Category:
Strategy/Project Description:
This year, significant progress was made on this goal as a result of the following activities that were engaged in to keep students on track for graduation:
- Placed a specialized Interventionist Advisor in each College Student Advising Center
- Introduced intrusive advising interventions that promoted retention, increased graduation rates, and encouraged enrollments, particularly for at risk students
- Continued the implementation of a mandatory Early Alert system for all Freshmen students, adjusted the timing for reporting students at risk to intrusive advisors to 3 weeks into the semester, added increased specificity in identifying issues causing concern
- Monitored courses with high DFW rates and employed strategies to reduce those rates by creating supplemental instruction courses for core STEM courses experiencing particularly high rates
- Received approval for changes to the Academic Renewal Policy by the faculty Academic Standards Committee and Faculty Senate. Now, students who leave the institution for academic, financial, or personal reasons may request renewal after only 3 years (versus 5 years prior to this change). In addition, students may now transfer back to the institution any courses they successfully complete during their period of separation.
- Instituted mandatory referrals to the Academic Success Center for students identified as at risk through the Early Alert system. The resources directed to these students included: Tutoring (in person/online—individual, group); Testing preparation; Learning support for placement in supplemental courses; Supplementary courses in math (n = 4), English (n = 1), Reading (n = 1); Methods of learning course; One-on-one consultation in any area needed; Study skills sessions; University Writing Center referrals with workshops on effective writing, computer labs for writing assignment preparation, online resources, and ½ to one hours consultation sessions on writing.
