Student Success and Admissions Committee Fall 2014
1. Members:
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Cheryl Ramos (Social Sciences)
Gail Makuakane-Lundin (Admissions)
Ginger Hamilton (International students)
Norman Arancon (Agriculture)
Todd Shumway (Global Exchange)
Julie Adrian (pregnancy leave in the spring) (Pharmacy)
Jonathan Awaya (on leave but will join us in the spring) (Natural Sciences)
Faith Mishina (Humanities)
2. The Committee was invited to express possible issues to tackle on how we can best help
students.
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Todd Shumway: the ambiguous admission standards concerning the TOEFL. He
expressed that they are confusing and not resolved for incoming students. The students
have to take a placement test after they arrive if their TOEFL score is under 600. The
results may put them in ELI which doesn’t count as college credit and is costly.
Action: Julie Mowrer from ELI will be invited to the next meeting to present the
issues concerning the TOEFL.
Problem: Raising the TOEFL score from 500 to 550 reduces tuition dollars.
Problem: Conditional Admissions for students less than 550 would require a lot of
counseling support.
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Gail Makuakane-Lundin proposed several plans of action.
1) We need to clarify and make consistent the message of who we are. Example: We
advertise small classes but not all classes are small. Our Identity as a school is not a
as well defined as it should be nor is it culturally grounded.
2) We need to take inventory of our courses. Do we still offer all classes in the catalog?
This is a source of discontent and a reason for loss of students.
3) Proactive follow-up on applications for admissions. We need to humanize the
initial contacts, making these contacts much more personal such as a video clip with
a live face on it.
4) She suggests that faculty need to be involved in personal recruitment as well as
student ambassadors.
5) She will send us the “Leaver Survey,” the survey of students that left and why
they left. We can discuss the trends.
Action: It was suggested that Chris Frueh be invited to the next meeting to talk about
Admissions.
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Ginger Hamilton offered several suggestions.
1) We should develop more partnerships/programs to reach out to high school
students.
2) We should have outreach to the community by cosponsoring events, especially
with under-represented groups.
3) We should create more faculty mentors for under-represented groups as there is a
lack of faculty role models from similar ethnic backgrounds.
4) Strengthen connections and relations with the staff at the Community Colleges.
5) Consider how to create more scholarships and paid internships for students.
3. In the next meeting, after listening to Chris Frueh and Julie Mowrer, the committee, by
consensus, will decide which issues will be tackled and in what order. We are only an advisory
committee. As such, if we wish to have any positive effect, practical considerations help. Given
the fact that the student body is 2.79% down, raising any entrance requirements would reduce
tuition dollars and would be rejected by administration.
Submitted by Faith Mishina
Faculty Congress Meeting
September 19, 2014