Graduation
and Retention Committee Minutes
Monday,
December 05, 2011
Attendance:
S. Chewning, H. Damerow, B. Gaba, C. Greco, G. Hein, N. Farakish, G. Kabak,
H. Keith, M. Kolaitis, B. Lukaschewsky, H. Skerker
The minutes from October 24 were reviewed and approved with minor changes.
Old Business:
The Committee discussed the Retention Initiative that has been announced for
December 6; although it deals with retention the Committee had not been notified
of the purpose of the event.
Heather Keith confirmed that she is the leader of the Retention Team, and that
is has been assembled by the Colleague team (led by George Sotirion) and that it
focuses exclusively on the Retention Alert function of Colleague.
There will be training and more information following tomorrow’s meeting.
Heather volunteered to be a liaison between the Retention Team and this
Committee.
A conversation then ensued about “Official College Broadcasts” and the fact that
readers seldom know who they are from, so important information is sometimes
ignored. The Committee asked Drs.
Gaba and Farakish to pass on our request that a “from” tagline be attached to
these broadcast messages in the future.
The two proposals discussed at the last meeting were reviewed; both are attached
to these minutes with the current recommendations incorporated.
Susannah Chewning will send the proposal about in-class assessments to
the Faculty Executive Committee for approval at a future Faculty meeting; the
Career sub-committee of this Committee will finalize the proposal for AAS
Coordinators.
The upcoming Noel Levitz College Student Inventory was briefly discussed.
The questions on the Inventory assess the following categories: academic
motivation (including questions on intellectual interests, desire to finish
college, and attitude towards education), general coping (including questions on
sociability, career closure, and opinion tolerance), receptivity to academic
assistance, receptivity to career counseling, receptivity to personal
counseling, receptivity to financial guidance, and receptivity to social
enrichment. Students also assess
their time management skills. About
twenty UCC 101 sections will pilot the assessment in the spring 2012 semester;
results of the survey will be discussed through
intentional counseling between a
counselor and the student. Some
in-class activity involving the students’ results will also be presented.
Currently the Title V learning communities have been using the assessment
and the results have been excellent.
After reviewing students’ scores, Counseling will develop workshops and
activities for the students who are in need of specific support (ie, time
management, writing confidence, career selection, etc).
Some further discussion of UCC 101 – specifically the possibility of an Honors
section – followed. Susannah
offered to ask about this at an FYS Committee meeting, and with Dr. Jeff Shalan,
HRS Coordinator.
New Business:
Harold Damerow inquired about the Committee’s receptivity to “stackable
credentials,” ie certificates of achievement acquired along the way for students
as they go from Developmental to Credit courses, focus on their majors, and
eventually achieve AA, AS, or AAS degrees.
The certificates could mirror the categories of general education, such
as Social Science, Lab Science, Communication, Humanities, and Diversity (or
take other shapes throughout our curriculum).
The Committee liked the idea but agrees that if it were to be implemented
it would require some thorough discussing with the VPAA and DCC, to begin with.
Harold agreed to report back as he discusses this idea in more detail
among the Faculty.
With no additional business the Committee adjourned at 4:10pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Susannah Chewning
Graduation and Retention Committee Chair 2011-12