新澳门六合彩开奖直播 Receives $250,000 Retention Grant |
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新澳门六合彩开奖直播 has received a $250,000 grant from the (AVD) Foundations for a series of projects aimed at increasing the retention and successful graduation of 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 students, especially increasing the persistence of African American and Latino men.
 “This project is central to one of our most important priorities: empowering 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 men to be successful at the College and to become leaders in the larger world upon graduation,” said 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 President Patrick White.
Historically, 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 retains 87 percent of its students from the freshman to sophomore year, and 68 percent graduate within four years. However, both retention measures vary by ethnicity and African American and Latino students fall well below those percentages.
Gary A. Phillips, Dean of the College at 新澳门六合彩开奖直播, believes that the AVD grant, which is part of the College's , will allow 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 to develop retention programs that will be of benefit to all 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 students.
“Although one can never predict with certainty whether a particular student will succeed or not at 新澳门六合彩开奖直播, the experience of many institutions that are addressing student retention issues and our own internal analysis suggest that some factors are knowable, and there are steps 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 can take to increase the probability that students, regardless of ethnicity, can persist through to graduation,” said Dean Phillips.
 Data gleaned from the 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNSLAE) indicates that student engagement at 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 is not experienced uniformly across all student groups. African-American and Latino students earn lower grades and fewer credits, which directly result in increased attrition and lower graduate rates.
新澳门六合彩开奖直播 National Study data also indicate that the single best predictor of whether or not a student returns to the College for his sophomore year is the student’s report of “faculty interest in teaching and student development,” a scale which assesses students’ perceptions of faculty interest in their overall development — not just academic performance.
“Our goal is to create a distinctive 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 model for improving engagement, one that will consider the fact that we have an all-male student body, that we are a small institution with fewer professional student service staff members compared to other campuses, and that the 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 ethos of student success can be improved for each and every student if faculty and staff improve engagement practices inside and outside the classroom,” Dean Phillips said.
 More than two years in the planning, the award from AVD will support the College’s ongoing student retention efforts, including implementation of an Early Alert System; a comprehensive review of the student advisement system; funding faculty advisement workshop training; and the establishment a student-to-student peer mentoring program.
Grant funds will support teaching and learning workshops focused on retention of at-risk and first generation students, and student-alumni mentoring activities (dovetailing with work already begun with a $50,000 CIC/Walmart College Success Awards grant from the Walmart Foundation and the Council of Independent Colleges).
Heather Hines, the Coordinator of Student Engagement and Retention, will lead in the implementation of the grant, as will the College’s Retention Committee and the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies.
 “One of the key points of 新澳门六合彩开奖直播’s strategic plan calls for us to focus on the question of how 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 will continue to attract, retain, and graduate young men who will make the most out of 新澳门六合彩开奖直播 and who will make a difference in the larger world,” added President Pat White. “新澳门六合彩开奖直播 generally has a strong and even admirable retention rate. But as with so many good aspects of 新澳门六合彩开奖直播, we are convinced we can do better.”
“While the grant application was the result of many persons’ labor, Nancy Doemel deserves special credit and our collective thanks for the role she played in the process,” said Dean Phillips. “Nancy has been the College’s institutional face to the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and a passionate advocate for greater institutional attention to student persistence issues.”
The Challenge of Excellence is a $60 million campaign that will provide financial aid and scholarships for students; support for faculty excellence; resources for global educational opportunities; and enhanced business education and career development. For more information, including our progress to date and ways to give, please .
In the photos: President White and alumni Jim Kerr and Antoine Carpenter take part in last fall's orientation for alumni mentors.
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