Susan Backofen

Marhall-- It certainly sounds like you make every effort to personalize your interactions with students and leverage information to assist with retention efforts. Kudos! Susan

Barry-- Excellent re: inviting their support member(s). That gets everyone involved and on the same page. They can absolutely make or break someone who is have second thoughts. Susan

Troy-- Kudos for making the effort to stay on your game for your classes. That makes such a huge difference for students. Susan

Barry-- Does your Education department cover specific topics? Susan

Kim-- This is truly an excellent idea! I am sure that this helps everyone. The admissions staff can much more realistically and enthusiastically describe the classroom experience and students will get a much clearer picture. It would also be interesting to have the faculty sit in on some admissions calls and interviews. Susan

Troy-- WOW! 12 hours a day, that's a lot of interaction time. However do you stay 'up' for all those classes? Susan

Kimberly-- This sounds great! Could you share one or two of your ice breaker activities? Susan

Jill-- This is an excellent exercise and I agree, it helps students get to know each other rather quickly. When you have to introduce someone else, you tend to really listen and ask good questions resulting in getting to know them better and faster. Susan

Kaitlin-- You bring up a good point. We have focused our discussions primarily on student orientations. A faculty orientation (training) would also provide significant benefits. I believe there is a forum/class specifically on that, but I would encourage you to consider implementing something for your faculty that would outline some of the great ideas posted in this class by faculty themselves. Most of them center around taking time to get to know and assist students individually and to begin to recognize 'warning' signs for students at risk. Susan

Jim-- I agree whole-heardedly. Adult students, for a variety of reasons, tend to do very well. That's isn't their initial perception of themselves, but with great faculty like you, they quickly get their feet under them academically and go on to do great things. Susan