavior (successful) is always a function of the person and environment

When is the student successful? At what point does this occur?

Game changing goals to consider given the definition of student success:
Goals outlined in March 10 th SSTF Meeting:
1.
Nimble experience leading to nimble careers (stages)
Not only end product
Milestones

Academic – curricular
Re-align

Social – co-curricular

During RIT
Success

After RIT
2.
Female student success rate – goal for all student cohort groups (greatest achieving)
3.
Silo-free environmental – dialogue and conflict
4.
Create graduate student experience – living/learning (housing, faculty fellows, jobs, transportation)
5.
“This I’ll carry with me for life” – RIT
6.
Students overall success (i.e. those who leave) – how credited
7.
Alumni + SA = connect earlier / share
Task Force Submitted Goals:

David Bagley:
1.
Create inclusive and engaging learning communities that foster citizenship, global awareness, and social justice.
2.
Enhance the overall RIT experience of our students, empowering them to persist to graduation while creating a lifelong connection to RIT.

Chris Booth:
1. Track and document actual student experience as they move through life cycle to identify existing pain points and needed improvements from the student perspective.
2. Align student interaction with university from a total campus perspective to improve overall experience.

Dave Branca:
1.
Hiring and retaining professors who exhibit our definition of a successful individual and can teach the information and skills required for our students.

2.
Breaking students out of their academic silos (which tend to define their social networks) and creating environments for them to interact in a diverse setting.

Kyle Edenzon:
1.
Enhancing RITs Multidisciplinary Studies program as well as reviewing our undecided majors program. Due to the amount of fields that continue to pop–up in our society today, it is making it difficult for incoming students to decide on a specific major up front.

2.
Improving our undergraduate research programs. This experience is critical for our student’s success in the job market. We should also find ways to get freshman involved with this research. Many faculty would avoid freshman research students because they do not yet have a lot of the classroom experience needed, however if we can figure out ways to create simpler projects, it will give them the motivation to stay involved, as well as make them feel like they are making a difference.
Joe Geigel
1.
Placement rates (industry and graduate schools)
2.
Satisfaction and feeling of loyalty towards RIT as alum.

Joe Loffredo
1.
Persistence/Retention

2005 Strategic Plan: Previous goal for first year retention 89% (remember that the rate was 84% back in 2005), should at least set this as the goal, but should go further.
(Recent rates have been: 86.3, 89.2, 86.9 for the last three cohorts)

New Goal: Freshmen first year retention rate will be 92%
2.
Graduation rate freshmen –

2005 Strategic Plan: Previous goal: 72%. (Is the goal 6 yr rate of 7 yr rate?) – Our rates have fluctuated, but mostly not up. The freshmen cohorts with the increases in first year retention have not reached the 6 year point yet. The 2009 cohort is the first increased retention rate cohort to reach the four year point and the rate has increased.

New Goal: IPEDS graduation rate will be 72%

New Goal: 4 Year programs: Graduation Rate will be X in four years (Need to determine the current rate and then the goal)

New Goal: 5 Year programs: Graduation Rate will be X in five year (Need to determine the current rate and then the goal)


New Goal: Transfer graduation rate (Graduation rate for transfers (we need to understand it and set goals for it. Transfer student recruitment, enrollment and retention needs to be a goal.)

Kelly Norris Martin:
1.
Actively participating on multidisciplinary teams that tackle real-world project/challenges with high stakes.
2.
All students to have the same technological resources (projection technology in classrooms, adobe CC software, online tutorial subscriptions, etc).

Jim Salzano:
1.
Position RIT as one of the top (10) universities for innovation.
2.
RIT to have a top 10 North American MBA program.

Tom Trabold:
1.
100% student participation in independent undergraduate research, community service or study abroad.


2.
Mandatory “Life Balance Seminar” that covers issues that may limit student retention and general well-being. Address issues such as personal finance, professional & personal relationships, health, etc.
Fred Walker:
1.
90% of all graduate and undergraduate students graduate on time and at or above the target GPA.
2.
80% of all undergraduate students participate in campus community activities each year of attendance.
Lisa Witt:
Game changers for RIT:
Take advantage of the intercession period between fall and spring to offer valuable coursework or life experiences including short terms abroad, soft skills training and increased online versions of courses that can be taken here or while the student is away on break. Intercession is also a great time when faculty could be getting assistance with teaching topics like how to teach/reach the increasing number of special needs students and millennials in general.
Benefits of intercession
More timely degree completion
Lots of students wish to pursue study abroad but can’t afford a full term
Opens up teaching opportunities to grad students
Down time for faculty to catch up on some prof. dev.
The Co-op program is one of the truly valuable experiences a student can have at RIT. So many of my students that get the opportunity to gain real world experience while still in school and

graduate with good paying interesting jobs. I feel for the students who are pursuing degrees that don’t offer these types of co-ops or internships. It would be wonderful to give all RIT students this equal footing.
If you find that you would like a good cross sample of students to weigh in on their definition of student success I’m sure I can arrange for that.