RECRUITMENT 1. Grade 10-11-12 Recruitment Process Modifications Engaging HS Faculty: Improve or develop a positive rapport with faculty from local high schools who are in a position to provide guidance to students about college (college prep courses). CCSU faculty currently engages HS students, but there is no concerted effort to engage with HS faculty. By engaging the HS faculty, we have the opportunity to indirectly target more students and indirectly engage students at multiple levels. This can be accomplished by inviting HS faculty to a sequence of summer/winter meetings (workshops) where they participate in activities that can be either reproduced at the local high school or can be a collaborative project between CCSU faculty and HS faculty. An example of science activities: A. HS faculty would be taught how to perform a specific laboratory technique or set of techniques that they can then integrate into their courses either via demonstration, student participation or a collaborative project (outlined below): 1. Biology HS faculty builds into their curriculum a section on microbiology where students are challenged to find the areas of the school with the greatest and lowest concentrations of microbes. 2. HS students swab different areas (classroom, shoes, counters, etc.) to collect microbial samples 3. HS faculty members help students “plate” the samples 4. CCSU Faculty members incubate the inoculated plates and return the plates and results back to the HS faculty Other activities could involve departments from each School – Theatre, Modern Languages, Art, Music, etc Dual Enrollment Develop a dual enrollment program with area high schools that would permit qualified high school juniors and seniors to enroll at CCSU as non-matriculated students. Dual enrollment students would earn credits that apply to both their high school graduation requirements and a bachelor’s degree. Students would attend CCSU courses on the main campus and in classes with our current students A. To be eligible to participate, students would need to achieve a minimum high school grade point average. Preference could be given to students who have expressed an interest in enrolling at CCSU following high school graduation. These students could be identified from PSAT/SAT data or from high school guidance counselor recommendations. 1 B. This strategy would support recruitment efforts by providing potential CCSU students with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the institution, accelerate degree completion and reduce student debt. Course selection and registration would be on an “as available basis” with a registration start date after all current CCSU matriculated students have been given the opportunity to register for classes. C. Tuition and fees would be waived for students selected to participate in the program. The Connecticut Community Colleges have a similar program called High School Partnership. Host more state-wide academic competitions, high school and college. CCSU is centrally located, has excellent facilities as well as qualified faculty and staff to assist with coordination. Promote and embrace our successes and offerings! CCSU has been too modest about student, staff and faculty successes. CCSU needs to broadly communicate our offerings and events (Robotics and Lego competitions, lactation and tranquility rooms are a few examples). Communication Plan with Prospective Students Communication methods for prospective students are built to attract and sustain student interest from inquiries to applicant, utilizing a systematic approach that includes different communication modes (i.e. direct mail, e-mail, phone calls) should result in yielding a positive return. A. Personalized messaging to specific student populations (prospective Honors students, transfer students) a) Distribute at recruitment events: Travel pieces Step-by-Step Guides for high school students Fact cards b) Distribute through online and mail channels: Personalized e-mails Expanded information booklets Postcards Publications should promote web site visits, Publications should promote Office contacts (as well as other University contacts) and campus visit opportunities, Communication regarding housing, orientation, First Year Advising, and financial aid should be coordinated with those offices, Current publications should be updated in content and design, All publications should be formally approved c) Prospective and Freshman Student Communication flows: For Freshman Travel, Student Initiated, Faculty Recruiting, Campus Tours, Referrals; Web Inquiries and Web matches: 2 Thank you for your interest postcard Freshman information piece Campus visit postcard Housing Financial aid There is still time to apply postcard Do you still have questions postcard d) Transfer Communication Flow: For Transfer Travel, Student Initiated, Faculty Recruiting, Campus Tours, Referrals, Web Inquiries and Web matches: Thank you for your interest postcard Transfer information piece Campus visit postcard Transfer Equivalencies postcard Financial aid Housing There is still time to apply postcard Do you still have questions postcard e) Non-Traditional Communication Flow: For Student Initiated, Campus Tours, Referrals, Web Inquiries and Web matches: Thank you for your interest postcard Non-traditional information piece Campus visit postcard Campus services to help you postcard o Financial Aid, Advising, Housing, etc. There is still time to apply postcard Do you still have questions postcard B. Develop and monitor the prospect pool to achieve recruitment and enrollment goals by: 1) Purchase senior and junior student names (PSAT,SAT, ACT, NRCCUA [National Research Center for College & University Admissions]) 2) Attend state-wide, regional and local recruitment events such as, NACAC (National Association for College Admission Counseling), and school initiated recruitment programs 3) Hosting three regional information sessions 4) Working to ensure that the Office of Recruitment and Admissions is involved with campus event that includes prospective students 5) Participate in CollegeWeekLive online events 6) Participate in Cappex.com (college application exchange) online college search platform 7) Participate in listing with Campus Explorer 8) Provide recruitment and admission materials to faculty and staff who are involved with schools and/or associations who reach out to college bound student 9) Advertise (print and/or online) targeting specific populations 3 10) Assess previous year’s recruitment efforts 11) Set priorities for event attendance, based on previous experiences, application/enrollment Numbers 12) Host regional information sessions in: Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury, Shoreline & Fairfield County 13) Work to ensure that All Offices are involved with campus events that include prospective students Send email to deans and directors Provide sample hard copy package to deans and directors 14) Participate in CollegeWeekLive online events 15) Participate in Cappex.com online college search platform: Use the Regional Event Promotion Tool to promote regional receptions and open house Reach out to HS counselors 16) Participate in listing with Campus Explorer 17) Provide recruitment and admission materials to faculty and staff who are involved with schools and/or associations who reach out to college bound students Send email to deans and directors Provide sample hard copy package to deans and directors 18) Advertise and marketing (print and online) targeting specific populations in a timely fashion Two year college newspapers: admissions deadlines and majors Four year college newspapers: summer Transfer opportunities School Counselor Association publications: programs (guidance counselors, educators) C. Develop communication to build and enhance relationships with school counselors and teachers through: 1) Special events (Counselor luncheon, breakfast with counselors the morning of the regional receptions) 2) E-mail: A. Through Counselor database