Overview:

University College (UC) aims to increase the number of students enrolled on each of its campuses by strengthening its emphasis on recruitment and retention. Recruitment activities focus on attracting students with high-quality programs and instruction, a rich co-curricular life, and secure, well-maintained facilities. Retention includes those activities that provide students with an opportunity to become involved in the intellectual, social, cultural, and athletic life of the campus. Such involvement provides students with a feeling that faculty members care about their academic and professional growth and that there is a personal connection among individuals on the campus. Students really want to believe that their faculty members care about their progress. The first year is particularly critical for retention: if a student returns for a second year, he or she usually will stay with the institution to complete the degree program. Therefore, all faculty and staff members are expected to help create the needed support and involvement.

As good campus citizens, all faculty members should contribute in multiple ways inside and outside the classroom to the positive image of campus life. Their core support for recruitment and retention clearly comes through their daily work in and around the classroom, extending from course design and presentation to maintenance of regular office hours and provision of other possible recruitment and retention activities, as individual faculty members vary in their strengths, talents, and preferences. Whichever activities are chosen, however, it must be emphasized that University College does not mean to sacrifice academic standards in the name of retention; indeed, “Penn State Quality” must be maintained through appropriate academic rigor and grading policies.

Recruitment Activities:

  • Attend campus open house

  • Teach a sample class at an open house

  • Make a presentation about your academic area at an open house

  • Attend open house for UP college held on a campus

  • Participate in “Get to Know You” events

  • Staff labs for open houses

  • Provide “hands on” demonstrations in science and engineering labs during open houses

  • Speak with prospective students when they visit the campus

  • Respond to telephone calls and e-mail messages from prospective students seeking information about a specific major

  • Attend receptions held for students admitted to a campus

  • Participate in phonathon to call “paid accepts” to welcome them to your campus, answer questions, and see that any information requests are forwarded to the appropriate office

  • Call honors students who have been offered admission

  • Call students who applied to the campus as their first choice but who have not accepted the offer by May 1

  • Participate in high school in-service days to build links with high school faculty

  • Serve as a UP College contact and referral representative

  • Invite high school teachers and students to the campus undergraduate research fair

  • Serve as web master for campus web site used to recruit students into a degree program

  • Invite high school students to attend one or more of your classes

  • Refer high school students to Penn State programs and campuses

  • Host high school competitions such as math competitions, science fairs, spelling championships, and writing contests; provide refreshments and set up admissions display for participants.

  • Participate in Gifted Lecture Series for high school students

  • Lecture on your research in high schools to promote campus and baccalaureate programs

  • Attend Career Day programs in middle and high schools

  • Participate in recruitment programs at local community colleges

Retention Activities:

  • Call students who are not attending your class

  • Tell the DUS Coordinator which students are not attending classes so the DUS can send them a letter, copied to their advisors

  • Offer non-graded practice tests on ANGEL to provide assistance in practicing skills

  • Participate in new student orientation

  • Participate in Academic Convocation

  • Participate in Commencement Program

  • Participate in “extended orientation” offered six weeks after start of semester

  • Teach a First Year Seminar

  • Work with the PREP program

  • Serve as a faculty supervisor of peer mentors assigned to classes

  • Serve as an adviser to a student club or organization

  • Lead a discussion at a meeting of a student club or organization

  • Participate in annual Honors dinner

  • Participate in awards ceremonies

  • Involve undergraduate students in research

  • Involve students in service learning

  • Involve students in internships

  • Provide leads for internships and career opportunities to the Career Service Office

  • Sponsor event such as etiquette dinner, community service activities

  • Participate in study-abroad programs

  • Plan out-of-class programs such as a campus-wide speakers series or faculty lecture series

  • Participate in FTCAP counseling

  • Suggest ideas to the Student Life Office for co-curricular programs that integrate with classroom instruction

  • Announce co-curricular events in class and encourage students to attend; link with course assignments if appropriate

  • Serve on committees working to create a student-centered campus (e.g., for class schedules to reduce the number of under-enrolled sections)

  • Share your concerns about students based on classroom behaviors and observations with the appropriate office (e.g., student life, academic advising, learning center)

  • Interact on a regular basis with students outside of class (e.g., eat lunch with students, attend programs, invite them for coffee; attend campus co-curricular events and programs such as student government meetings, picnics, performances, athletic events, academic lectures, undergraduate research fairs, and speakers)

  • Make class assignments that involve attendance at cultural programs and other events and attend the events with your students

  • Participate in “Take a Student to Lunch” program funded by the student activity fee

  • Do an “academic review” on eLion at the end of the semester for each of your advisees; send message to advisee regarding their current semester final grades and schedule for the upcoming semester, including reminders about registration

  • Use the advisor interface in eLion to contact advisees who are missing classes or doing poorly; suggest solutions to academic problems

  • Use the advisor interface in eLion to contact and encourage advisees who are doing well

  • Plan your course syllabus to allow meaningful OPR entry in both the 4th and 7th week semester report; announce to students when the reports are available

Other Factors:

The expectation that faculty members will support recruitment and retention is not new. There has been some confusion in the past over how to report these activities. Under Internal to PSU, when adding the service there is a drop-down list under Service Type. Here you will find Participation in Recruitment and Retention Activities as a type of service.  This information will be considered as part of the annual faculty performance review of the FAR. 

July 2023