Studying why part of a college or university’s student body drops out or fails, and then implementing programs to retain students seems like something every institution would do. Two educators from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, N.Y., were surprised to find out that wasn’t the case when they attended the fifth annual National Symposium on Student Retention held in Buffalo, N.Y., last week.
“One of the things that was overarching in terms of questions and feedback is that a lot of the institutions were wrought with resistance in terms of getting buy-in to do some of the programs,” said Monica Michalski, assistant dean of freshman studies and academic enhancement. “We are very fortunate because we have top down support — from our president, board of trustees, our vice presidents, faculty, staff and administration down to our security. We’re all involved in this together. It’s commitment and support.”
Michalski and colleague Steven Catalano, director of institutional research and planning at St. Francis, presented a seminar titled, “Improving Student Persistence and Success: A Data-Driven Approach,” which had approximately 30 attendees. Catalano said one of the attendees was a basketball coach who has been asked by his university to develop programs, policies and practices for retention, but had been given no real direction from his school’s administration.
“We created our retention initiatives from scratch ourselves,” said Catalano. “What this conference is showing us is this is going on in many colleges throughout the country. It’s very important to compare notes.”
