for the Faculty and Staff of Washington State
University
from Robert C. Bates, Provost and Executive Vice
President
Number 12
April 2007
The positive news that President Rawlins reported in his recent Update about record applications for the Fall 2007 freshman class on our Pullman campus has a parallel in the record applications we’re receiving from prospective graduate students for this fall.
The WSU Graduate School has pursued aggressively new student applications for domestic, international, and minority students. Over the past five years, all categories have grown significantly and the Graduate School is now processing a record number of total applications of around 5,000 for admission in Fall 2007.
While the rest of the nation has seen a serious decline in international applications, our Graduate School employed several new strategies that resulted in growth in international student applications.
Even more impressive is the growth in domestic and minority applications. Domestic applications have increased by approximately 10 percent per year for the past two years and now total more than 2,800 per year. Among these domestic student applications, the Graduate School reports striking growth in the minority applications which have increased from below 15 percent of our total to 25 percent of our total domestic applications for this fall.
The growth in total applications is significant and should bolster our university goals of increasing our graduate student population while simultaneously improving the quality of our Ph.D. programs and students.
Retention Council Appointed
Student retention to graduation is integral to achieving our enrollment goals and is equally as important as our graduate and undergraduate recruiting efforts. Evidence clearly indicates there is room for improvement in this area. To address this challenge, I have asked Interim Vice President for Student Affairs, Al Jamison, to convene a Council on Student Retention.
The new Council will review best practices that encourage student success, analyze WSU data to determine WSU student populations at risk of attrition, and identify structures and processes that may contribute to students leaving before graduation. In addition, the Council will recommend or implement policies, procedures, and programs to encourage student achievement culminating in graduation. Establishing a Council on Student Retention was a recommendation from the November 2005 Multicultural Student Retention Summit.
I have asked the Council to identify actions that can be implemented for fall semester 2007 that will improve retention rates beginning fall 2008 and also develop long-term plans that will lay the foundation needed to achieve our future retention goals.
Each of us, whether staff or faculty, has a role in retention and contributes to an academic experience that fosters student success and satisfaction both inside and outside the classroom. I ask that everyone continue all they do to have a positive impact on our retention efforts and to share your ideas on retention with Dr. Jamison and the Retention Council.
April 11-12 Address, Workshops by Thomas A. Angelo
Author, consultant, and educator Thomas A. Angelo will be on the Pullman campus April 11-12 to present an address and several workshops on teaching, learning and classroom assessment in American higher education. He will discuss “Pressures, Promises, Pitfalls, and Pathways: Lessons from 20 Years of Assessment in U.S. Higher Education” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, in the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE) Room 203.
Dr. Angelo has authored books that define standards for success in higher education. We are looking forward to hearing his latest insights into how we can enhance the academic experience of our students. Currently a professor of higher education and director of the University Teaching Development Centre at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, he received his doctorate from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.
His visit is coordinated by the WSU President’s Teaching Academy. Sponsors are the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President; the Office of Undergraduate Education; the Office of Student Affairs; the Student Advising and Learning Center; the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology; and the Engineering Education Research Center. Online registration is available, and a link is provided below.
Work continues toward Reaffirmation of WSU’s Accreditation
Dr. Al Johnson from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities was on the Pullman campus recently for the preliminary planning visit for our 2009 Re-affirmation of Accreditation. He met with me and with the Pullman Executive Committee, and spent several hours with our Accreditation 2009 Steering Committee and leadership group.
He shared with us more about the Commission’s current priorities – in other words, what the Evaluation Committee will be looking for during the visit – and his thinking about how to configure the visit to WSU. At this point, they plan to have two evaluators visit each of our three regional campuses for one day – March 31, 2009. Then those six evaluators will join seven additional team members for two and a half days in Pullman – April 1-3, 2009.
Now we need to move into high gear. Within departments
and colleges, as well as across the university as a
whole, we need to be sure that we have identified our
unit goals and program learning outcomes. We need
to:
-- document our assessment methods and results;
-- collect and analyze data; and
-- evaluate our successes and challenges in meeting the
goals of our Strategic Plan.
Through this process, we need to come together in our evaluation of where our Strategic Plan has brought us. We need to assess what has succeeded, what are the continuing or new challenges, whether the plan still expresses our vision and goals, and whether we need new strategies. This work will lead us to the major themes for the self-study and lay the groundwork for the next stage of our Plan. Finally, we will fit all of this into a coherent, forward-looking self-study that reflects the thoughts of the entire university community.
Looking ahead to Fall 2007 Convocation
Mark your calendar for the 2007 University Convocation on August 17th at 10 am in Beasley Coliseum. This is the second year that WSU will open fall semester with an official welcome to new students, parents, faculty, and staff.
This new tradition focuses on academic excellence and university traditions, including a faculty processional and the wearing of academic regalia. The keynote speaker for this year's Convocation will be our new President Dr. Elson S. Floyd. The Convocation Web site for more details; the link is provided below.
Robert C. Bates
Provost
Additional Resources