October 2007 Friday Focus
Update: Fall 2007
This fall has been very active for the University on several fronts, so I thought I would use this Friday Focus in much the same way as I did in the summer and update you on a number of developments that are important for the institution. Most of these matters are very positive and augur well for the University; a couple require our thoughtful consideration and discussion so we can develop and implement effective strategies.
1. Fall Enrollment
Missouri State University set a number of enrollment records this fall. Our System total is 21,407, an increase from last year’s total of 20,962 and the first time in history the University has topped 21,000 students. This figure includes 19,705 students on the Springfield Campus and 1,771 on the West Plains Campus (69 students are enrolled on both campuses and are only counted once in the total). These enrollment numbers establish new records for each campus.
The average ACT of entering freshmen on the Springfield Campus is 24.0, a new high mark. Among our new freshmen, 87 percent rank in the top half of their class, another new record. In addition, international students are up 247 (40.6 percent), which includes an increase of 97 students on the China Campus. The number of minority students has increased by 88 (7.3 percent). One of the more significant increases among student groups is with new graduate degree-seeking students, which increased by 86 (15.9 percent).
Enrollment at our Springfield Campus has grown 10 of the 12 years since 1995, the year the University began raising admission standards. Total enrollment during that period has increased by 3,235 students, a 19.6 percent increase. Since 2001, only four public universities in Missouri have increased their total enrollment, and Missouri State University ranks third among this group, which also includes the University of Missouri System, Southeast Missouri State University, and Missouri Western State University. These enrollment gains are directly in line with our long-range plan goals which were set to achieve moderate growth.
Enrollment of first-time freshmen did slip a bit this year, although it remains very much in the range of the past few years. As the number of high school graduates in Missouri declines over the next few years, we will need to be sure that we are doing a particularly good job with our enrollment strategies for the University in order for us to maintain the enrollment goals in our long-range plan.
2. Research Achievements
The National Science Foundation awarded $2,927,000 for Missouri State University’s Viticulture and Enology Science and Technology Alliance (VESTA). The grant, which is one of the largest competitive grants in the University’s history, will be used to provide education to students in community colleges in 12 states through online training courses.
This NSF grant will enable Missouri State University’s viticulture and enology program to expand and become even more influential for Missouri and the entire Midwest region of the United States.
The scientific research for VESTA is conducted at the Missouri Fruit Experiment Station in Mountain Grove, where scientific research has been practiced for more than a century, as a "regional center of excellence." The educational aspects of the program are managed on the West Plains Campus.
3. Facilities Update
During September, MOHELA made the first transfer of funds to the state, which will now be available for universities to begin their capital projects. For Missouri State, our first projects will focus on Siceluff Hall, King Street Annex, and Temple Hall in Springfield; Shepard Hall in Mountain Grove; and the two West Plains projects: Gohn-Wood and Hass-Hoover. Design work for Siceluff will be under way by November, and I expect it will be vacated and ready for actual renovation beginning in the summer of 2008. We anticipate that design work for the two West Plains projects will begin early in 2008.
Phase II of the Roy Blunt Jordan Valley Innovation Center is progressing with the help of both federal funds and the anticipated MOHELA funds. Phase II should be completed in late spring 2009.
Work continues on JQH Arena, which remains on budget and very close to its original construction schedule. Our initial period of accepting orders for premium seats for JQH has concluded, and the fan response has been terrific. We have exceeded our expectations for this very important source of arena revenue. We also are very close to our goal for private fund-raising to supplement the $30 million gift by Mr. Hammons.
4. Academic Programs
Talks are under way with the University of Missouri-Kansas City in support of developing a partnership to deliver its Doctorate in Pharmacy degree program (Pharm D) on our campus. This cooperative program has received initial approval from both our Board of Governors and the Curators of the University of Missouri; a request has been submitted for a state appropriation dedicated to this program, along with a request for funds to expand our current health-related programs in nursing, physician assistants, physical therapy, communication disorders, and lab sciences.
Missouri State University and IBM announced on September 19 that the University will offer the first Bachelor of Science in IT Service Management (ITSM) in the United States. The new degree program, created in collaboration with IBM’s IT Service Curriculum (ITSC), will be conferred by the computer information systems department in the College of Business Administration (COBA). IBM will support this degree by supplying methodologies and course material in IT services, including lab exercises, class assignments, and case studies.
5. Student Success
The Provost and I have both emphasized the need for the campus to improve several measures of student success, including first-to-second year retention, the six-year graduation rate, and student engagement. On standard measures of academic achievement, including class rank, ACT scores, and college credits earned before enrollment, our students do quite well in comparison with other Missouri residents or with students enrolled at our benchmark institutions. Where Missouri State does not do as well, and where we need to do better, is in the area of institutional engagement or persistence, as measured by retention and graduation rates, which on the Springfield Campus stands at about 74 percent and 52 percent, respectively. We have a lot to learn about what is happening in this area, and Provost Belinda McCarthy has asked our new institutional research staff member, Kathy Coy, to focus her efforts on this full time. Right now, we have the results of the National Survey of Student Engagement, which give us some direction for the future. We feel that, given the strength of our faculty and the quality of students we are admitting, we can increase first-to-second year retention to 80 percent and improve our six-year graduation rate to 60 percent.
Currently, the West Plains Campus goals for retention and three-year completion rates of first time freshmen are 60 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
Those of you who attended or listened to the President’s Report to the Campus Community presentation last month know that the University has taken several steps to improve these areas of performance, which are ones that have been targeted in our long-range plan. These strategies, several of which have been suggested by a special team that attended a national retention and engagement conference this summer, include a number of interventions that have found success at other institutions such as:
- revamping summer orientation programs to increase academic expectations
- deepening students’ engagement with the campus community, especially during the first year
- promoting the use of active and collaborative learning methods and environments
- developing a Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning
- stimulating students’ intellectual interests via special first-year seminars that focus on research, special themes, or community involvement
I think it is crucial for us to examine some of the teaching and learning approaches that have been developed and found to be successful at other institutions that have sought – just like us – to boost their students’ success. Three examples – of many – come to mind. Virginia Tech’s Math Emporium was started in 1998 as a way to improve students’ performance in basic math courses at a university known for its excellence in math and science. Based on the fundamental notion that students learn math best when they practice it a lot, Math Emporium has been adopted with success at many different types of institutions, including both selective and open-admissions universities and community colleges. A second example is the summer common reading experience, where all entering students are expected to read a common work of fiction or nonfiction, which then serves as the basis for a year-long campus conversation around which aspects of the curriculum and many campus experiences are organized. Hundreds of institutions now incorporate this experience into their first year, and they span research universities, elite private colleges, and municipal (open admissions) institutions. The first year research seminar, where faculty members teach small sections of undergraduates about their specific research and scholarly interests is the third example. In many institutions, these courses have been developed as replacements for, or alternatives to, their version of IDS 110.
What each of these examples has in common is the emphasis on engaging students in rigorous and stimulating academic work around which they can grow their own private curiosity, forge closer bonds with faculty and fellow students, and become better engaged with the intellectual – and in some cases – the social life of the campus. They do not involve lowered academic standards. In most cases, they do not increase faculty workloads. They are not particularly costly, especially when the institutions consider them as alternatives to, rather than additions to, business as usual. The evaluations of these approaches have yielded mostly positive, frequently replicated, results; student persistence has increased as have institutional finances derived from the improved retention of students.
As we consider the number of very positive achievements that we are enjoying this semester, I look forward to your ideas, suggestions, and support for how to continue to improve the educational environment for our students as well as their academic accomplishments.