The University of Connecticut (UConn) has created and implemented a variety of wrap-around support services to assist minority students on its campus.
Of the 23,845 undergraduates in attendance at UConn, 51 percent are female and 33 percent are minority students, according to college officials. For the 8,337 graduate students, 53 percent are female, while 19 percent are minority.
“We are always working to attract a student body that reflects the breadth of diversity and backgrounds across society,” says Nathan Fuerst, the vice president for enrollment planning and management at UConn.
On average, the freshman retention rate for minority students is 92 percent, compared to the rate of 94 percent for overall students. In addition, the four-year graduation rate among minority students is 66 percent, while the six-year graduation rate for minority students is 77 percent, according to UConn’s 2018 fact sheet.
For Dr. Maria D. Martinez, who is the assistant vice provost of the Institute for Student Success at UConn, the two words, “intentional” and “collaboration,” came to mind when she thinks about the evolution of graduation and retention of minority students.
“Quite a few years ago, we as an institution realized that unless we are collaborating and unless we looked at intentional programming, that we were not going to get very far,” says Martinez.
The effort, college officials say, has been a priority.
