Notes From 1/18/08 Meeting

The Student Experience Working Group Meeting
January 18, 2008

Larry Barrett, Antony Cardenas, Judy Jacobi, Paul Johansen, Paul Osisek, Kristy Thomas, Scott Smithson, Liz Bernel, Sarah Weber, Thomas Albano


How can we utilize the Missions and Value Statement and how can we format it into our Tiger Group?

Stay within the framework of Learning, Discovery and Engagement. Focus on degree-seeking students but also clarify the role of non-degree, dual enrollment and lifelong learning. The Student Experience is not the only experience on campus but everything is driven by students.

The committee reviewed the group’s framework from George Asteriadis which includes a mandate that the white papers describe objectives, strategies/action steps, and funding requirements and sources. Values means approaches and best practices.

Group Member’s Comments and Suggestions:
Summarized important points from the Learning Rediscovered link previously sent to all group members.

Emphasized how accessible our campus is; sculpture; at-home environment; affordable; unique; everything that big schools offer; easier for students to get involved.
Encourage to develop new indicatives and promote awareness and maintenance of the existing cultures (internship, clubs). How can we better connect?

Caring culture-at least in the beginning.
Students are inundated from internal emails-communication overload problem.
Communication: how to enhance; how to determine what is important.

All buildings on campus are wireless compatible.

Retention-how to connect?

Globalization.

Retention needs to focus on freshmen and sophomores-mentoring, freshman experience would be helpful.

Enhance communication to increase awareness of these opportunities.

PNC desires to continue to offer both a prestigious, marketable degree and at the same time do this in a non-urban campus setting that is beautiful, both in a natural and "man-made" sense.

PNC desires to continue to encourage the "small liberal arts college" campus experience that a campus of 5,000 offers.

PNC desires to continue to provide all of the marketplace respect and prestige of a Purdue degree in a personal and caring environment that recognizes our students’ unique challenges (financial, familial) and responds with the extra support they need to be successful.

In the interest of promoting the most successful and enjoyable learning possible, PNC wants to continue to encourage students to attend all classes if possible, since we believe the student experience is about being here. With classmates. With professors. Besides the learning agenda, we want you to have fun, experience camaraderie with fellow students, make friends, and of course, take in what great professors are here to teach you!

To create a genuine college student experience, PNC must work with singular dedication to get our long, long overdue Student and Community Activity Center. The lack of a gym, student union, assembly room that can hold more than 200 people, among many other features mitigates vigorously against a PNC student having a genuine college experience in many ways.

Because of globalization of interaction in general, and world commerce, in particular we believe that our students should graduate "world -ready," by encouraging and supporting the creation of programs to encourage students to travel outside of the United States for the purpose of organized for-credit study, internships or coop education, even if for a short time.

Judy shared the PNC Brand Identify platform brochure with the committee.

80% of our students are 18 years old. Should we drop the terms traditional and non-traditional and call them baccalaureate intenders?

Provide opportunity to enhance talents of under-represented (at risk) students.

Have more cultural enrichment opportunities and activities.

Improve knowledge of population and how under prepared they are.

Commencement on campus.

Need more quiet space for study.

Use vet building for practice for students

92% of all Americans say you need college to get a career. Number one reason students go to college is to make money and have a career. PNC faculty wants to fill the minds and move on – they don’t see career development as their responsibility. We need to work this disconnect together.

Students who are used to finding help in high school find a different learning environment at the college level.

Suggests a first-week Orientation Week- instructors will tell students how to be successful- STUDY, ATTEND, ETC.

Yahoo blogs and papers on what makes a good college stressed many things that are already OUR STRENGTHS- small size; US News Best College rankings; reputation; individual attention; diversity, class size.

Freshmen coming from public school are unprepared and need significant help with the transition.

Technology needs to be on the table-she will send a technology report to the group.

Realize the non-residential aspect of PNC where most students balance work & families.

Play on our strengths–off campus classes, online learning experiences; distance education.

View all staff members as advocates for our students.

Look at faculty members as mentors.

What can we do better? Tweak the freshman survey to use for improvement especially the comments that there is a lack of communication on campus; concerns that faculty members are not approachable and instances where students have been unable to contact advisors.

Campus-wide success in the classroom and through clubs.

The working group should to “strive to have great expectation levels and embrace a culture that is committed to change to enhance the student experience.”

Assignments for January 24, 2008 meeting:
Bring 4 or 5 global statements of vision (in the form of bullet points)(We will come to a consensus on these points and then we will proceed to specific areas of strategies and action steps for them.)

Summary of the major points from today’s discussion are:
Communication
Students’ awareness of opportunities that exist (clubs, internships, etc.)
Technology
Preparedness for the college experience
Campus environment