B. Through our own counselor database 3) Information drops to counselors (hand delivery to ensure receipt of information and to make face-to-face contact). D. Develop communications and strategies to recruit special desired populations: 1) Honors students Update Honors Program brochure Mail honors invitation letter to qualified applicants Include Honors Program in Cappex, College Week Live, and Campus Explorer. Include Honors Program brochure at all recruiting programs and counselor information drops Emails from current Honors Student to prospective Honors students Phone calls from current Honors Students to qualified applicants 2) Transfer students 4 Place print ads in campus newspapers at regional colleges and universities where we have had more than 5 Transfer students Include Transfer information in Fall and Spring class closed letters Send letter to Fall and Spring admitted students who did not come and have a regional meetings Letter reminding them about summer Transfer enrollment 3) Out of state students Post link to out-of-state tuition waiver on Admissions web page Travel to selected out-of-state programs 4) International students Participate in College Week Live and Department of State’s International Student day Purchase one year access to College Week Live’s AlwaysON capability (enables students to visit our virtual college fair booths any time of the day or night. Receive a monthly report of all activity) Provide university and admission information to faculty traveling to other countries Upon Request E. Post-admit communication to increase yield of all student types with emphasis on: 1) Freshman 2) Transfer ALL PROGRAMS o Send emails to all teachers in districts within a 35-mile radius of CCSU with information about our programs at strategic times throughout the year. Sixth Year (092) and Superintendent (093) o Identify “locations” for cohorts (working on Enfield area, Cromwell area, and Torrington area for 092 and 093); have considered Middlesex Association of Schools and northeast corner of CT. o Create an urban focused Sixth Year program and Superintendent program o Create Advisory board with key superintendents and principals o Create a yearlong (15 credit) superintendent program that can compete with UCONN (Summer to summer) Department website-feature student successes-Ed. D. completion, promotion to leadership positions, faculty research and community engagement, feature adjunct faculty, include advisory board, work with Jamaica, Multicultural perspectives. Explore new relationships and institutionalize more structures to support ongoing relationships with area high schools and middle schools to recruit prospective students. Programmatically develop mentorship relationships as part of field experience with students who identify as secondary students who are choosing to pursue teaching. Develop accountability and protocols to maximize the impact of mentorship in area schools. Focus on college readiness and teacher preparation. Create outreach with parents of students at area high schools. 5 Professors guest speak about the teacher education program at CCSU to high school students. Create an inter-departmental committee that oversees recruitment and outreach events. Target representatives from key communities and partnerships. Reach out to freshman and sophomores through general education courses that focus on serving communities (community engagement courses). Survey partner districts and align our outreach efforts with their goals around college readiness. Advertise! Take out an ad in high school yearbooks. Work with CCSU marketing to develop radio, television, billboard, and Internet advertisements. Develop weblog or Facebook page for the department Invest in recruitment materials that focus on the quality of the programs, the cost/affordability, and strengths and benefits (such as return on the investment in terms of future professional advancement) of advanced certification in reading and language arts. In addition, highlight the same information in department website. Redesign department website to attract inquiries and respond to inquiries promptly, including follow up. Follow up by phone call and/or email students whose applications are incomplete. Involve faculty in scheduled visits to schools in target districts to meet with teachers about our programs, admission/application process, and other relevant information. Allow on-the-spot application. Explore partnership agreements with school districts focusing on our current cohort model (perhaps a summer to summer program). Capitalize on the Annual Literacy Essentials Conference, the Central Connecticut Writing Project (CCWP), and the International Reading Association (IRA) Honors Society (for pre-service teachers) to disseminate materials and information about our programs. Grade 10-11-12 recruitment process modifications o Establish relationships with high school administration and specific curriculum areas: Music, Math, History, English o Schedule on campus events and invite high schools to participate o Promote shared learning activities between high school students and college clubs Establish high school summer academy programs for students in our surrounding communities, in particular targeting low-income communities. Build in field work/clinical experience, hands-on education. Incorporate “outward-bound” type of experiences. Further refine pipeline programs for community college students pursuing careers in social work and teacher education. Provide student scholarships; 6 incentivize CCSU faculty to deliver introductory courses on site at community colleges. Build new pipelines programs for community college pre-BSN students and EXS/Athletic Training students. Provide student scholarships; incentivize CCSU faculty to deliver introductory courses on site at community colleges. Initiate a recruiting program through the New Britain Boys & Girls Club that would bring their students to campus periodically, perhaps once a month. Work specifically with their leadership and mentoring clubs - Torch Club, Smart Girls, and Smart Moves. Suggested activities could include athletic events, assistance in completing a college application, inclusion in appropriate activities sponsored by Student Activities and general mentoring. Possibly offer workshops to their parents on financial aid and college topics. Host an “accepted student’s day” prior to May 1to showcase campus, as well as, our programs and services that will encourage accepted students to confirm. Award CCSU college credit through high schools like UCONN and the community colleges do. This will improve awareness and interest in CCSU. Improve the CCSU Website to make it more exciting, dynamic, navigable, comprehensive and appealing to prospective students. Institute a two-step/two person transfer credit evaluation process which would improve accuracy and reduce the number of courses accepted as electives. The first step would initiate the evaluation, as is currently done in Admissions. The second step would review the initial evaluation in consideration of the student’s major, and consult with appropriate deans and/or department chairs and edit the evaluation if necessary. This would present a more appealing scenario to the transfer student and increase the likeliness of the student coming to campus and eventually enrolling. Share BANNER information with all CONNSCU schools. Save paper, save time, save headaches for students. The Office of Admissions might bring students from particular majors with them to information sessions at local high schools. High school students tend to listen better to people closer to their age; and Create graduate programs that would attract specific groups. Example: Create a generic Masters in Nursing degree program that could have a specific track for nurse educators and another track for nursing informatics. Utilize faculty from education and computer technology for teaching some of the courses in the tracks. Audit internal practices for dealing