RETENTION COUNCIL

Monday January 31,10:00-12:00pm
280N York Lanes

lAttendees: John Amanatides, Jeffrey Ball, Ronda Bessner, Robert Bishop, Cherie Bova, Jennifer Bramer, Paul Brienza, Mauro Buccheri, Donna Cope, Glenn Craney, Peter Cribb, Ian Crookshank, Joseph De Souza, Joanne Duklas, Paul Elliott (on behalf of Leesa Fawcett), Rosanna Furgiuele, Debbie Hansen, Grase Kim, Jennifer Lavigne, David Leyton-Brown, Polly MacFarlane, Praveen Muruganandan, Modupe Olagun, Brian Poser, Marie Rickard, Mark Robertson, Catherine Salole, Garry Spraakman, Lynda Tam, Stanley Tweyman, Marc Wilchesky, Mark Wilson, Bart Zemanek
Chair: Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt                                       Co-Chair: Rob Tiffin
Note Taker: Suharshi Perera


1. Review of notes from December 02nd meeting

• Notes were reviewed and no changes were made.
  
  

• Closing date for proposals is February 15th. Call for proposal went out on December 15th.
• Three Working Groups will be asked to comment on all proposals by March 8th. The working groups will not rank the proposals. Decisions will be made public by end of March and the funding will be available for the new fiscal year beginning May 01st.
• There is an AIF meeting scheduled for February 17th. Number of proposals and how they are divided in to categories will be discussed at this meeting.
  
  

3. Sub-Committee Updates

Advising Sub-Committee:

• A handout containing “Feedback from Advising Units” was distributed at the meeting.
• There will be 8 workshops (2 hrs each) for the advisors. A certificate will be awarded after the completion of the workshops. People within the university will facilitate the workshops.
• People in advising positions have varying degrees of access to data; they need information about where to refer people to get information and services
• Are the students we most need to see coming to academic advising?

Peer Mentoring:

• Lynda Tam thanked everyone who responded to the Survey. Survey had a low response rate.
• Some common trends are emerging.
• Discuss creating a template  - Basic skills for Mentors (individualize)
  

 Students:

• group is looking at communications with students from admission to arrival and considering how to utilize the student portal more effectively to provide relevant information
• consideration to a student “portlet” with self-directed modules before arrival (finance, housing, student success, etc.) and news stories
• involvement of the peer mentor program for online dialogue
• possible enhancement of the Red Zone
• consideration of orientation plans, possibly including training for orientation leaders

Faculty:

• a number of ideas emerged from a Learning Commons retreat, e.g., an LC open house designed specifically for faculty members
• how to involve faculty: collaboration with academic literacies group and the CST to provide  support for faculty to embed literacy development in assignments and curriculum
• how to engage librarians, LC people as we consider students’ learning; what works for students
• importance of early identification of students in trouble; faculty are key to this; how to follow up and ensure that students most at risk get help (advising, mentoring, etc.); need for active intervention

Year-to-Year/Orientation

• the group is contributing to a survey on Fall Co-curricular Week through the Senate Academic Standards, Curriculum and Pedagogy Committee; results should be available soon
• How can we identify students who need help in a proactive way?
• a work plan is being developed for 2011 FCW involving early planning and promotion, e.g., early connections with colleges, student clubs, etc. to involve them, identification of vehicles to promote FCW, support for an earlier start, synergies with the Red Zone
• we need to get a better sense of students who are eligible to return but don’t: who are they, why they don’t come back, how we can help them; and take steps to provide help when this can make a difference

Data and Resources:

• group is looking at how data sets needed by the groups can be developed into an overall research program
• What do we do with data in order to get at underlying issues and make a difference for students?a data request form is being launched
  
  
  

4. PRASE Process

• 3 sessions on “Advising” were held. Issues came up were similar to the ones identified by Retention Council Sub-Committees (i.e. lack of clarity around who is doing what, how to integrate resources etc.)
• process has confirmed that there is a lot of advising going on at many levels, but there are overlaps, and there is need for clarity about when and where to go for information
• Members suggested having a simplified programming model & a web page to reduce issues. 
  
  

5. BUSSE Follow Up

• 1350 Students Responded to survey and 451 self-identified as low on preparedness
• Norma Sue read the letter that is being sent to the students. It is phrased in a way that the students who receive it will think everybody who completed the survey got one.
• students are being informed about where to go for assistance
  
  

6. Retention Data Fall 2010

• Glenn Craney presented statistics on Fall 2010 Retention Data and a handout was distributed.
• Some programs are more highly at risk in terms of required withdrawal for academic reasons; how does this information and reasons get to units?
• It is important to identify things we can change in order to address this
• Five year low watermark for retention
  
  

7. Residence Life Themed Floors & Programming

• For Fall 2011, each of the Masters has come up with one or more themed floors.
• Bethune - Life Sciences House Life Sciences House (for Biology, Kinesiology, and Chemistry majors)
• Calumet - Current Topics in Psychology (for students who enroll in PSYC 1010)
• Tatham Hall (McLaughlin) - Law, Politics and Public Policy
• New/Pond  - Global House
• Stong - Health & Wellness, Writing & Communications
• Vanier - The Humanities, History, Philosophy, Economics and Social Justice
• Winters - Music & Sound
• Glendon -  Maison bilingue/Bilingual House (Wood Residence), Green House/Maison verte (Hilliard Residence)
• Students will be informed about themes. Trying to group people who have common interests. We hope that this will attract more students.
• Ian Crookshank presented the programs in the residences. In Fall 2010, average events per residence were 56. Personal & Community Development sessions were extremely popular. Overall there is a positive reception for the workshops.

8. York Engaged Students

• To be discussed at the next meeting.
  
  

9. Retention Council Website

• There is now a link to the Retention Council Website from the VPA&P website.
• Sub – Committee notes/minutes should be sent to Carolyn Cannon so she can post them.

• Next Meeting
• Monday, March 21st from 10.00 – 12.00 noon in room 280N York Lanes