|
 |
List of all Retention Council Agendas & Minutes
Agenda & Minutes for February 10, 1999
| |
Agenda of the Retention Council
Schine 304C 10:30 - 12:00
| I. |
Announcements
Future Meeting Dates and Agendas
|
Horace Smith |
| II. Attrition of Students in Good Academic Standing |
| |
Presentation of Additional Data |
Barbara Yonai
Anne Shelly |
| |
Students That Perform Well but are in
Jeopardy of Leaving the Institution:
a Group Discussion |
Judy Hamilton |
| III. Other Issues |
Minutes of the Retention Council
In Attendance: Marlene Blumin, Tom Ellett, Rosanna Grassi, Bill McPeak, Judy O'Rourke, Lena Rose Orlando, Dave Potter, Lois Schroeder, Barb Settel, Anne Shelly, Horace Smith, Anastasia Urtz, Hanna Waggoner, Mike Wasylenko, Barbara Yonai, Seth Tucker, Judy Hamilton, Chuck Barletta, Barry Wells, Lori Hunter
I. Announcements
Horace Smith announced that Judy Hamilton, associate director of the Honors Program, has accepted an invitation to join the Retention Council.
Barry Wells announced the creation of a standing Substance Abuse Prevention commission and indicated that the March 8, 1999 issue of the Syracuse Record would carry special coverage of this new group.
Tom Ellett announced that Dr. John Schuh will be visiting campus and will give a public talk from 1:00pm to 2:30pm on March 4, 1999 in room 500 Hall of Languages. Dr. Schuh is a nationally known expert on higher education assessment, particularly as it relates to student affairs.
Horace Smith discussed the direction for the Retention Council for the remainder of this academic year and the 1999-2000 year. He stressed the importance of the convergence of research efforts with practical application to University policy. A diagram was shown illustrating this convergence (please see attached). Consequently, he provided a schedule for upcoming meetings that combined presentation of research findings with specific dates set aside to pursue the policy implications of the research findings. An overhead was shown indicating the proposed schedule (please see attached).
II. Attrition of Students in Good Academic Standing
Presentation of Additional Data
Barbara Yonai presented additional data on students leaving the University in good academic standing. Attrition data for students that had been registered in the fall of 1997 and not registered in the fall of 1998 for the entering cohorts of 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, and 1992 were added to the 1997 entering cohort provided at the last meeting. The data for each entering cohort suggests that the pattern of 30% or more of the dropouts being in good academic is consistent across cohorts.
Rosanna Grassi and Dave Potter pointed out that the data presented to date do not account for students that leave but subsequently return.
Barb Settel, Marlene Blumin, and Horace Smith called attention to the phenomenon of students leaving the University with only a few, sometimes one, courses remaining. Anecdotally, the Council agreed that there are several likely factors that influence late drop-outs. These include: already having jobs, fear of having to face "reality," and not wanting to meet curriculum requirements that are perceived as onerous. However, many of these students are returning after 5+ years because they are now being asked about degree completion.
Discussion of Students that Leave in Good Academic Standing
Judy Hamilton presented data on honors students including their attrition rate at the end of their first year (see attached) for cohorts form 1986 through 1997, and the individual GPAs of those students that had left SU (also see attached). She indicated that students in the Honors Program are twice as likely to stay at SU than students with similar characteristics (above a 3.5 GPA) that do not participate in the program. Further, she also indicated that students in the Honors Program are four times as likely to drop-out of they do perform poorly than students with similar characteristics (below a 3.0) in the mainstream.
Judy Hamilton stated that the Honors Program has worked aggressively over the past ten years to implement new programming to increase students affiliation with the program and reduce student attrition. These efforts have shown positive results.
Judy Hamilton pointed out the existence of certain "marker" courses that tend to attract students with personal crises. PSY 209 (Honors equivalent of PSY 205) is notable among these. If these courses could be identified they might serve as a focal point for some intervention.
Additional data should be collected on students that perform well but are not in the Honors Program at the end of their first year.
Tom Ellett requested additional research on the relationship between retention and a student's affiliation with the campus and its environment at Syracuse. He argued that the bonding of the student to SU is critical to their retention.
Lori Hunter requested data on financial aid issues and international student issues particularly for Pacific Rim students currently caught in the international financial crisis. Barbara Yonai indicated that financial aid data is close to being available and housing and admissions data will follow in the future.
Judy O'Rourke suggested that efforts to gather qualitative data on student attrition should focus on the high G.P.A. students.
|
| |
|