with adult students. Practices need to be different for the nontraditional student. Class times, on-line options, weekend formats 7 Create a focus group of current adult students and ask them how the institution could better serve them Master’s level adult students have different expectations. Ensure they are being offered top notch instruction. Evaluate all full-time and part-time faculty teaching Survey applicants who did not complete the admission process. For example: The three programs in Counselor Education (School, Professional/Rehabilitation, Student Development) had 28 incomplete applications. It is not known why these applicants did not complete the process. The files contain addresses and emails so they could be contacted and asked a checklist of questions as to why Graduate Assistantships that include tuition benefits Increase programs aimed specifically at commuter students--especially if we are increasingly recruiting from cohorts that might not have the resources to go full time or live on campus Increase current student involvement in OPEN HOUSES/ACADEMIC AFFAIRS (representatives from every academic/extracurricular club should be represented) Have student panels discussing why they chose CCSU; what they currently like best Make videos of a "Day in the life..." show student in dorm waking up, going to class, studying, extracurricular activity, going to bed", add cool music Do video above for international students but add the student speaking the native language Have student ambassadors personally call or hand write note saying to prospect "Hope to see you next year" (no MASS MAILINGS) Have student ambassadors do recruitment visits to the high schools where they graduated Short presentations (1.) on campus to incoming freshman classes (First Year Experience classes and others and (2.) off campus to high school students such as done at the Pathways to Technology Magnet School, Windsor, CT. On campus presentations have been delivered by MIS professors and off campus presentations are designed to be presented by a recent MIS program graduate assisted by an MIS professor. Students reached with these on-and off-campus presentations number approximately 250-275 per year. Electronic mailings to follow up with students visiting the MIS display at the University Undergraduate Open House events (Fall and Spring of each academic year) Electronic mailing to Connecticut high school guidance. Development of talking points for conversations with potential students and their parents (will be initiated in October, 2013 at the University Fall Open House). While the MIS department’s recruiting efforts to date have resulted in increased visibility, additional efforts need to be undertaken with mechanisms in place to track results of the efforts; i.e., number of students reached who become MIS majors, MIS minors, or take MIS courses. Thus, the MIS department has formed a 8 Marketing/Recruitment Committee (August 30, 2013) with the charge of developing a Marketing /Recruitment plan and campaign. The Committee will execute its charge during spring semester, 2014. The Committee will develop a draft marketing/recruitment plan and campaign in early spring 2014, obtain input from all MIS faculty members, and finalize the plan during spring semester 2014. An accompanying schedule for plan implementation will be developed. Promote the management program via actively participating (as we do in Entrepreneurship program and in business executive guest speakers) in the business community of the greater Hartford area Offer information sessions in neighboring states. Increase the number of STEM Competitions & Summer Camps Develop training workshops for area STEM teachers Work with teachers and policy makers in Connecticut to help raise the level of preparation of in-state students. Strengthen recruitment of international students. Develop a special recruitment programs to target veterans Increase the number of field trip from area high schools students to campus for a hands on STEM day Provide additional support during SEPS transfer days in which the registrar can work with individual programs to increase the number of major related courses initially accepted (vs coming in as PE 1XX elective etc). This would reduce not only the amount of paperwork and time for course substitutions, but would also improve the students’ initial attitude and approach toward transferring to CCSU. Continue to work with our partnership schools and create events and opportunities that bring the public school students to CCSU. Having CCSU students go out into the school systems is a wonderful and authentic opportunity to improve student learning; however, also bringing the public school students to our campus would be a beneficial recruitment opportunity. Work with area high schools that might have a capstone or internship opportunity and encourage the students to complete their experience here on campus. For example, Farmington High School offers a Capstone experience and many students picked the “Sport, Exercise Science and Wellness Capstone”. This could include students coming to observe in our athletic training room, strength and conditioning room, or observe our pedagogy classes in the gym. Develop and implement an aggressive marketing campaign in support of Admission’s recruitment initiatives and efforts, enabling the creation and implementation of advertising campaign (web, print, broadcast, social media, etc.) enhancing awareness of CCSU. Target areas would focus on central CT and expand beyond that region to include New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. This strategic communications campaign would be developed 9 collaboratively between Marketing & Communications and Recruitment & Admission. (conversations have begun) Utilize the alumni network in the admission process. (conversations have begun) educate students on financial literacy (i.e., workshops and seminars – tie their receipt of aid with attendance) Provide greater assistance in covering unmet need (up to an including the cost of textbooks) Provide consistent aid from year-to-year in keeping with tuition increase Help students identify scholarships and grants – more importantly provide assistance in completing the provide academic tutors for “gateway” introductory level courses Provide financial incentives for students to take summer remediation courses before entering freshmen year (financial, tuition reimbursement) to better utilize graduate students (in all on-campus departments) Provide merit based scholarships for international students Increase scholarship and financial aid resources dedicated to study abroad Align the goals, efforts and resources of the IELP, Undergraduate, and Graduate Admission offices for more comprehensive and cost effective international recruitment strategy Design and fund a comprehensive recruitment plan to attract more international students to CCSU at both the undergraduate and graduate level, thereby increasing campus diversity Use targeted marketing of degree programs that are struggling with enrollment issues at both the undergraduate and graduate level Target students from China, India, United Kingdom, South Korea and the Continent of Africa, specifically. Collaborate with other ConnSCU campuses to promote a wider array of degree programs and student opportunities attractive to international students—the new IERConn site for international students contributes to this goal, since it acknowledges that Connecticut is competing with New York and Boston as a destination for international students. Position the IELP as both a CCSU campus and ConnSCU system-wide resource for international applicants needing English language support prior to full admission Create several promotional video pieces of very short (60-90 second) length to showcase outstanding learning in specific graduate programs. Videos will be used in an aggressive social media campaign. $12,000 to produce one video per month using student workers identified and supervised