Student Affairs & Enrollment Management

Priorities from Big Meeting

By Melody Munson-Mcgee | Published August 2, 2012

Input from SAEM staff suggests that our current round of planning will focus on shoring up our communication with and among staff and improving SAEM services. In addition, we will collectively work toward improving staff knowledge of our own best practices (through studying our own data) and facilitating the development of knowledge in best practices in student services externally. This focus on what is working at NMSU and in higher education generally will position us to make informed choices for future strategic planning.

The Big Meetings gave all SAEM staff an opportunity to comment on the ideas other areas had for strategic planning. Those ideas are below. If you didn’t get a chance to comment on these at the meetings, feel free to add a comment below.

Dean of Students

1. Communication and Collaboration (among offices; to and from leadership)

  • Create and distribute staff and process flowcharts
  • Increase individual recognition
  • Know divisional/university resources
  • Offer on campus professional development/cross training

2. Student Support

  • Outreach
    • Train/educate staff, faculty, administration and students that student support services increase retention and student success=graduation
    • Offer a session about judicial services/code of conduct for new students
  • Programming
    • Student infirmary
    • Revitalize CCSU w/student focus
    • Student Advisory Board for SAEM
    • More support programs (mental health, childcare, veteran, tax services)
    • Develop student emerging leader program (for credit) in collaboration with other areas

3. Staff Morale/Development

  • Improve service to students (follow-up on our service, calls to offices before sending a student, Quick Connect)
  • Resources (competitive salaries, positions, space)
  • Training
    • Cross-training
    • Q&A sessions
    • Outreach/training/informational activities for staff, faculty and students regarding respective programs, topics, trends
    • Systems evaluations/assessment

Financial Aid Office

1. Student Support

  • Provide FERPA training to improve consistency of compliance and implementation
  • Change office configuration to improve FERPA compliance, accessibility, welcoming appearance, space use
  • Require an academic plan for all students receiving federal or state funding as a way to link academic progress to aid
  • Improve phone tree and tracking system for calls

2. Communication, within and between offices

  • Work to increase communication between Advisors and Processors, including the whole office
  • Use NMSU list serves to communicate with faculty and staff. Include updates from the FAO for federal, state, current and endowed funding.
  • Use the Facebook page for updates from the FAO on federal, state, and institutional funding.

3. Staff Development

  • Create an Annual Conference for all staff and faculty for communicating institution-wide about federal, state, and institutional funding updates
  • Support conference attendance and shared learning

Health and Wellness

1. Communication

  • Review/revise the Core Values of H&W to include values of civility and diversity
  • Enhance customer service by collaborating across SAEM (global group)
  • Ready References (Names, Numbers, Locations)
  • Improve employee recognition at staff meetings (feedback from surveys, emails, correspondence)
  • Annual employee recognition of Core Values—Aggie Spirit Award
  • Enrich website to include pictures, contact, and basic information and key service contacts

2. Increased Staff Involvement

  • Expand annual all-staff meetings from twice a year to three times (Fall, Spring, Summer)
  • Ensure that minutes are kept for departmental meetings forwarded to groups and administration
  • Develop an Excellence Committee (focus on customer service)—could be a global SAEM group
  • Promote the NMSU email and websites (Wellness and SAEM) as the direct link for up to date information and feedback
  • Promote Game Day/Aggie Pride Fridays through apparel, group activities, community participation

3. Flex Scheduling

  • Educate staff on flexing available (taking classes, teaching classes, weekend/night work)
  • Definition of H&W core operations-reasons behind hours of operation, communities served, interdepartmental dependence

Office of Student Diversity and Outreach

1. Leadership

  • Increase profile of OSDO leadership to all areas of SAEM
  • Increase outreach to NMSU so OSDO leadership can be perceived as experts in their communities
    • Cultural workshops on leadership styles
    • Planning and execution of recruitment and retention efforts at outse

2. Communication

  • Promote relationship building within SAEM at every level
  • Promote sharing of expertise through SAEM in-house workshops, using Admission’s First Friday meeting model
  • Promote 360 degree (open) communication and participation at all staffing levels of SAEM

