Transcript College of Liberal Arts Report on Advising and Retention February 20, 2013 Where does CLA stand now on advising, retention, and graduation?

College of Liberal Arts
Report on
Advising and Retention
February 20, 2013
Where does
CLA stand now
on advising,
retention, and
graduation?
Advising
2011-2012 Graduating Senior Survey Results
100%
% of students answering "good" or "excellent"
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
BAS
BHS
BUS
Q 65. Academic advising by faculty advisor
Q 66. Academic advising by college academic advisor
Q 68. Availability of faculty advisor
ED
LA
MC
UC
MTSU
Q 69. Availability of college academic advisor
Q 70. Willingness of faculty advisor to help
Q 71. Willingness of college academic advisor to help
Freshmen Retention, 2006-2012
75
70
65
60
MTSU
CLA
55
50
45
06-07
Freshman
07-08
Freshman
08-09
Freshman
09-10
Freshman
10-11
Freshman
11-12
Freshman
Junior Retention/Persistence
2008 Cohort
100
95
90
85
80
MTSU
75
CLA
70
65
60
55
50
08-09 Junior
08-10 Junior
08-11 Junior
Junior Retention/Persistence
2009 Cohort
100
95
90
85
80
MTSU
75
CLA
70
65
60
55
50
09-10 Junior
09-11 Junior
09-12 Junior
Junior Retention/Persistence
2010 Cohort
100
95
90
85
80
MTSU
75
CLA
70
65
60
55
50
10-11 Junior
10-12 Junior
Focus on
Retention and Graduation Rates
Our retention efforts fall
into four categories.
1. Advising
2. Curriculum
3. Teaching
4. Community
Building
Advising
What We’re Doing
 Faculty Advisors
 College Advisors (2)
 Graduation Coach
 Graduation Analyst
Departmental Advising
 Open advising times
 Increase faculty office hours during peak
advising season
 Post online academic maps, forms, and
other advising materials
 Publish student handbooks
 Nominate faculty for the college-wide
Outstanding Advisor Award
College Advisors
 Meet with probationary students 2-3
times per semester
 Monitor assignment of students to faculty
advisors
 Contact purged and un-registered
students
 Hold training sessions for faculty
advisors
 Offer online tool 24-7 to schedule
appointments
College Graduation Coach
(approved last year)
 Meets all CLA majors when they’ve
earned 75 to 90 hours of credit
 Ensures students complete and submit
upper division forms and works with
them to identify the most efficient path to
graduation
 Monitors their progress and helps them
overcome any roadblocks to graduation
College Graduation Analyst
 Checks students’ progress toward degrees
at beginning of the semester they are
scheduled to graduate
 Meets with students to discuss the results
of the checks and to discuss final
requirements (testing, graduation
instructions)
 Works with students to try to resolve any
deficiencies
Ideas for Advising
Improvement
 Hold regular department-based advisor
workshops
 Implement holds on students’ registrations
to ensure advising at critical points
 Increase advising regarding graduate school
options and career paths
 Do some advising in the classroom in
certain key courses in the major
Curriculum
What We’re Doing
 Regularly assess curriculum and make
adjustments as needed
 Avoid curricular “bottlenecks”
 Urge student participation
in Study Abroad, EXL,
internships, and other
experiential activities
 Make reasonable course substitutions
Selected Co-curricular Activities
In AY 2011-2012, CLA majors accounted for…
 nearly 50% of all students who studied abroad
5.2% of CLA majors
studied abroad, compared
to 1.7% of the overall student body
 41% of students who won URECA grants
 37% of all students completing Honors theses
Ideas for Curriculum
Improvement
 Consider strategic new degrees (e.g.,
B.A. in Art, B.A. in Music, concentration
in Religious Studies, MALA)
 Offer more “major only” course sections
and/or capstone courses
 Explore additional alternative course
scheduling (e.g., more online/hybrid,
accelerated)
Teaching
What We’re Doing
 Offer relatively small classes
 Students and peers regularly evaluate faculty
teaching
 Departmental mentoring keeps faculty advisors
up-to-date
 Faculty participate in LT&ITC teaching
workshops
Ideas for Teaching
Improvement
 Increase internship and other
experiential offerings
 Increase interdisciplinary efforts (e.g.,
Raider Learning Communities, team
teaching)
 Require attendance at special events
Community Building
What We’re Doing
 Joint faculty-student research
 Student clubs and organizations,
including honor societies and music
ensembles
 Intercollegiate competitions (e.g., Debate,
Mock Trial, Model UN, Theatre)
 Departmental newsletters
Ideas for Further
Community Building
 Increase use of social media for facultystudent communication and studentstudent communication
 Host social events where students and
faculty mingle
 Offer field trips and other out-of-class
activities
 Hold a college Alumni Day (March 21)
Proposals Requiring
Additional Resources
Assess Academic Advising
Implement systematic assessment
of advising, preferably universitywide.
Supplemental Instruction
Several departments are interested
in offering or expanding tutoring
services, especially to students in
key courses.
Estimated cost: $45,000 per year.
Mentoring Programs
CLA is launching a pilot program
to consider possibilities, which
include faculty-to-faculty, facultyto-student, and student peer
mentoring/advising.
Cost to be determined after
completion of pilot.
Informal Gathering Space
CLA is housed largely in
older buildings that were not
designed with informal
gathering spaces in mind.
Departmental Discretionary Money
for Retention Activities
Current operating budgets make it
difficult to host events or activities
that foster student engagement with
faculty and peers.
Estimated cost: $5,000 to $10,000
per year.
The End