B&F Tactical Plan: Student Success

We provide every student with the opportunity to excel.

1. Conduct an analysis of Housing and Residence Life staffing/operations utilizing best practices from national organizations along with a comparison to institutions both current and aspirational. This goal is to shift resources to residence life programming and services which will more effectively integrate academic success initiatives, prevention programming and career development efforts with residence assistants.
2. Create strategic marketing initiatives with admissions/recruitment and marketing/relations staff to more effectively highlight the value of Residence Life to increase occupancy and subsequent revenue for the department.
3. Create a stakeholder advisory board for the Residence Life program focusing on developing partnerships supporting student success and effective incident response. An existing partnership with USBS has been particularly helpful in addressing payment issues with students. This advisory board will formalize that partnership and will include other departments such as financial aid, athletics, career services and student academic success.
4. Reactivate the residence hall council model to more effectively create student-initiated community standards and values in the facilities/program. Explore how the department can incentivize student engagement/involvement as the program has been dormant for an extended period.
5. Develop a Residence Life dashboard with OIR utilizing PowerBI supporting interventions around retention and residence life programming. The dashboard would indicate which student populations need additional services or programs to persist through the University.
6. Review Resident Assistant positions with the goal of incorporating career competencies into job description and regular reviewing value with student staff. A comprehension of worth may support recruiting higher-qualified and motivated students to apply and stay with positions. Enhanced staff commitment and qualifications could then bolster community life and impact retention with the program and the institution.
7. Collaborate with the Registrar and Financial Aid offices for changes in the refund percentage from 75% to 100% in the first week of the semester. This change will enable students to amend their registration in the first week of each semester without financial penalty and reduce the administrative processing which tends to burden students within the first week of the semester.
8. Implement campus landscape/wayfinding/identity/signage plans.
9. Support improvements and modifications to facilities that are critical for academic accreditation.
10. Support the University’s efforts to provide safe and socially distanced classroom spaces by converting meeting and event spaces into classrooms for the fall semester.
11. Through Auxiliary Services, enhance campus conveniences and amenities for students, i.e. fresh coffee vending machines in University Center; mail/ package locker system for faster service.
12. Partner with Disability Resources Services to create effective working opportunities for student workers needing ADA accommodations both as students and employees.
13. Continue classroom and labs renovations and classroom furniture replacement in conjunction with Academic Affairs needs.
14. Continue residential campus development with improvements to housing, recreation, food services, wellness, transportation and parking.
15. Continue infrastructure improvements including technology, building air, electrical, safety, labs, etc. that support academic excellence.
16. Grow total international enrollment to 1,000 students by fall 2021.
17. Improve the process for admission and I-20 issuance such that the I-20 is issued a week after admission is completed.
18. Improve the service to admitted International students and leverage this service to generate admissions through word of mouth. Appoint student ambassadors to recruit for us.
19. Leverage existing relationships and establish new relationships to increase international undergraduate enrollments. It has potential to increase by as much as 50%.
20. Expand our past employee safety to encompass student safety.