Retention Initiatives
Progress Report
No.
3
An update for the Pace Community on Retention
January 2016
Compiled by the Division for Student Success
Overview
There has been great progress made over the past year with Pace’s 1st - 2nd year retention efforts!
The Pace Path to graduation is founded on an intentional first-year academic experience; deepened by fouryear advisement and mentoring; enhanced by diverse co-curricular experiences; and underpinned by predictive
analytics. Our focus, therefore, has been primarily on enhancing academic advising, supporting students from
specific cohorts, and deepening co-curricular engagement.
This newsletter outlines several key accomplishments over the past year along with our plans moving forward.
Retention is everyone’s responsibility, and it is important to acknowledge the efforts we all make and celebrate
our collaborative successes!
Rising Retention!
We are pleased to announce that the overall University first-year, full-time retention rate for the 2014
cohort is 77.6% for all students (including CAP). This is significant as it marks not only an increase in the
retention rate, but it is the first time since the 2001-2003 cohorts that we have seen three consecutive years of
76% or better.
Retention
Year
University
-wide
1st Year
Retention
NYC
st
1 Year
Retention
PLV
st
1 Year
Retention
Universitywide
6-year
Graduation
NYC
6-year
Graduation
PLV
6-year
Graduation
19-year
Average
75.2
74.0
77.5
54.6
52.4
58.8
2014
77.6
76.8
79.6
2020
Target
79.2
78.7
83.3
58.9
56.6
66.0
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UNV 101 and Advising
UNV 101 Changes: Based on the university-wide UNV 101 review led by the UNV 101 Faculty Advisory Boards
during fall 2015, the following changes will take effect beginning fall 2016: (1) UNV 101 will be shortened to 13
weeks for the semester and each class will be reduced to 1 ½ hours; (2) more full-time faculty will be sought to
teach the course; and (3) two different tracks will be offered for faculty and staff teaching UNV 101, one which
includes year-long advising and one which includes only teaching UNV 101 (with the professional Advisors
handling the course registration piece). It is our hope that these changes will result in more full-time faculty
interest in teaching the course and engaging first-year students early on. The content of UNV 101 remains the
same.
Advising Review, Plans, and Progress: A comprehensive advising review was undertaken over the summer
and fall of 2015 which resulted in a number of recommendations. Moving forward, we will focus on: (1)
addressing long-standing and systemic issues that make life complicated for students and advisors; (2) utilizing
predictive analytics to enable better targeting of interventions for students in need; and (3) increasing our use
of student success platforms to enhance the advising experience.
The advising review also highlighted the many accomplishments over the past year, including the following:
Pace is hiring 4 new professional Advisors on the NYC campus (2 in Lubin, 2 in Dyson) to ensure more
appropriate Advisor-student ratios for student retention and success and to help students navigate the
Pace Path.
Implementation of Degree Works has helped students monitor their academic progress toward
graduation.
Great strides have been made in providing proactive, holistic, comprehensive advising for first-year
students. This is evidenced by this past year’s National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE) results,
which revealed that Pace consistently achieved a higher positive mean score for advising than our peer
institutions on all questions for first-year students.
Registration holds are now placed on all first-year students to help ensure registration advisement.
All first and second-year students are formally assigned to Academic Advisors, whose names are
uploaded into Banner for display on the Portal and Degree Works. This will help to ensure that students
know who their Advisor is.
The first annual, university-wide Advising Month was developed to help ensure that students schedule
their advising appointments early and are as prepared for registration as possible.
Student Support
Increased Use of Academic Progress System: In fall 2015, as a result of robust outreach and
communication, a record 81% of faculty submitted academic alerts, which is an increase from 75% last
year and an average of 40% previously. Alerts were used by Advisors in conjunction with a dashboard
(highlighting key data for each student) to reach out to these students and provide the necessary
support. We hope to increase this number even further with a new academic alert system, which is part
of our Student Success and Retention platform, Starfish.
Student Support Services (SSS) Grant Program: Thanks to Dr. Maria Iacullo-Bird, Assistant Dean in
Dyson College, last semester Pace secured a million dollar grant from the U.S. Dept. of Education
federal TRIO program, which enables us to serve up to 160 first and second-year students on the NYC
campus. In recognition of the importance of non-cognitive factors in college student retention and
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timely graduation, the grant will deploy both student peer mentors and graduate student coaches who
will provide a broad array of services related to academic, financial, career and personal support for
participants. These support teams will provide one-on-one and small-group mentoring, tutoring and
discussion sessions.
Leadership, Engagement and Action Program (LEAP): A second program
for first-year students on the NYC campus was rolled out by the Division for
Student Success (in collaboration with Student Development and Campus
Activities and the Office for Housing and Residential Life) in the fall 2015
semester. This program offers group workshops and individual mentoring
sessions with team leaders to effectively support the engagement, cocurricular involvement, personal growth, and ultimately retention of students
from selected cohorts.
