Assessment Report for the Office of Multicultural Affairs
May 2010
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Office of Multicultural Affairs is made up of several departments. These include
two federally funded TRIO programs: Student Support Services (SSS) and Upward
Bound (UB). Also under the umbrella are The Native American Center (NAC), The
Multicultural Resource Center (MCRC), Minority Precollege Programs, Nontraditional
Student Services, LGBTQ outreach, and a small part of Content Area Tutoring.
Our mission is two fold.
1) To assist in the student development of targeted multicultural students (African
American, Native American, Asian American with a particular emphasis on the
Hmong population, and Latinos/Latinas), students that are self identified as
‘Disadvantaged’ (First generation college student, low income, LD, etc.), students
that are identified as Nontraditional (24 years of age or older; married, divorced,
widowed; have dependents; veterans; or stopped out of college for one semester),
students that identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning. We
are to aid in this development with an emphasis on getting students connected to
the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point (UWSP) and in supporting their
learning activities.
2) To advise and lead campus administrators and faculty in creating a campus
culture that is open and inviting to all students.
This year we put all of our assessment tools in action. It was a long process, but the
information we gathered was worth the effort.
In 2007, the Office of Multicultural Affairs was targeted for a site visit/program review.
The program review was conducted in the spring by Dr. Bettina Shuford of Bowling
Green State University. A copy of Dr. Shuford’s report will be added to the web site as
an appendix to the report.
Summary Charts
600
500
400
300
Enrolled Students
200
100
0
2002
2004
2006
2008
7.00%
6.00%
5.00%
Percentage of
minority
enrollment
compared to total
UWSP enrollment
4.00%
3.00%
2.00%
1.00%
0.00%
2002
2004
2006
2008
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Retention
Rates of
Minority
Students
2002
2004
2006
2008
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
6 Year
Graduation
rates
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
1999
2001
2003
Mission, Vision, Values, and Priorities
Vision Statement - Connections
Mission Statement - The mission of the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point
Department of Multicultural Affairs is to aid in the development of a campus
environment that retains and supports multicultural and disadvantaged students, staff and
faculty. As charged by UW-System, Multicultural Affairs will provide leadership,
expertise and advocacy for the campus and regional community. It is the goal of
Multicultural Affairs to provide access to educational opportunities and assist in
preparing students to succeed in a complex and diverse world. Multicultural Affairs’
mission is accomplished through the concerted efforts of the Student Support Services,
Multicultural Resource Center, Native American Center, LGBT Outreach, Nontraditional
Student Services Office, Minority Pre-college programs, Content Area Tutoring and
Upward Bound.
Values – Promoting awareness of diversity and social justice. Advocating for
Multicultural and Disadvantaged (M/D) students. Advocating for nontraditional students.
Providing initiatives to help M/D students succeed (where success is individually
defined).
Priorities – 1. To retain all students under our umbrella at the same rate as the majority
students. 2. To help educate the campus community on issues relating to diversity and
social justice. 3. To develop relationships with the students we serve.
OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENTS
Intended Outcome
Connecting all ethnic multicultural students to the Multicultural Resource Center and the
services offered through that office. This would be a service outcome.
Current Experiences, Programs, Services, or Interventions
We promote the MCRC through various methods. We offer free printing and 11
computers in there for use of the students. We send several emails a year regarding our
services and special events or situations. We promote the MCRC at ViewPoint days and
at transfer and freshman orientations. Our biggest recruiters to the MCRC are our current
students.
Methods
We evaluate using three main methods: a daily log of visitors, an end of the year
satisfaction survey, and focus groups.
Results
From September of 2008 to April of 2009 the MCRC averaged 952 individual visits a
month. From September of 2009 to April 2010 the MCRC averaged 1,525 individual
visits a month. 33.4% of these visits were self reported as ‘social’ visits. 64.9% of these
visits were self reported as Academic/Computer. Of the 12,198 total visits, 94 were by
students that were first time visitors to the MCRC.
We sent surveys to 548 students and had 70 responses for a 12.7% return rate. 86% of
those responding listed their experience at UWSP as Excellent or good.
Some the responses about the MCRC that were found in focus groups were:
“The MCRC is my home away from home.”
“The MCRC gives me updates on the grades in my classes; this is helpful to me as a
student.”
“The MCRC is a great place to do homework and reach out for help.”
“The MCRC is in danger of becoming segregated. All the Asians sit on one side, and the
blacks sit on the other.”
Implications for practice
We literally feel on some days that we are bursting at the seams. Our assessment shows
us that many of our students that take advantage of us do so for the computers and free
printing, however we have not received an S & E budget increase in 14 years, so they end
may be near for that service. This will have to be evaluated.
