Student Affairs and Enrollment Management
All-Unit Meeting
April 25, 2005
Page Three
To respond to this opportunity, we must always remember that enrollment management is not a set of separate student transactions labeled admissions, financial aid, and so on. Rather, enrollment management is a university-wide process that touches every aspect of institutional function and culture.
What does this mean for us and for the students we serve? Students do not define their needs and concerns based on administrative boundaries. Our success in the future will depend on academic advisors, classroom faculty, and student affairs staff working together to interact with students in ways that allow us to see the whole picture.
I envision continued growth of the one-stop center to provide service based on a three-stage interaction with students including a student-to-student triage, frontline student affairs generalists, and functional experts such as those in financial aid. Back room processing will be centralized where possible.
Quality service will continue to be marked by friendly and caring interactions with students to determine the nature of their concerns, needs, or problems and, by prompt, accurate attention to those concerns. When possible, we will walk students through their problem, to a solution. If an on-the-spot solution is not possible, we will follow-up with the student within 48 hours. If the problem takes longer to solve, we will stay in touch by phone or e-mail to apprise students of the progress being made. Whenever possible, we will honor the one-stop concept by making contact with other units across the university, rather than just sending students to other campus offices.
Cooperation not Separation
There is a growing campus realization that “learning environment” means more than just what goes on in the classroom. As this realization grows, we will see a new emphasis on the quality of student life as a component of academic success.
As we move forward there must be an increased blending of responsibilities between faculty, information technology, marketing and public information, administrative and fiscal affairs, and student services. Traditional student affairs offices will find their walls disappearing and their functions blurring as all faculty and staff become accountable for recruitment and retention.
Today we can point with pride to a number of successful areas of cooperation including a bold new student orientation program as well as expanded programming in tutoring, Supplemental Instruction, the writing center, disabled student services, diversity and minority student enhancement, career services, on-tour and student scholarships -- all marked by academic and student affairs partnerships.
|
|