by the Communication department Cohorts: Increase the number of programs offered through the cohort models with on-site, hybrid, on campus course delivery for working professionals. The 10 cohort model has proven to be successful for the graduate school. This also presents the opportunity for recruiting a targeted audience. Showcase Programs with Out-of-State, and International Draw - The graduate school currently offers programs that draw interest from out-of-state and international prospective students. Consider investing marketing dollars for increased visibility to out-of-state and international prospects featuring these programs IF there is room for growth in the programs. Online Graduate Admissions Information Webinar – Incorporating featured programs with faculty participation - available to in-state, out-of-state, international, working professionals, etc. if funding, staffing, and IT support permits. Six-in-Five Program Opportunities or Undergraduate to Graduate Pathway Program for CCSU undergraduates - There are undergraduate programs at CCSU with high enrollments such as, Psychology, Criminology, Construction Management that could be growth opportunities on the graduate level for existing graduate programs if the departments were interested in growing the graduate side. Some possibilities for attracting our undergraduate students to our graduate programs are a) discount or waived application fees for current CCSU undergraduates; 2) consider offering academically qualified students with the opportunity to take graduate level courses during their last semester that would count towards their graduate program as part of an established pathways program. 3) Implement a faculty mentoring component to guide students through the pathway process and offer possible research/or experiences to enhance the students’ understanding of the advantages of graduate education within the profession. Explore and expand high school cooperative programs such as AP, Junior Achievement, and Future Farmers of America (although that’s probably too Nebraska to work here) High school summer arts programming engaging theatre, music, art to offer workshops, overnight or week/s-long residence Establish earlier confirmation process Host accepted students day Increase marketing funds for graduate studies (currently no funds) Better define the mission and vision and, consequently, the “brand” of Graduate Studies Expand faculty involvement in recruitment process—not just open house but also engaged in various activities within the funnel process; educate faculty as to the value of their participation 2. Redirect Funds to Student Support (including Foundation, State Need-Based Scholarships, etc. 1. Strategic Scholarship Coordinating recommendations A. Coordinating the awarding of scholarships to: 11 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Improved retention Improved customer service to all scholarship applicants Earlier deadlines for awards Spending as much scholarship money as possible Broader spectrum of input with more complete financial picture of all student awards including institutional, federal, state, and third party funding 6) Better response time to donors and more consistent adherence to the donor’s memorandum of understanding (MOU’s) 7) An opportunity to leverage financial aid awards to impact student enrollment to meet institutional objectives. B. How the campus can be more strategic in high ability recruitment 1) Match admissions based scholarship with a financial need-based grant for eligible students 2) Offer automatic admission to our Honors Program at the time of admission for those who qualify 3) Streamline scholarship awarding process to minimize/eliminate unnecessary hoops/barriers C. Strategic Scholarship Coordinating Committee This committee is to accomplish the following: 1) To better coordinate the recruitment efforts across campus. 2) To better coordinate scholarship awarding (re: stacking issues, timing, notification letters, etc.) 3) To better pool our campus resources towards effective student recruitment 4) To create a forum for sharing best practices in student recruitment with scholarships D. Admissions based scholarships: Scholarships awarded based on admissions criteria (i.e. class rank, SAT/ACT scores, first generation, etc.) 1) All initial awards are for 4 years 2) All deadlines are March 1st 3) All recipients must maintain full time enrollment and the required cumulative GPA for their scholarship 4) Scholarship award notification letters are sent as part of the admission to CCSU notification packet, 5) Award amounts range from $1,000 to $4,000 annually. E. Competitive Scholarships at CCSU 1) Require application through the CCSU combined scholarship application 2) Look at changing the Scholarship deadline of February 1st 3) Enable students to increase their scholarship award package depending how many scholarships they are awarded. 4) Awards are subject to the recommended institutional aid stacking policy which attempts to limit funding to 125% of tuition, fees and books (unless campus housing is included). F. Communication with Academic Departments Frequent communication during the recruitment season by the Strategic Scholarship Coordinating Committee with academic departments regarding: 1) Current prospective scholarship offer information 2) Departmental scholarship awards (timing, amounts, scholarship committees, etc.) 3) Letter for department scholarship awards notifications 12 4) Scholarship application coordination 5) Applicant interview when required G. How academic departments can improve their involvement in high-ability recruitment 1) Contact prospective scholars via letter, phone or email 2) Coordinate award timing with the Coordinating Committee 3) Awards appear on financial aid notification letters a. Freshman award notification should be received by February 1st 4) Continuing student award notifications should be received by March 1st 5) Work with Strategic Scholarship Coordinating Committee to ensure awards fall within institutional aid stacking policy 6) Provide timely information regarding departmental recruitment events, etc. H. Possible Issues: The Strategic Scholarship Coordinating Committee will review the scholarship formulas for both new and continuing students to ensure processes fit Institutional goals, for example the new student formula may be weighted more to class rank and not standardized test scores. Also, the continuing student formula may need to be changed due to a recommended change in awarding process. Continuing student awards prior to posting of spring grades. This issue can be address with conditions in award notification and audit run over the summer. Students transferring to CCSU are currently not considered for new or continuing student scholarship awards. Need to work with IT staff to update databases into a more integrated system. For Fall Semester: January 1st New student (including transfer) scholarships application deadline January 15th Fund balances provided to scholarship chairperson by foundation, departments and endowed fund held by institution. January 20th Department heads deliver New/Transfer student awards to Scholarship Committee. February 1st Award/Notification to all new/transfer student scholarship recipients February 1st Continuing Student Scholarship application deadline March 1st FAFSA Priority Deadline for all students March 15th First round of notification of federal awards to students with complete financial aid files. 