Jennifer GreerAssociate Provost for Administration

Office of Academic Affairs

Tricia McElroyAssociate Dean for Humanities and Fine Arts

College of Arts of Sciences

Adam SterrittAssistant Vice President for Student Engagement & Academic Partnerships

Division of Student Life

Outline

• UA Recent History & Context

• Campus-wide Initiatives (new)

• Current HIPish Initiatives

• Questions

Recent History & ContextEnrollment Growth

Changing DemographicsIncreased Academic Profile

Leadership ChangesCampus Climate

Of the 37,665 undergraduate, professional, and graduate students enrolled at UA in the fall semester of 2016:

• 43% come from Alabama• 53% come from elsewhere in the United States• 4% are international students from 77 countries• 56% are women• 44% are men• 12% are African-American• 2% are Asian-American• 7,559 are freshmen class (40% scored 30+ on ACT; 67%

out of state)

Why now?

37.9 37.7 41.2 42.7 38.8 41.3 43.9

UA 4-YR Graduation Rate

Percent Graduation

YEAR

Why now?

The University of Alabama

Office of Institutional Research and Assessment

Second Year Retention and 4- and 6-Year Graduation Rates

for Full-Time, First-Time Undergraduates

Fall Cohorts 2004 to 2014

All Students

Fall Cohort

Head Count

Continued to 2nd Yr

Graduated in 4 Yrs or Less

Graduated in 6 Yrs or Less

% % %

2004 3,345 85.9 37.9 67.3

2005 3,703 85.1 37.7 65.8

2006 4,359 86.7 41.2 66.5

2007 4,493 84.6 42.7 66.7

2008 5,034 83.5 38.8 65.7

2009 5,096 84.8 41.3

2010 5,489 86.5 43.9

2011 5,703 85.4

2012 6,338 87.0

2013 6,428 86.7

2014 6,794

Output N:\sas\Alicia\Data Requests\Retention\Retention_Graduation_Summary_SelectDemographics.sas

Despite a >40% increase in

the growth of our student

population in 10 years:

• No significant change in the

YR 1 to YR 2 retention

(e.g., <1%)

• 4 YR graduation rate <50%

• 6-YR graduation rate <66%

Campus-wide InitiativesQEP: Learning in Action

Project Rising Tide

Learning in Action QEP

Overview

Learning in Action

Learning in Action QEP Goals and Outcomes

Institutional Goals: To increase the quality and quantity of experiential learning opportunities (ELOs) in every college Faculty/Staff Goals: To provide multi-layered professional development focused on incorporating experiential learning best practices across the curriculum and co-curriculumStudent Goals: To enhance the problem-solving skills of undergraduates through high quality experiential learning

Institutional Outcomes: Increase in number of ELOs that are certified as meeting UA best-practices (certified courses listed in UA course catalog)Faculty/Staff: Increase in Learning in Action Fellows Program participants (professional development focused on incorporating ELO best practices across the curriculum and co-curriculum)Student: Increase in undergraduate problem-solving skills and ability to apply academic learning to real-world contexts

2016

Today

July August September October November December

Distribution of Fellows and Assessment Team materials7/29/2016

Website launch8/5/2016

Assessment Team meeting8/15/2016

Learning in Action Breakfast/Summit8/26/2016

New Faculty Lunch and Learn9/16/2016

Fall Speaker - Jay Roberts9/22/2016

Advisory Board meeting10/21/2016

Spring applications due10/24/2016

Spring Fellows announced11/11/2016

Fall Fellows presentations12/14/2016

Learning in Action Activity Summary August – December 2016

2017

Today

January February March April May

Learning in Action Spring Workshop1/19/2017-1/21/2017

Advisory Board meeting1/27/2017

Fellows applications due3/1/201

7

Fall Fellows announced3/20/2017

Spring Fellows presentations4/28/2017

Learning in Action Activity Summary January – May 2017

Other Key Dates:• Assessment Team meetings (1/per

month)• Problem-solving workshop (March)• Taskstream workshop (April)

Jay Roberts Consultation2/15/2017-2/17/2017

Advisory Board Meeting

Assessment Team Meeting2/17/2017

FACULTY/STAFF

• Fellowship model; small groups of fellows organized into "Professional Learning Communities”

• Professional Learning Communities facilitated by faculty with expertise in experiential learning

• Two semesters: 1. Design experiential learning opportunity (ELO)2. Implement it

• Fellows present to Advisory Board, Assessment Team, Deans, Directors each semester

• Encouraged to present, publish results (JCE)

College of Arts & Sciences 15

Culverhouse College of

Commerce2

College of Communication

and Information Sciences6

College of Education 4

College of Human

Environmental Sciences6

College of Engineering 2

Capstone College of Nursing 1

School of Social Work 1

Other 15

Total 52

Total Faculty by College

Pre Scores

MEAN

Post Scores

MEAN

Mean

Difference

A. Defines problem with situational awareness 1.88 2.11 0.23

B. Identifies and derives solutions 1.89 2.08 0.19

C. Uses academic knowledge in real-world contexts 1.76 2.17 0.41

D. Analyzes and evaluates solution 1.78 2.15 0.37

E. Connects academics to real-world contexts 1.83 2.20 0.37

Total Mean 1.83 2.14 0.31

Rating Category

Matched Samples*

Spring 2016 Pilot Data

• Pre/post-test assessment on student problem solving• Interdisciplinary Assessment Team rates a matched sample

of pre and post-reflections based on the QEP rubric (adapted from AAC&U rubrics)

PurposeTo improve undergraduate retention and graduation

success at UA through creating shared understanding of priorities.

