From the President: Results of Student Success Listening Sessions

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last two weeks, we have held several listening sessions and received feedback through a survey regarding student engagement and success. We had around 180 participants who provided feedback on the opportunities and challenges for creating a seamless and integrated pipeline for student engagement and success and who also weighed in on the creation of a divisional structure to support this work. The overwhelming response was to move forward with connecting student success, admissions, and financial aid-and perhaps other areas-and to hire a Vice President to oversee this area.

As a result of this feedback, as well as conversations with others, we will be taking the following next steps:

• Move forward with creating a Division of Student Engagement and Success, aligning the current offices of Student Success, Admissions, and Financial Aid
• Get feedback on a Position Description and select a Search Committee to launch a search for a new Vice President
• Create a process of sense-making for the opportunities and challenges identified during the listening sessions.

The results of the listening session, along with the PowerPoint shared during this session, can be found on the President's page, following the University Initiatives link at the bottom of that page. On the University Initiatives page, you will see links to the Vision, Mission, and Strategic Plan work, as well as the Student Engagement and Success work. The information from these sessions is at the bottom under "Listening Session Results."

I have used the feedback from the listening session to develop a draft Position Description for the Vice President for Student Engagement and Success. This feedback highlighted several key characteristics: a strong communicator who is especially adept at active listening; collaboration both within and across divisions; transparency; empathy, compassion, and care; someone who is student-centered and understands student development; and someone who trusts employees and who can be trusted.

We will likely have conversations about final alignment of offices and structure within Student Success and Academic Affairs after a new Vice President is hired. I greatly appreciate Provost Michelle DenBeste's leadership of Academic and Student Life over the last two years. The new Vice President will work closely with the Provost and others on determining this new structure.

If you have questions about any of this work, please let me know.

Thank you,

Jim Wohlpart
President