13 March 20th Department heads deliver continuing student awards to scholarship committee April 15th Award all continuing students scholarships (committee) Mary 1st Deadline to accept scholarships awards for new and continuing students (consistent with the Statement of Principles of Good Practices). May 10th Re-award declined scholarships June 15th Audit to ensure all students met conditions and criteria of their scholarship awards. June 30th Re-award scholarships after audit where students did not meet conditions and criteria of awarded scholarship. December 17th Banner audit for meeting satisfactory academic progress standards. December 30th Funds identified for scholarships for tuition waivers to be awarded for Spring Semester. Fund Title Need Based CT State University Grant Provost's Merit Scholarship CCSU Community College Schol CT Univ Grant International Dean's Merit Scholarship Total Fund Title Non Need Based Honors Scholarship Parking Fine Scholarship Vending Machine Scholarship Foundation Scholarships 21st President's Scholarship Trustees Scholarship The Huang Scholarship Athletic Scholarships Total Fund Type Paid Amount GRNT GRNT $5,226,810 $190,622 GRNT $21,750 GRNT GRNT $51,860 $218,346 $5,709,387 Number of Awards FAFSA Required 3692 102 Y Y 14 Y 99 71 3,978 Y Y Number of Awards FAFSA Required Fund Type Paid Amount SCHL SCHL $894,426 $113,676 167 99 N N SCHL SCHL $45,000 $661,114 37 455 N N SCHL SCHL SCHL SCHL $27,321 $162,000 $54,843 $3,591,712 $5,550,092 23 88 2 442 1,313 N N N N 14 Grand Total $11,259,479 5,291 Develop a more robust honors program with significant scholarships Create learning communities: discipline, gender, ethnic- residence halls and study areas IT will develop two CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter) classes to be offered as non-credit continuing education courses during the spring 2014 semester. The classes are CPCU 530, Business Law for Insurance Professionals and CPCU 540, Finance and Accounting for Insurance Professionals. These courses will become part of a CPCU concentration as part of the Insurance Financial Services Industries boot camp initiative (IFS Program). Community banks in Connecticut have a need for credit analysts. A concentration will be developed in this area which will consist of courses such as financial statements analysis, commercial credit analysis and personal credit analysis. This will require course development time and is best suited for professionally qualified adjunct faculty in the classroom. Another significant effort the department has undertaken is the creation of an MIS Minor (consisting of 6 MIS courses). The MIS Minor was introduced in fall 2007. All indications are that the MIS Minor has made a significant impact on the number of student credit hours generated by MIS courses. For the five year period 2008 to 2013, the student credit hours generated by MIS courses increased by 9% Offer, and find resources to offer, diverse courses to meet the demand and need of current and future students Offer two new courses (MKT360 – Branding and MKT350 – Social Media Marketing) in Fall 2014 Increase the amount of private/outside scholarships awarded via the CCSU Foundation Inc. and align such scholarships with various University objectives (i.e.., enrollment, retention, progression, and graduation) Increase grad assistantships Redirect funds to student support (including Foundation, State need-based scholarships, etc.) Explore Minority Fellowship scholarship programs 3. Connecticut Community Transfer-Student Tuition Scholarships Complete and finalize joint CCSU/CC (those with engineering science associate programs) task group on developing a Mechanical Engineering legitimate 2+2 program previously started under BOR support but temporarily postponed. Obtain support through curriculum grant or special project funding (10.12) to perform work to fully review CC (A.S.) to CCSU (B.S.) transfer credit evaluations 15 and establish transfer articulation for Mechanical Engineering Technology and Manufacturing Engineering Technology Programs. 4. Better Seamless Transition With Connecticut Community Focus recruitment on community colleges with STEM associate degree programs. Enhance College of Technology Pathway programs. Mobilize faculty ( with additional pay) to engage area community colleges at different levels Develop a list of remedial courses to ensure success of transfer students Leverage TCC’s international marketing/recruitment efforts with the goal of increasing cross-enrollment and transfer enrollment at CCSU; Investigate international student enrollment at other community colleges and develop community college-to-four year-degree marketing plants that highlight existing transfer and articulation policies; Consider offering CCSU housing to international students who attend Tunxis Community College with the goal of encouraging them to matriculate at CCSU. Assure smooth transition of transfer students from community college to Central with appropriate courses and enhanced rigor of academic learning Explore an option to offer a principles class (MGT 295) at community colleges (by Central’s Management faculty) Begin to offer an Orientation program for Transfer students. The current Transfer Network Social events are nice, but they are not Orientation. If we are to continue our reliance on Transfer students to make up for the loss of traditional “freshmen”, we should pay more attention to the transition of Transfers to Central. Better seamless transition with Connecticut Community o Open pathways from community colleges to departments on campus by building relationships between CCSU department faculty and teaching faculty at community colleges o Invite faculty and students at community colleges to events on campus related to their area of interest. Guarantee availability of CCSU courses essential to timely progression to degree for CT community college students who declare intent to transfer. Transfer students would need to apply and confirm early to CCSU so that seats can be set aside in specific courses. (This would work particularly well for pre-BSED, PE & HP students, and Social Work majors who have specific prerequisites needed to apply to their programs 16 RETENTION 5. Reconsider Funding of All Student Support Programs, Especially for New Students: FYE, CACE, Pre-College, etc. Develop discipline specific recruitment strategies that utilizes professionals from advisory groups Garner support through grant or special project funding (10.12) to perform work to remove or overcome systematic obstacles which would enable underachieving engineering students an easy pathway to less analytical engineering technology programs where they might find greater success Re-establish Dean’s Leadership Institute in SEPS. Create a strong, comprehensive “Plan B” advising program for students who do not get accepted into their first choice major. Keep these students at CCSU! Develop Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Center at CCSU. Provide training, support, and financial incentives to faculty to implement universal design across all schools Commuting students may feel less a part of the university community than resident students. Doing more to make them feel less isolated may help with retention efforts. Perhaps targeting commuters within different departments and arranging for them to meet each other. They may end up riding to school together, becoming part of a study group. etc. A common lounge in each school where commuters could meet with fellow students might also serve this purpose; and Remediation courses/seminars for nursing students to assist with program progression and NCLEX pass rates. NCLEX pass rates are also tied to the accreditation process. Provide information to program coordinators and chairs regarding any students who are in need for additional support. The Committee on Retention in Education (CORE) in SEPS had a similar set up that was beneficial (see attached CORE letter). Many students do not realize the support that is available to them and most students also appreciate knowing there is someone who cares. This is a time consuming process and would need additional support to go through student records to create an appropriate “watch list” for programs. Solely looking at GPA is not warranted, other assessment variables need to be considered when looking at student success Provide information to students regarding Internship Opportunities before they graduate. This opportunity will extend their learning beyond the classroom and better prepare them for their future careers. If possible paid internships Hire students of color that have a 2.70 or over to serve as positive mentors to other students. Displays and Q & A sessions at the CCSU Student Center. Table reserved during the Advising Period for several years. 