3. Resources

  • Look for ways to leverage resources, especially around data collection, grant writing, fundraising, best practices, recruitment, and retention
  • Develop and implement a model for how to use data to support additional resources
  • Increase resources for scholarships

Office of Student Engagement

1. Student Support

  • Identify student populations with challenges to persistence and graduation to ensure academic support programming is available (e.g. probation or other academic sanctions; non-traditional; sophomore junior level students; student athletes)
  • Develop credit courses and outreach programming for targeted student populations
  • Pilot Graduation Project: Identify students who have stopped out or withdrawn and have earned a minimum of 98 credits and provide assistance to return for degree completion
  • Integrate Career Services offerings into the Aggie Welcome and Orientation Program (e.g. selecting a major or discipline; learning about co-operative and internship opportunities)
  • Continue to analyze student data (academic performance; demographics; survey and anecdotal) to identify trends in persistence and graduation as well as student satisfaction with services

2. Collaboration

  • Develop campus-wide team to collaborate regarding Aggie Welcome and Orientation Program (includes events at New Student Registration, Mid-semester Check Program, and AWO which begins on Move-In Day) to achieve objectives of comprehensive Orientation Program for new students, parents, and families
  • Evaluate all media regarding programs and services to ensure consistency

3. Communication and Staff Support

  • Host Student Engagement Annual Retreat. Involve staff from all Engagement programs to serve on planning committee
  • Office of Assistant Vice-President—develop communication tools to provide consistent communication concerning events, training opportunities, staff changes, and implementation of strategic plan objectives

University Admissions

1. Collaboration

  • Expand collaborative efforts with SAEM and other NMSU offices to ensure students are receiving timely and accurate information about the enrollment process, as well as available student support services
    • Examples: Aggie Welcome and Orientation activities, Career Services efforts, Registration deadlines
    • Work with system-wide Enrollment Policy and Management effort to proactively develop targets and goals for undergraduate, graduate, and international recruiting
    • Collaborate with academic and SAEM colleagues on how our technological tools can benefit their areas

2. Communication

  • Expand communication between EM offices and share timely information with Admissions staff
    • Have staff develop a plan for effective communication among staff, NMSU offices, and with students
    • Work with financial aid and other SAEM office about processing and deadlines

3. Staff Development

  • Expand communication between EM offices and share timely information with Admissions staff about processes in other areas
    • Collaborate with other areas to learn about what they do and to learn about their processes
    • Develop capacity in Admissions to collect and analyze data to better meet student needs

University Registrar

1. Communication

  • Have staff develop a plan for effective communication among staff, offices and with students
  • Develop communication plan to better use technology to communicate deadlines and other information to SAEM staff and the university community
  • Collaborate on an annual networking event among SAEM areas to educate the staff on processes/duties within each office

2. Collaboration and Student Services

  • Share information and data with colleges and administration about course and room scheduling so we can better meet student academic needs regarding courses
  • Collaborate with academic and SAEM colleagues on how our technological tools can help in their areas (Ad Astra, DARS, web tools)

3. Student Retention

  • Develop student advocacy skills regarding university processes to promote personal academic success
  • Distribute DARS report of students who fulfill graduation requirements at the end of a semester to provost, deans, department heads

Vice President’s Office

1. Communication

  • Develop and instill stronger group identify (SAEM)
  • Better communication: VP ↔ all levels of staff
  • Promote sharing of expertise through in-house workshops
  • Facilitate documentation of procedures for purposes of cross-training and consistency
  • Capture institutional memory via cross training , professional development, workshops

2. Electronic support for sustainability and efficiency

  • Develop recommendations for electronic tools that will be compatible across areas and will facilitate communication, collaboration
  • Develop database to facilitate information and resource sharing
  • Move SAEM → paperless, as appropriate

3. Use SWAT as a model to coordinate SAEM-wide efforts around

  • Technical support
  • Professional development
  • Quality/Advisory team: combines ideas for Student Support and Employee Council
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