Division of Student Services
Strategic Plan Update
April 14, 2006
Submitted by Shannon Ellis, Vice President of Student Services
Changes in Context
The work of Student Services is constantly shifting in response to the unexpected and
in anticipation of developments on the changing landscape of higher education.
The unexpected changes to the environmental context of our work this past year
included helping new students displaced by Hurricane Katrina, selection and then delay
of the Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) for a new Student Information System, a
change to the scope and earlier implementation date for new admission standards and
addition of California to the Western Undergraduate Exchange program. There has been
a greater than expected decline in student substance abuse violations (by 25%) for the
third year in a row and the student activism first realized during the fall 2004 presidential
campaign continues on a variety of topics including free speech.
Anticipated changes to the context included a 20% increase in the number of students
with disabilities along with an increase in the number of disabled veterans returning from
the war and continued increases in the level of psychopathology presented by our
students (12% increase in 2005 over 2004). The attrition and retention rates of students of
color continue to fluctuate with Native American males (90%) and Latinas (81%)
demonstrating the highest fall-to-fall rate of continuation versus Black non-Hispanic
students who experienced the highest fall-to-fall rate of attrition (35%). There has been
an increase in the number of faculty referrals for academic dishonesty and a dramatic
increase in the number of student appeals to such charges. In 2004-2005, there were 152
cases of academic dishonesty and 34 grade appeals; in 2003-2004 the numbers were 85
and 22. This is the direct result of more faculty using the systems in place through our
office of Student Judicial, Mediation and Advocacy Services.
Internally, the expected retirement of the Associate Vice President for Student Success
Services coupled with the less anticipated retirement of the Associate Vice President for
Student Life provided us with the opportunity to thoughtfully determine the best use of
resources in serving students through division reorganization. Several departments were
realigned and a few name changes were made to better define the scope and mission of
student services.
The embedded culture of assessment moved forward as planned with an emphasis on
applying the results to the improvement, elimination or validation of programs and
services within the Division. The results of the National Survey on Student Engagement
(NSSE) provided great opportunities for collaboration with Academic Affairs on behalf
of student success. Results from use of the Council for the Advancement of Standards
(CAS) in every Student Services department gave us some predictable outcomes as well
as some that were not. This has provided a rich set of goals for every unit in Student
Services to pursue in the year ahead.
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Update on Performance Measures
1. Agreement was reached on our “big hairy audacious goal” (BHAG) which is to
achieve the highest graduation rate of any public land grant institution with
excellent graduates who pay lifelong dividends to Nevada and the world. The
Division spent spring of 2005 in conversations to arrive at this through the
intersection of our answers to three important questions presented in Collin’s
book, Good to Great.
 What are we passionate about? Student Development
 What do we aspire to be the best in the world at? Providing excellent service
 How will we measure our success? Increased enrollment, increased retention,
increased graduation
2. The Division agreed that a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno will
demonstrate global awareness and responsible citizenship; critical thinking and
problem solving; academic mastery; developed identity; and communication
skills.
3. The BHAG and competencies are being achieved through Student Services
success at:
 providing a diverse living, learning environment that enhances health, growth,
development opportunities, retention and financial success
 helping students to graduate
 promoting the individual growth of students
 working effectively as a team to offer consistently excellent, innovative
customer service to all our constituencies
 building a new student union
 developing academically successful, independent learners
Examples of their achievement include:
4. The integration of academics in the residence halls enriched students’ learning
and is contributing to increased retention. This was realized through four livinglearning communities (LLC’s) in the halls that placed residents in mutual classes
with faculty offices on the floor and other cultural and social forms of interaction
to enhance the classroom experience. Students in the LLC had a 93% retention
rate fall to spring as compared to 88% for students living in the halls but not in an
LLC. Through a highly successfully academic intervention program, the
Residential Life staff focused on freshmen with GPAs below a 2.0 at the end of
their first semester. All 186 students residing on campus with less than a 2.0 GPA
were required to participate in the academic intervention program. Of those, 76%
improved their GPA’s.