17 Electronic mailings to undeclared School of Business students. Bulletin board postings advertising MIS events Consistently apply sound academic principles and properly advise students to proper majors, courses, and appropriate career paths Extend the Peer-mentoring Program to cover a larger number of students and narrow the achievement gap annually Improve and increase quality and quantity of tutorials offered Ensure the fulfillment of student-centered strategic objectives through assessment of student learning that takes place in information literacy instruction sessions and the LSC 150 course Consider college readiness. There are instruments and programs to assess and address “locus of control” and “emotional intelligence” factors. More attrition occurs over affective domain issues than cognitive deficits. No brainer, with documented success elsewhere. This is my number one, best suggestion after 35 years on the front lines. Create a reasonable curricular scenario for degree completion for students “dismissed” from selective programs. We had a committee that came up with a very workable general studies proposal that would not even require state approval. What happened? Hold pre-business majors in CACE until they have completed all of the core requirements acceptably for admission. Then pass them off to an appropriately staffed school base center with permanent, trained full time administrative faculty. A recent NACADA study showed that students who change majors more than once are more vulnerable to attrition than those who are undeclared from the start. Designations of “Undeclared Business” “Undeclared Tech” and “Undeclared A and S” make no sense. Say a kid likes computers. MIS, Networking, CS, Design, are all in different schools! If you MUST get a little specific try “exploring helping professions” or “exploring STEMS” and let an advisor provide the information and assessment necessary for one, well informed decision. Build an FYE around each of the “exploring” groups Make Freshman intake personal, less “herding”, less “talking heads”. The math works for one on one registration appointments with much of the talking head stuff being taught on line. Watch a YouTube video, confirm that you did with this little q and A, make an appointment to see your advisor… Skype advising? Revise the fresh start program, to fix the “Too bad you didn’t do a little worse or give up sooner” problem. Require students to take half a major and half a minor and at least 30 credits of graded work in residence regardless of how many credits they have earned. Lopping eligibility at 60 credits makes no sense. With the proliferation of selective admission programs many students aspiring to 18 education or business can’t possibly catch up without a fresh start despite having left in good standing Have someone scan transcripts (not a grad student or UA) of incoming transfers for potential course substitutions and process these before the registration. For example, a student with a 3XX lit course will have it show as an elective on the degree eval, even though it sort of exceeds or requirement. Can’t tell you how many of these I catch when after the student has taken what might have been an unnecessary, degree delaying 200 level. Also, have the computer “learn” each substitution that gets approved for the next time, reducing run around with each subsequent encounter of the same class. Automate change of major. Have faculty in their offices when they profess to be there CCSU should offer a comprehensive, two-day, overnight Orientation program for all new incoming first-time students. The current way students are introduced to campus for Advising Days is confusing for new students and families as they consider their first formal program at the University to be Orientation. The Advising & Registration Day Sessions, half-day events for new students and their families that were developed as a result of the “Orientation Retreat” (convened by the Provost and VP of Student Affairs in February, 2010) have minimal budgetary and campus support. Provide better coordination and consistency for all of the summer program (USP/ConnCAS, Bridges, etc.) intake, registration and follow-up activities, from earlier selection through to enrollment in the fall. Current faculty tasked with coordination of these special programs struggle with identification of students until very late spring/early summer Create a guaranteed 4-year degree program – contract with student to graduate within 4 years if student stays on target o Requires improved management of academic content o Improved advising o Improved course offerings o Need to define what students have to do to stay within contract guidelines Continuous enrollment with 15 or more hours per major semester Pass all courses, meeting minimum grade requirements per chosen major Enroll in courses as advised o If student follows program as approved and cannot graduate due to course unavailability/advising errors, remaining tuition and fees will be waived 19 o If student does not follow program as approved by adviser, fails/withdraws from a class or fails to make minimum grade requirements for class, or is not continuously enrolled meeting minimum enrollment requirements contract will be invalidated Reorganize academic support centers o Move all existing academic support centers to a co-location. o Provide strong, over-arching leadership to increase Collaboration Communication Coordination of services and staff development Development and delivery of unified and seamless academic success programs and services. o Academic Centers to include: Academic Center for Student Athletes EOP Writing Center CACE Transfer Articulation The Learning Center The Reading Lab Summer Bridge Programs and “emporiums” (math and writing) Teaching in Excellence Center o Gains: Increase efficiencies, capitalize on existing expertise, foster innovations in teaching and learning, and make student success our highest priority 6. Incentivize Recruitment/Graduation Rates by Major Require faculty to post mid-semester grades. Students need to know how they are doing in order to consider staying with a course or dropping within the allowable, albeit liberal, time to drop STOP USING THE WORD “DISMISSED” WHEN TELLING STUDENTS THEY DO NOT MEET THE STANDARD TO CONTINUE in the SOB! Dispiriting, unwelcoming, easily misunderstood…for students in good standing especially! SEPS does this well. Design as well. 20 Conduct exit interviews with every student in good standing who wants to withdraw. So many people leave without knowing viable alternatives. Research suggests that EVERY student who declines in GPA for 2 semesters is at risk, even those comfortably above good standing. Capture them and intervene Encourage the use of CLEP for students who fall behind as a low cost, efficient way to catch up. CIO Panel presentations (e.g., October, 2012). Approximately 150 students participated and had the opportunity to have their questions answered by CIOs in the greater Hartford area. Microsoft/Society for Information Management FUTURE POTENTIAL OF IT seminar (October, 2006). Four hundred and ten (410) students participated in a half day seminar, which included a Panel presentation and discussion (CIOs, VPs, and Directors); Keynote speaker: Executive VP, ESPN; Networking session with CIOs, VPs, Directors, and University administrators-President, Provost, Dean, faculty members. The majority of the students were CCSU students ranging in a variety of disciplines across campus including: MIS, CS, Computer Electronics and Graphics Technology, and some A & S disciplines. Electronic mailings to follow up with students visiting the MIS display at the University Majors Fair (first held in September, 2013). Offer information sessions to Pre-Marketing and Undecided Business majors Increase retention by at least two percent annually Develop student-department engagement traditions o Early fall –an activity to introduce new students to faculty and students who are already established in the major – could be as simple as an ice cream social o Major Day – alert students to the variety of majors that are available, this should involve staff from CACE, School Based Advising Centers and faculty o Spring – Dogs (hot dogs) with the Deans/Chairs Offer PD for students in program (i.e., calibration for SEED; mock interviewees; invite students network reception) Establish and incorporate a mentoring program on campus where faculty mentors incoming CCSU underrepresented students who are considering teacher preparation Hold an annual homecoming event for graduates in the reading and language arts program that will include a professional development in reading and language arts. Encourage them to bring a colleague who does not have a master’s or sixth year degree in reading and language arts. The event will also recognize outstanding alumni in the field. 