Project Rising Tide

Goals

Create a UA Definition of Student Success

Identify small win/pilot opportunities

Improve 1st to 2nd Year Retention

Improve on-time completion

Other Intended Results

Enhance horizontal communication and collaboration across campus

constituencies

Create a greater connectedness across campus colleges,

departments, and student services for student success

Increase awareness that student success is more than advising and

transactional exchanges

Ongoing PRT Initiatives

• Provide a more intentional and impactful first year experience for all students

• Improve student success in large introductory courses

• Remove policy and procedural barriers for student success

• Provide student employment opportunities that link campus work with majors and future aspirations

• Develop a centralized academic support hub on the web for both faculty/staff and students

• Transform academic advising to meet the needs of today’s UA

Current HIPish InitiativesCamp 1831

Blackburn InstituteA&S Departmental Initiatives

http://vimeo.com/85962389

First Year Experience

Program Goals

build a smaller community within the first-year class to ease the transition from their previous environment to that at UA.

introduce UA history and tradition.

support academic transition to campus.

create an environment where students develop networkswith faculty & staff and create lifelong friendships.

expose first-year students to ways they can serve UA and the surrounding community as a student leader.

increase student retention.

Faculty & Staff Involvement

Faculty & staff participate with small groups of students

• Begin to develop relationships with faculty & staff and dispel perceptions of faculty/staff as intimidating

• Allows faculty/staff to share advice and help answer students’ questions before classes begin

• Activities include values based discussion, goal setting, etc.

• Assessment results indicate that students would like to spend more time with faculty and staff

Assessment Results

A total of 260 survey responses were collected with a response rate of 95.5%. The results below represent the survey participants indicating they strongly agree or agree.

• 91.9% indicated that they agree or strongly agree that they feel confident about future interactions with UA Faculty & Staff, as a result of attending Camp 1831

• 88.8% indicated that they agree or strongly agree that they were made aware of social issues and how they can take a larger role in helping communities face challenges, as a result of attending Camp 1831

• 97.3 indicated that they agree or strongly agree that Camp 1831 left them more confident about their first year at UA.

Camp 1831 Attendees persist at a 4% higher rate then their Cohort Peers

• 2014: 89% persistence v 85% persistence

• 2015: 90% persistence v 86% persistence

Blackburn Institute

• A leadership development and civic engagement program focused on improving the state of Alabama, learning about state’s challenges

• Selected students participate in a one-year curriculum of activities and events; continue involvement while at UA.

• Blackburn Fellows graduate and work through professional and civic involvement in their home communities and throughout the state, both individually and through the Fellows Involvement Network (FIN)

• Intergenerational network that learns from the past, takes action in the present, and plans for the future.

• Introduction to the Blackburn Institute Video (5:54)

A&S Dep’t. Initiatives

Music• Freshman theory tends to be an

extremely intimidating experience for students, particularly those with little or no theory background

• Greatest point of attrition in the freshman year historically has been a result of the student’s lack of success in initial theory sequence

• Solution: a new preparatory theory fundamentals review course (MUS 015), designed to precede Music Theory I (MUS 115)

• Course is designed to address both recruiting (a less intimidating track for entering freshman) and retention (a higher success rate for students in the program)

Theatre & Dance• Dance establishing one-hour credit

AS101 (fall) and AS102 (spring) for freshmen dance majors – to help them transition into

college– to introduce them to resources

and programs available on campus

– to make time to introduce some dance ideas that will prepare them for the program and their future careers

• Three sections of the class will meet simultaneously so that the students are divided up approximately 20-25 per faculty member for better accountability.

A&S Dep’t. Initiatives

Religious Studies• New peer mentors program:

https://religion.ua.edu/peermentors.html

• High performing 100-level core students (largely comprising incoming freshmen) are invited back in the following semester, as volunteer peer mentors, willing to work one-on-one with students, under direction of the professor, in the same course, to assist those who wish to seek additional help in the course, from someone who very recently took the course and excelled.

History• Established a peer mentor

program associated with one of their large 100-level surveys

• Peers are upper-level history students who provide tutoring or other outreach efforts

• In the future, plans to expand the mentors to other survey classes

• Mentors receive small stipends

A&S Dep’t. Initiatives

Chemistry• Goal of improving the “DFW” rate in CH101,

a gateway course for nearly all science and engineering majors

• Performed pretest to analyze students’ readiness for CH101 and gathered data on potential predictors for success

• Showed strong correlation with math placement and potential for success: students who were calculus ready had a >80% success rate (A, B, C), whereas students in Math 112 had a <50% success rate.

• Plans to establish a CH100 course that would serve as an alternative to CH101 for students who place into Math 113 or lower

• Would cover the CH101 material, but also include an additional hour/week of problem-solving sessions

• CH100 will satisfy the same prerequisites as CH101, so these students will not be delayed in their future classes.

Geography• New introductory course GY100, with

working title “Introduction to Environmental Science”

• Intended to be a Natural Science, Core Curriculum course that will interest large numbers of first- and second-year students

• Most Geography and Environmental Science majors are students who have changed from a previous major after taking one a GY lower-division course, so this seems to be an elemental step

• Aims at increasing majors as well

Questions