5. The retention of first-year students living in the halls for fall 2005 and spring
2006 was higher for those living in the halls than those living off campus.
6. NSSE results led us to pursue best practices recommended by the NSSE authors.
This led to mandatory advising for incoming freshmen (implemented by
academics for spring 2005). This also resulted in expansion of pilot programs in
the CORE to university-wide implementation of mid-term progress reports on a
voluntary basis.
7. The reorganization and streamlined version of senior student affairs officers
allowed for reallocation to upgrade staffing in the southern Nevada recruitment
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2
office. This has been a key priority in the Division’s strategic plan, finally
realized with the hiring of former College Board administrator, Everett Jackson to
lead our aggressive and thoroughly professional effort down south. This comes on
top of a significant increase in the number of applicants and enrollees from Clark
County in the fall 2005 freshmen class. We have realized 100 more Clark County
admits this year as compared to last year at this time (April, 2006).
8. With this success, our challenge is retaining students from Las Vegas. As
indicated in last year’s update, assessment revealed a higher than the normal
attrition rate for freshmen in this group. Barb King, Coordinator of Academic
Intervention, agreed to develop a program to retain Las Vegas students. She based
her program development on results of a prior year’s study of Las Vegas students.
We will be able to assess her program’s effectiveness beginning fall 2006.
9. Recruitment and retention of students of color remains a challenge. As our
enrollment grows, our 16% students of color remains constant with a gradual
increase in overall numbers. This past year, we saw a decrease in Native
American students (181 to 165) and an increase in Hispanic/Latino students
(1068) that surpassed Asian/Pacific Islander students (1047) to become our largest
student of color group. Retention of students of color is uneven and sporadic from
year to year. While 90% (81 of 86) of Native American freshmen males returned
for their sophomore year, we hope to increase this small number. African
American males continue to persist at low rates while Hispanic/Latino males have
significantly improved in their retention rate the past few years.
10. We moved ahead with much fiscal success and good consensus with the students
to finalize the design, layout, funding and naming of the Joe Crowley Student
Union. Strong working relationships with ASUN as well as colleagues in Finance
& Administration has been critical to this progress. Penta Construction has been
selected to begin construction on the building in April 2006 with a completion
date in early fall 2007. Coupled with the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, this
addition to campus will create a vibrant campus life for current and future
students.
11. Every department in Student Services completed an internal and external review
of their programs and services using the CAS (Council for the Advancement of
Standards in Higher Education). This was a year and a half-long process that
resulted in useful self scrutiny as well as outside expert opinions of our
operations. The CAS standards were chosen because they emphasize the high
quality and most effective organization of programs and services for students.
Each standard has 13 components: mission; program; leadership; organization and
management; human resources; financial resources; facilities; technology and
equipment; legal responsibilities; equity and access; campus and external
relations; diversity; ethics; and assessment and evaluation. Using CAS Standards
was a major contribution to the assessment and accountability climate, which is
very important in higher education right now. We believe they will help us serve
students with clear reference to learning and development outcomes. This occurs
by focusing on engagement which complements our work with NSSE.
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12. Admissions and enrollment:
Target markets
Clark County
Washoe
WUE
Good neighbor
Students of
color
Overall
freshmen
# admits
2004
413
1113
375
218
506
# admits
2005
533
1226
342
311
599
3657
4032
% change
18.8
10.2
-8.8
42.7
18.8
Enrolled
2004
413
850
140
84
323
Enrolled
2005
533
930
138
136
385
16.4
2089
2334
%change
20.4
9.3
-1.4
61.9
19.2
12.2
Student profile:
ACT 2004
ACT 2005
change
22.4
22.7
0.3
SAT 2004
SAT 2005
change
1057
1061
4
2004 GPA
2005 GPA
change
3.36
3.37
0.01
Student Retention:
 Full-time first-time freshmen fall 2003-04: 76%
 Full-time first time freshmen fall 2004-05: 76%
Millennium Scholarship Program Semester Eligibility Results, Fall 2005:
Total Millennium Scholars
Total #
Average GPA
Scholars Maintaining Eligibility
Total #
Total %
5,766
4,628
3.04
80%
Scholars Not Maintaining
Eligibility
Total #
Total %
1,138
20%
13. Financial Aid experienced an increase in FAFSA filers from 10,000 in 2004 to
over 11,000 in 2005. 11,251 students in 04-05 were assisted with some type of aid
(1675 graduate students and 9576 undergraduate students). Over $85 million in
aid was expended.