CAP-Embedded Tutoring: In Fall 2014, CAP-NY initiated a pilot to provide additional academic
support for its students who were taking English 110. Two sections had embedded writing tutors who
attended classes and then met with their students weekly in the Writing Center for additional support
for the entire semester. Higher grades and retention rates, along with a lower percentage of
participating students being put on probation, led CAP to expand the embedded tutor pilot to all CAP
English 110 sections for both semesters of the 2015-2016 academic year.
Tutoring Center: For the 2014-15 academic year the NYC Tutoring Center saw a 7.6% increase in visits
for a total of 9,991 and a 14% increase in individual student use for a total of 1,848 students. Much of
this growth is attributable to the review program which is being continued and expanded. In addition,
the Accelerated CAP Math Program was continued, which offers students who place into Math 100 on
their Math Placement Exam the opportunity to take accelerated versions of Math 100 and 103 as Term
A and B courses. The percentage of students moving onto Math 104 in the spring grew to 80% in fall
2015, an increase from 55% in fall 2014. For the 2014-15 academic year the PLV Tutoring Center saw a
48% increase in visits for a total of 14,850. Much of the growth is attributed to increased use by upperclass students who have made habituated usage of the Tutoring Center.
Library: Foot traffic in the Birnbaum Library on the NYC campus increased by 23,377 in 2015 compared
to 2014. In the Mortola Library on the PLV campus, building usage increased by 4,052 in the fall 2015
semester compared to fall 2014. Both libraries offered extended hours during midterms and finals
which were well utilized. This supports our university-wide initiative to create a “culture of study” by
encouraging students to make robust use of the library’s resources and services.
Pace Path
4-Year Plans and Mentoring: The Pace Path, now in its second year, is an innovative program unique
to Pace University that helps each student become successful in college, career, and life. Students
develop strengths in managing oneself, interpersonal relations, and
organizational awareness through co-curricular activities within an
academic program. This is accomplished through collaboration with
Pace faculty, advisors, staff, coaches and mentors. In Fall 2015,
approximately 95% of first-year students in completed their Pace Path
Four Year Plans. Additionally, of the 35 students who participated in
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the Mentoring Program, 32 (91.4%) completed the mentorship. Between 100-150 students will have
participated in the Mentoring Program during this academic year. For more information on the Pace
Path, go to: www.pace.edu/PacePath or contact Dr. Brian Evans: bevans@pace.edu.
4PD: In the spring 2016 semester, first-year students will have the opportunity to participate in the
Pace Path Personal and Professional Development (4PD) series, which is an interactive workshop series
that develops Pace Path learning goals. The 4PD workshops are led by Pace faculty, staff, and alumni,
and the presenter provides an interactive session while giving students valuable information aligned to
the Pace Path. Students who wish to earn a certificate of completion must attend a minimum of five
one-hour workshops on topics aligned to the Pace Path learning goals and complete a reflective essay
at the end of the spring semester that addresses the actionable steps students will take to achieve their
goals. Examples of 4PD sessions include critical/reflective thinking, communication, organizational
culture, financial literacy, healthy living, travel abroad opportunities, reducing mathematics anxiety, and
information technology. There will be a total of about 51 workshops between the two campuses. For
more information on 4PD, go to: www.pace.edu/4PD.
Early Pace Path Summer Support: Pace is planning for a 3-pronged initiative beginning in the
summer of 2016 to provide - free of charge - several cohorts of entering first-year students with an
opportunity to get a jump-start on their Pace Path to success:
1) a 6-week, summer bridge course (in person or online) for students in need of developmental
mathematics;
2) a 5-day, early immersion program for 50 students from vulnerable populations (e.g., first
generation, high financial need, and historically under-represented) focusing on such topics as
non-cognitive skill building, academic expectations/planning, financial literacy, and college
navigation; and
3) hiring several Financial Literacy Advisors who will meet with pre-identified, incoming students
and their parents/guardians (those with high financial need) to help them prepare for, and
understand the costs of a Pace education and their financing options.
Co-curricular Experience
First Year Interest Groups (FIGs): Pleasantville Residential Life and Housing has had the opportunity to
implement a number of high-impact initiatives thanks to dedicated staff and new facilities over the last
semester. The FIG program, designed to fully engage students through theme-based programs, has
continued to grow. The fall semester saw 50 FIG programs, an increase of 18.78% in attendance, and a
dedicated Faculty Partner for each of the 7 FIGs who work closely with FIG students. The first Faculty in
Residence, Dr. Robert Mundy, has had an excellent success in programming, reaching over 75 students
during various programs that allow them to enhance writing skills, connect with faculty, and even work
towards publishing research. Satellite hours of the Writing Center in Alumni Hall were well-utilized.
Shades: A Wo/men of Color Collective + Mentoring Program:
The Shades
Collective offers the spectrum of women of color and their allies an opportunity to network, meet likeminded peers, form friendships, be mentored, and have a resource to provide advocacy and referral as
well as have a place to “talk,” whether it’s about academic or personal issues. Shades, which features a
new name and logo (designed to be more inclusive of Pace’s trans students), currently has an active
roster of 54 students who participate in the weekly discussion groups and workshops.
For feedback or information on how you can participate in the implementation of the retention plan, please contact Sue
Maxam: smaxam@pace.edu or Adèle MacKinlay: amackinlay@pace.edu.
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