21 Capitalize on the Annual Literacy Essentials Conference, the Central Connecticut Writing Project (CCWP), and the International Reading Association (IRA) Honors Society (for pre-service teachers) to disseminate materials and information about our programs STUDENT QUALITY OF LIFE Student Life Enhancements for Residential & Commuter Students Establish and incorporate a mentoring program on campus where faculty mentors incoming CCSU underrepresented students who are considering teacher preparation. Financial support for students during student teaching Hold an annual homecoming event for graduates in the reading and language arts program that will include a professional development in reading and language arts. Encourage them to bring a colleague who does not have a master’s or sixth year degree in reading and language arts. The event will also recognize outstanding alumni in the field. Student life enhancements for residential and commuter students o Create discourse areas within buildings close to departments where students can socialize with one another between classes or work together on special department projects o Sometimes the only students commuter students know are those in their major. Often times they are the only ones commuter students have time to socialize with so creating student friendly environments might increase quality of life and help in retention Improve quality of residence and dining facilities Improve transportation, parking, child-care, scheduling accessibility, etc. o Examine possibilities for child-care in ELP on campus Continue to expand delivery of online courses. Identify programs which could be delivered entirely online or with hybrid courses A student’s quality of life is enhanced when they have good parental support. Efforts should be made to introduce a semi-formal Parents/Student Dinner Dance with administrators and faculty present. Demonstrate to parents and students that we really are a Community. This might also help with alumni/parent fundraising down the road. There is already “Family Day” but that’s not personal enough; and Go back to the Freshmen Convocation at the start of the academic year. It is a way of welcoming new students but also sends the message that these students are embarking on a new academic journey, one that is to be taken seriously Improve parking Provide lounge/study areas 22 Access to refrigerator/microwave for students taking evening classes Child care services Eliminate mandatory meal plan purchase, which is perceived as an added undesirable expense limiting student/parent interest in on-campus residence Continue to improve fitness and recreation facilities. The amount of fitness classes has grown tremendously, as well as the number of club and intramural sports. This allows students to feel connected to a campus community and will also help with retention if students feel like they belong. However, a constant challenge is the use of facilities when sharing with department of PE and Human Performance, RecCentral, and athletics. Having separate facilities would be extremely beneficial Improve IT services ( wireless, course delivery, etc) o Increase the number of online courses offered by CCSU o Develop fully online Master’s degrees in selected areas such as engineering management o Develop a centralized IT operation with semi-autonomous School operation. 8. Improve Quality of Residence & Dining Facilities More and healthier food options available every day of the year and more hours of the day, particularly for commuters Expand residence hall theme approach; overnight orientation sessions; new residence hall will create opportunities for summer programming residence 9. Improve Transportation, Parking, Child-Care, Scheduling accessibility, etc. Weekend course; hybrid courses- would be Improve transportation, parking, child-care, scheduling accessibility, etc. Examine possibilities for child-care in ELP on campus Adjust operating hours for facilities that students would/should use. The hours of operation should be based on when students should expect to be able to use the facility (within reason), not when it is convenient for staff. A common complaint is the hours our food service facilities are open. Find out what the best practices are at residential universities that have high engagement and retention. Provide shuttle service between Tunxis Community College and CCSU Expand/deepen Thursday & Friday course scheduling to help incentivize student residence (and make positive impact on retention and graduation) Increase access to visitor parking to better facilitate the one-stop shop aspect of recruitment and retention; increasing the positive experience of future and existing students 23 Changes with Course/Program Delivery: Consider the need for non-traditional ways of offering graduate classes and programs. Make exploratory courses accessible to undeclared majors. The following are not practically available to interested freshman without a declaration: Bio, Chem, Social Work, Design, Nursing, Crim (to a lesser extent). Fewer lecture halls and more variety of courses for first year students. Duh. Fix the fuzzy math with incompletes. Make the pass fail option more accessible. Why the 3 week deadline? The restriction against using it for (at least a few) gen eds? Having it as an option may encourage students to “stick it out” rather than drop and also to take on challenges rather than to take a safe, easy route. All criteria on P/F ought to be reviewed for “why”? Consider the “fill” rate for courses, especially at the 100 and 200 levels. Currently we are running at 100%+ capacity. Registration for courses, especially for late admits and part-time students is particularly problematic when there are no seats, or very few available only on nights and weekends. If we hope to modify our pre-registration practice we must be able to offer enough daytime class seats for incoming full-time students --- first-time and transfer students. Consider restricting students from waitlist sign up for multiple sections of the same class. This bogs down the system and causes unnecessary delays for students who need a class vs. students who are shopping for a preferred time of day. Offer more courses in time blocks that include Friday. This would help with initial scheduling of new students, as well as helping continuing students to compose their schedules. Promote a procedural consistency in all academic departments with regard to student access to closed courses, override permissions given to students, and the waitlist. Start registration periods with class limits at their capacity. Current practice of artificially low limits that are slowly raised through the process leads to student dissatisfaction for continuing students when they cannot register for the classes they need. We cannot