14. Five mental health counselors have been added since the implementation of the
counseling fee. The wait list was eliminated for fall of 2005.
15. Retention of students who received tutoring was 8.5% higher than those who were
not; the retention rate for students of color who were tutored was 7.1% higher
than those who were not. There was a 10% increase in students scheduled for
tutoring and an 18% increase in group sessions created.
16. DARS exception volume decreased by 28% since 2003 and processing time
diminished to 2 days for most programs.
17. Residence halls housed 86% (456/533) of first-time, full-time freshmen from
Southern Nevada in 2005. Overall occupancy was 101%. The cumulative GPA
for residence hall students spring and fall 2005 was 3.0.
18. In preparation for the increase in admissions standards this fall, two years ago we
established an office to assist students who are considered special admits. In Fall
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of 2006, our largest class of special admits will be enrolled due to increased
admissions standards and allowable increases to the number of students we may
enroll in this status. 92% of the fall 2005 ACCESS cohort was retained for spring
semester and 100% evaluated the program as very beneficial. We will carefully
monitor the success of this program and assess not only its effectiveness at
retaining students but the need for additional resources.
19. Student Services is home to five federally funded TRiO Programs sponsored by
the University (three Upward Bounds, TRiO Scholars and Ronald E. McNair).
Nearly 97% of these Upward Bound students graduated from high school and all
but one were admitted to an institution of higher education. Nearly 90% of them
entered UNR. The existence of these programs is determined by reauthorization
of the Higher Education Act scheduled to occur sometime in 2006. We continue
to monitor this for its impact on the nearly 400 students we serve.
Resource Needs and Priorities
As the student population grows so do five particular areas related to success and
retention. Three of these have been mentioned in prior strategic plans and the fourth and
fifth took us by surprise.
The first is the student of color population which must increase in greater numbers to
achieve our goal of 25% by 2011. This should be addressed across the campus and in a
variety of areas but particularly in Student Services. Increased efforts in recruitment and
retention are necessary. The addition of operational funds and staff with an expertise in
the unique needs of these students is required. Staff and funds will be directed to efforts
that will be most effective at attracting, retaining and graduating students of color.
The second is providing accommodations to the rapidly increasing number of students
with disabilities. Projected growth figures:
 Fall 2005-summer 2006: Projected growth to 981 students (currently serving 911)
 Fall 2006-summer 2007: Projected growth to 1,128 students (15% increase)
 Fall 2007-summer 2008: Projected growth to 1,297 students (15% increase)
The third is funding to attract the best and the brightest. While we have targeted
outreach programs to national merit scholars and others of that same caliber, we lack the
scholarship funds to compete with out-of-state institutions offering more than full rides to
their institution. The excellent work of Honors Program staff continues to create a strong
academic offering to the best and brightest coming to the University. The University’s
goal to successfully recruit, retain and graduate top scholars in Nevada and the west will
be achieved through a Student Services/Academic Affairs strategic initiative.
The fourth is parent involvement and need for services. For years, we resisted
engaging parents in much more than an orientation day despite increasing involvement in
their students’ lives. We finally determined that parents could be a vital ally in our efforts
to help students stay in school and graduate. With this in mind, we created a program in
the Student Success area that has snowballed into a massive undertaking due to parent
response. Very few resources were set aside for this initial effort. It is clear that we will
need to determine future requests and reallocation for portion of a staff person’s time to
handle the list serve, two-day orientation, southern Nevada August send-off, Parent’s
weekend, monthly parent newsletters and other activities to inform and engage parents of
our students.