Intended Outcome
We place a special emphasis on our first year (new freshman, transfers, re-entry)
students. Our plan is to contact each first year student at least twice in the first 6 weeks,
and then do several follow ups throughout the year. The goals of these contacts are to 1)
get them into the MCRC. 2) Meet with our outreach specialist. 3) Sign our success
agreement. These are service outcomes.
Current Experiences, Programs, Services, or Interventions
We are active at transfer orientation and new student orientation. We have a booth and
we actively search out the ethnic multicultural students we know to be in attendance.
Currently we email and call every first year student on our list and schedule meetings in
the first 6 weeks of school. There are also several email follow ups made as well as using
current students to bring in new students.
Methods
We logged every contact we had with every student in this demographic. We also used a
survey tool to gauge satisfaction with our services.
Results
Of the 227 new students on campus in 2009 we met with 82 or 36% of them. Of those 82
we had 98% sign our success agreement giving us permission to work with faculty on
their behalf. The numbers break down further as: we met face to face with 63% of our
new freshman, 23% of our transfers, and 38% of our re-entry students.
We had 19% of our new freshman respond to our survey. Interesting facts: Only 14%
came to us via a recruiter, 46% were recruited through a family member or friends.
81% of the respondents indicated that they were contacted by the MCRC. 84% rated
their satisfaction with the MCRC services as excellent or good.
Implications for practice
We began this spring and will continue on into the fall with using facebook and phone
calling to connect to our incoming students while they are seniors in high school. This
spring we reached over 91% (317 of 348) of those students who were accepted to come to
UWSP in the fall. The hope will be to create and maintain a relationship through their
senior year, through the summer and into the fall.
We will also work with Admissions to create a presence on Facebook just for potential
students to connect with one another.
Intended Outcome
Early intervention on a student’s behalf academically will help the student get the service
needed to pass the course. This is a service outcome.
Current Experiences, Programs, Services, or Interventions
Along with our ‘high touch’ student involvement practice, includes a highly intrusive and
aggressive advising style. To that end we send out ‘progress reports’ to faculty for any
students that request them. When the progress reports come in, we meet with the
students and discuss the implications of those progress reports. If we notice a ‘D’ or ‘F’
we reach out to the student via phone and email and encourage them to come in and read
the reports and develop a strategy for the course.
Methods
We logged every progress report that we sent out and the response rate from faculty.
Results
Fall 2009 we sent out progress reports for 122 students; spring 2010 we sent out reports
for 114 students. This translated to 535 and 548 individual reports sent out. Our return
rate was 73% in the fall and 65% in the spring.
In the fall we had 52% of the students come in and check their reports. In the spring we
had 48% come in and check their reports. Over half of the new freshman chose to view
their reports both semesters.
Implications for practice
This is one of our more successful interventions. We are able to get students tutors if
needed; we also use this tool to encourage students to drop the course if needed. Many
times the progress reports come back informing us that the student is doing quite well.
Our drop in response rate from faculty tells us that we need to develop an online version
of the report for faculty to fill out.
Intended Outcome
70% of Student Support Services’ participants will achieve good academic standing at the
end of the academic year and be retained to the next semester.
Current Experiences, Programs, Services, or Interventions
Advising/Counseling to 100% of the program participants; Tutoring to 79% of the
program participants (85% of those attending 6 or more sessions received C or better);
Study Skills to 39% of the program participants. Note: Generally speaking, this course
is geared toward new freshmen.
Methods
Data from first to second semester 2008 – 09 compared. 40 graduated; 22 did not return
for other reasons.
Results
90% were retained (220 served and 198 retained) Objective exceeded by 20%.
Implications for practice
No changes necessary at this time.
Intended Outcome
75% of all Upward Bound participants who are seniors will enroll in a program of
postsecondary education by the fall term immediately following the expected graduation
date from high school. This is a program outcome.
Current Experiences, Programs, Services, or Interventions
There is a six week summer component to the program where the students are given
extensive extra education and academics to prepare them for postsecondary education.
There are also several counseling sessions, interventions, parent meetings, and
educational sessions during their 4 year career.
Methods
The students self report and then the program also follows up with students and their
parents.
Results
In the spring of 2009 there were 13 seniors who graduated high school. In the fall of
2009 100% of those students enrolled in a postsecondary education program.
Implications for practice
No changes need to be made at this time.
Office of Multicultural Affairs Program Review
Dr. Bettina Shuford from Bowling Green State University came and did a site visit of our
program in 2008. She met with several stakeholders and each department within the unit.
Evaluation: Dr Shuford made many excellent suggestions to better our program. First
and foremost she stated the need for more strategic planning and assessment of learning
outcomes for our students.
Future Plans:
1. Developing a strategic plan for the Native American Center.
2. Better communication and outreach to the incoming freshman class.
3. Expanding the role of the office to include Nontraditional students.
4. Expand our outcomes to learning outcomes and then assess them.