New blueprint for student success adopted by WSSU Board of Trustees.
The Winston-Salem State University board of trustees adopted a new strategic plan for the university during its quarterly meeting in December. The plan is likely to impact every facet of the university, from academic advising to enrollment.
At the core of the plan is a call to improve student retention and graduation rates.
In the plan, statistics show that the percentage of first-year students who stay for a second year dropped from 77 percent in 2003 to 68 percent in 2006. WSSU Chancellor Donald Reaves wants to see that number improve to about 85 percent. He would also like to see the six-year graduation rate improve to 60 percent from the current number of approximately 40 percent.
University officials say one of the ways the university can improve those rates is in the selection process. That means selecting prospective students with stronger academic backgrounds. Although enrollment boomed in the early 2000s, the university was not attracting top academic students, officials said. That changed this year, when WSSU scaled back its freshman class to 795 from the 2008 record high of 1,357.
The document adopted by the board brings into focus Chancellor Reaves’ overall vision for WSSU over the next five years. “This is a blueprint for how to move the university along a continuum of improved outcomes,” Reaves says.
Reaves also talks about the need to see more core classes that will excite students. As it is now, new students take a narrow core curriculum and typically declare their major during their freshman year. He has called for a more flexible approach. “We’ve got to get our core curriculum to a place that is modern and flexible and that provides a student with choices,” Reaves says. “We have to get away from the notion that when 17-year-olds arrive on campus they have to pick a major. “
Other changes ahead include:
• A first-year seminar program.
• Increasing internship opportunities.
• Expanding online- and distance-learning offerings and programs.
• Increasing financial aid for graduate students.
• Enhancing retention support for at-risk students.
• Increasing revenue from fundraising and philanthropic support.
• Investing in new and renovated facilities designed to build a better sense of community.