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The fifth has been the heightened awareness to renovate buildings on campus,
including Lincoln and Manzanita Halls. Renovation of all residential facilities occurs on
a well planned basis, but must include forethought to save funds for such retrofits and
upgrades. Some facilities require monumental resources that call upon the state to assist.
While this is being pursued in partnership with the President’s office, Finance &
Administration and the Provost, we are also assessing decisions if funding for the most
costly renovations is not realized.
Department
Scholarship Office
Scholarship Office
Center for Student
Cultural Diversity
(CSCD)
Office for Prospective
Students
Office for Prospective
Students
Disability Resource
Center
Residential Life
Assistant VP for Student
Success Services
Goal
Successfully recruit best
and brightest in Nevada
to UNR
Provide renewable four
year scholarships to
students
Increase students of
color through
recruitment and
retention
Increase students of
color through
recruitment and
retention
Successfully recruit best
and brightest in Nevada
to UNR
Accommodate students
with disabilities
Seismic Renovation
Create a designated staff
position to provide
parent services and
programs year-round
Resources Needed
Scholarships
Budget
$174,000
Additional scholarship $
$4,000,000
Add additional staff
person for CSCD with
operational budget.
45,000 (R2) + $5,000
Additional recruiter for
students of color and
operational budget
45,000 (R2) + $10,000
Recruiter for best and
brightest and operational
funds
Funds to provide staff
and equipment
Cost of labor, materials
and expertise to
renovate the oldest
residence halls on
campus
.50 fte + operational
budget
$45,000 (R2) +
$40,000
$129,126
$12,000,000
$22,500 (R2 .50) +
$2,000
Space is always a concern. The opportunity presented by the vacating of the Jot Travis
building in 2007-2008 will allow Student Services to vacate space in five different
buildings and come together under one roof. We will co-locate with the Davidson
Academy. This will give back much needed space to academics and residential life.
We reserved funding to split the cost of a development coordinator with Development.
Our search failed and as yet, no one has been hired. This is a setback to goals made
particularly for the Joe Crowley Student Union and scholarship priorities. We will try
again this year.
Suggested New Programs, Plans and Initiatives
The implementation of strategic initiatives in Student Services has depended upon the
work of cross-division and cross-campus strategic implementation teams (SITs). This
past year, we realized the growth of two new SITs - one pursing diversity initiatives and
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6
the other pursuing student health and safety. Their leadership has moved these two
important areas into the forefront of our professional development with a series of
workshops and activities that involve the division. The additional SITs include
Assessment & Research; Enrollment, Access & Opportunity; Graduate Students;
Residential Community; and Retention & Persistence. Their work touches upon those
areas in which we are realizing success (i.e. implementation of effective assessment
plans) and those in which we are not achieving our expectations (i.e. student of color
recruitment and retention).
Of particular note are new program ideas from within the Division. These include:
 a QPR (Question Persuade Refer) Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention Program
 Redesign of the ASUN Bookstore online services to allow faculty to submit
textbook requisitions electronically
 Creation of additional bed space on the first floor of Juniper Hall once vacated
 “Back on Track,” a new drug court model for Student Judicial Services, funded
by the National Judicial College and the Nevada Department of Juvenile Justice
 Implementation of the first Greek Life assessment plan, including research on a
profile of the membership of all social Greek organizations and the impact of
participation in these organizations on student academic success
 Organize a Council of Presidents composed of multi-cultural, social Greek
chapters and adoption of a relationship agreement with multi-cultural groups
The year ahead will focus a great deal on the self study and accreditation visit
preparation in 2007. The Division’s CAS review has provided the perfect setting to
write a thorough and useful self study. We believe the process will assist us in our desire
to achieve our goal of achieving higher graduation rates with excellent graduates, while
best serving current and future students as well as our academic colleagues, the region
and State of Nevada.
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7