Strategic Enrollment Management Committee (SEMC)
Meeting Summary
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Present: Gayle Arries, Amanda Blanton, Jackie Blakley, Lou Ann Martin, Gwen Owens, Lisa Robinson, Linda Driggers, Eugene Grant, Lynn Lewis
The following is a summary of the SEMC meeting which occurred on Thursday, October 20, 2011.
Fall Enrollment Calendar
· Amanda gave a brief update regarding changes that will be made to the fall calendar regarding admissions and registration deadlines.
Retention Plan:
· The committee discussed the status of the retention plan that was presented to the Executive Staff and the next steps involved in finalizing details, such as developing a project charter and a roll-out strategy. Amanda announced that she and Deborah Brock had presented the plan framework in a faculty development workshop and that another workshop is planned in November, in addition to Amanda’s meeting with faculty and staff at the Anderson Campus in December. The committee agreed that we should move forward with visible activities that emphasize student success and retention. Examples might be
o Developing a retention column in Connection to highlight best practices (Amanda to talk to Rebecca)
o Gathering best practices from department heads/faculty
o Talking to Sharon about planning the next Professional Development Day (next November 2012) to focus on the different aspects of retention (perhaps call it Professional Development for Student Success)
o Developing retention resources for faculty and staff
· Credit divisions gave examples of retention activities they are currently doing, such as
o Eugene talked about asking all his faculty to put 1 idea for improving retention in the classroom on a post-it to be compiled (Eugene will send the compiled list to Amanda when done or bring to next meeting) and creating T-shirts to create a sense of community among students
o Gwen talked about how the collaborations we have with other colleges to create 4-year pathways improves retention
· The committee brainstormed with Gayle on questions she can ask students when she works on a video that will provide us with information on why students stay at TCTC or what they like about TCTC
· The committee also talked about the need to make sure we recognize our own processes that may not be student friendly or help students be successful. One process mentioned was the College’s withdrawal process, which is slated in the retention plan to be reviewed and improved, and discussed that perhaps we need a workgroup to begin reviewing this process.
· It was mentioned that Diana Walter has developed some great retention techniques and that perhaps the SEMC should invite her to talk to the committee about some things she has done with Gateway.
Format of meeting:
· Amanda asked if there were additional agenda items that should be included as part of the format of the SEMC meetings. It was suggested that we include on a regular basis as part of the meeting a retention best practice section.