measure this, but students may be walking away if they cannot get the classes we tell them to take. 10. Improve IT Services (wireless, course delivery, etc.) Share BANNER information with all CONNSCU schools. Save paper, save time, save headaches for students 24 Our newest faculty member, Francisco Rubio, has a background in I.T. in addition to his PhD in finance. He is currently developing ideas to replace the hardware and upgrade the software in room 205, to increase its appeal to prospective students. Integrate information literacy competencies into the general education curriculum. Build strong relationships with students and faculty through modes of engagement such as embedded and personal librarians as well as other personalized library services PROGRAMMATIC EXPANSION 11.Reallocate Resources to Areas of Specific Demand with Enrollment Targets Masters: Offer OCP in Instructional Coaching, which can be used towards a masters in educational leadership. This would be a 15 or 18 credit program. Our students could then complete 12 credit hours in a discipline. This would meet the CSDE requirement for masters. Work with Continuing Education and primary partner districts to target specific needs for graduate level course work. Completion of the Early Childhood BS program. Encouragement of more hybrid on-line courses. Convert the two University Assistants currently supporting Study Abroad and the Course Abroad Program to full-time positions Increase the capacity of the CCSU Course Abroad Program by implementing the International Institutes Initiative It will develop two CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter) classes to be offered as non-credit continuing education courses during the spring 2014 semester. The classes are CPCU 530, Business Law for Insurance Professionals and CPCU 540, Finance and Accounting for Insurance Professionals. These courses will become part of a CPCU concentration as part of the Insurance Financial Services Industries boot camp initiative (IFS Program). Community banks in Connecticut have a need for credit analysts. A concentration will be developed in this area which will consist of courses such as financial statements analysis, commercial credit analysis and personal credit analysis. This will require course development time and is best suited for professionally qualified adjunct faculty in the classroom Develop and offer programs, via Continuing Education and the Institute of Technology and Business Development that will serve as a conduit for University enrollments. In addition, make the constituents associated with and 25 served by the Institute of Technology and Business Development and the Institute of Municipal and Regional Policy better aware of University programs Expand full-semester study abroad options beyond existing overseas partnerships and affiliates (GlobaLinks and ISEP) by implementing a process for faculty endorsement of external study abroad programs (thereby enabling the use of CCSU financial aid by students who select programs outside of CCSU partners and affiliate). Increase scholarship and financial aid resources dedicated to study abroad Institute a Second Year Experience Abroad Program. Offering a Masters and teaching certificate combination program for graduate students who are either part-timers or in non-shortage areas (don't qualify for MAT). Expand programs internationally. Offer more hybrid courses; develop and offer online courses Identify high demand professional programs (e.g., nursing) and develop alternative delivery models. Incentivize selected faculty to develop weekend programs. Reallocate resources to areas of specific demand with enrollment targets o Special Education: Special Education Teacher Certification program to specifically targeting current paraprofessionals working in special education SPED Official Certificate Program (OCP) ideas: Paraprofessional training program Special Education Advocacy program Special Education Interventionists Transition Specialist Certification program (currently being developed as an OCP through Continuing Ed by SpEd and Counseling Departments at CCSU In order to accommodate more students in the nursing program (that is, increasing the number of incoming nursing majors from 50 to 75), we would need the following: o A larger lab area o A greater number of clinical placements for students. (This factor is opening up due to Hartford Hospital stating that they will only be hiring BSN graduates from now on. Given that constraint, HH will not be giving clinical placements to Associate Degree programs. That’s good news for CCSU’s current and future nursing students.) Another significant effort the department has undertaken is the creation of an MIS Minor (consisting of 6 MIS courses). The MIS Minor was introduced in fall 2007. All indications are that the MIS Minor has made a significant impact on the number of student credit hours generated by MIS courses. For the five year 26 period 2008 to 2013, the student credit hours generated by MIS courses increased by 9%. Offer, and find resources to offer, diverse courses to meet the demand and need of current and future students Offer two new courses (MKT360 – Branding and MKT350 – Social Media Marketing) in Fall 2014 More faculty, specifically a full-time lab coordinator and a full-time clinical faculty person (the latter would reduce the number of adjunct faculty needed in the clinical area) Weekend programs On-line courses Increase departmental budgets to allow for programs to continue to develop and grow. Departmental budgets should be relative to the number of programs within the department, as well as the size of the program and faculty in the department. Our department functions on a limited budget and relies on onetime funding for any equipment purchases. There is not enough money to continue to explore how to keep growing programs. Thus, continuing to work with institutional advancement and continuing education should also be a priority to allow for entrepreneurial initiatives. Additional support such as a Graduate Assistant or part-time employee who could assist with such initiatives would be needed for the department Increase spots for Programs in Demand: There are popular graduate programs within the graduate school, which have established a cap on the number of students who can be accepted each term. There may be room for growth in the numbers of students that are accepted into these programs. The Counseling and Family Therapy department for example, offers programs that are in demand and there is always a high level of interest for the programs, yet the enrollment for the programs has a cap Fund an Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions to assist the Director in advancing the graduate admission program of the University. Responsible for assisting in the identification, recruitment, selection and enrollment of new students. Administrator 3 rank. General Studies major – finish developing this baccalaureate program o Offered both on-ground and on-line. o Target audience – students who are in good academic standing, have already completed a large number of hours but not enough within a given subject to graduate Leverage technology to: improve retention management, build success partnerships across campus, create a timely and strategic information flow, and target our resources to the students who need them. Develop robust analytics based on our own student experiences to predict risk factors and ensure that actions are directed and appropriate for CCSU student success. 27 Consider new baccalaureate or master’s programs that align with areas where we have faculty with expertise and where there is anticipated job growth in Connecticut (can also be part of Programmatic Expansion) o STEM majors that are not offered by another CSU o Allied health areas and gerontology Provide an option for students who initially attend CCSU with intent to major in nursing but then either change their mind or are not accepted into the program 28