Student Affairs & Enrollment Management

Aggie Welcome & Orientation starts with a bang!

By Bernadette Montoya | Published August 15, 2011

Bernadette Montoya and Pistol Pete at the 2011 Welcome BBQ

Early Sunday morning, students started arriving on campus to move into housing for the fall semester. Hundreds of family members were helped by even more student, faculty, and staff members to quickly empty out cars and fill up dorm rooms. One parent reported that because of all the volunteers, their daughter’s U-Haul was unloaded in just one trip by a swarm of helpful folks!

Student Affairs and Enrollment Management staff were busy all day. The Educational Services Building was open from 8-5 for students and their families to take care of business. Other staff were on hand to greet parents on the International Mall after they had moved their students into housing. Still more of our staff helped at other locations all over campus and from their offices.  Thanks to all Student Affairs and Enrollment Management staff who helped make this such a successful day for our new students!

Many students and their family members and friends attended an evening  BBQ with President Couture Sunday evening. It was a beautiful evening, and the Aggie Pride Band, our student athletes and coaches  helped to make it a memorable event. The staff and students from Alumni and Housing and Residential Life also made this event a huge success. 

As you can see by the photo, I had a little fun with “Pete” at the BBQ.  Both of the young men who play “Pistol Pete” do a wonderful job garnering enthusiasm from the crowd.  I observed many new students asking to have their pictures taken with him, so I decided to join in on the fun!

Best wishes for continued success during this busy week!

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Taking time to reflect

By Bernadette Montoya | Published August 8, 2011

Wordle: Ruidoso Retreat

Click on the words above for a larger image.

In our busy work days, we often have little time to reflect. Part of the purpose of the retreat was to give us time away from email and ringing phones to think about what we do and how we do it. The DISC Assessment (see previous post) was one way to focus our attention on how we do things, and how we can do things better.

After spending a day on the DISC Assessment, we all selected five words that expressed how we felt about the day’s work. The words that attained prominence in the wordle above demonstrates the benefits that we got from taking that time to reflect.

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Leadership strengths explored at Retreat

By Bernadette Montoya | Published August 8, 2011

As many of you may know, the Executive Leadership Team spent some time this summer working toward building a more cohesive team.  The fact that we are merging two large departments (Student Affairs and Enrollment Management) necessitated that we work to ensure that we were all focusing on the same goals. Strengthening our team was the main agenda item for the retreat.  I invited a professional colleague of mine, Pam Bergone, to help guide us.  I met Pam through my work with the Leadership Chair Academy for Higher Education Leaders.  She did a great job in guiding us and in facilitating our work. 

We also had the pleasure of sharing our time with our two student interns, studying in the EMD department. Pam Wood and Rosa de la Torre Burmeister added a great deal to our time together, and we wish them well as they complete their last semester of graduate school.  We look forward to seeing them at commencement in December where their Master’s degrees will be conferred. 

The retreat was structured around the DiSC Assessment from Inscape Publishing, which provided  insights into leadership styles, work behavioral styles and strategies. The DiSC focuses on four aspects of behavior: dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness. We were fortunate that all of these aspects were represented in our group, and our discussion included contributions from all these voices.

The first day centered on developing insight into our predominant behavioral mode. As a group, we discussed the values and benefits of all the types, which helped us understand how people who think and act differently balance our strengths. These insights led to reflection on how to work with our strengths and to use the strengths of colleagues.

The second day focused on how we can apply what we learned the previous day, and the work we accomplished will be followed up with ideas for continued professional development.  In addition, our required reading in preparation for the retreat was a book by Bill George, titled 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis.  The book content was a springboard for our discussion on the challenges faced by our offices.  We used the 7 Lessons to help us focus on how we might approach these challenges and effectively deal with them.  There was great discussion among the team, and each of us left feeling energized and hopeful about our service at NMSU.

The work that we put into understanding our strengths will benefit Student Affairs and Enrollment Management through stronger, more balanced teams furthering the business of the university, and more importantly, or service to each other as professional colleagues.

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Dean of Students Update

By Bernadette Montoya | Published July 19, 2011

Thanks to all of you who took the time to participate in our recent Dean of Students Search.   At this time, and after much thought and consideration, I have chosen to close the search.  I will be working with members of my Executive Leadership Team, ASNMSU President and other members of our campus community to consider reclassifying the position.  Dr. Susan Waldo will continue her service as Interim Dean of Students.  I will keep you informed of our progress.  Thank you again for your involvement and interest is the search.

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Presentation to the Board of Regents

By Melody Munson-Mcgee | Published July 7, 2011

The following is the presentation Bernadette delivered to the Board of Regents on June 22 to introduce the Division.

View more presentations from mmunsonm.
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July Update

By Bernadette Montoya | Published July 6, 2011

Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Colleauges ~

June was certainly a busy month!  On the 22nd, I was given a wonderful opportunity to share information about our division with our NMSU Board of Regents during their annual retreat.  It was truly a pleasure to discuss the many good and very important things that all of you are doing to serve both students and our faculty.

Last week I attended a meeting of the Council of Student Affairs and Enrollmement Management Vice Presidents at APLU (Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities) in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  This was a wonderful opportunity to meet with colleagues from other Land Grant institutions.  Our conversations focused on reporting relationships among VP’s and within the various areas of student affairs, the role of co-curricular learning outcomes, marketing student affairs and enrollment management on our campuses, promoting data-driven supervision of collegiate counseling centers, and the role and impact of our areas on retention and graduation.  In addition, there was also much discussion about the current challenges we are facing related to the impending radical changes of the Pell grant funding at the Federal level.  Thanks to those of you who I called on for advice on the Pell issues!  We were able to share our collective thoughts with President Couture, and she will now forward comments to APLU and to others to continue to support Pell funding for our students.

As many of you may already know, Mr. Steve Salway retired after serving many years as Director of  Career Services.  We wish him the very best.  I will be meeting with staff from the Career Services office in the next two weeks to discuss future direction for this key area in Student Affairs and to get to know each of them a little better, and to learn about the role they each play.  Dr. Susan Waldo has agreed to serve as the point person for the Career Services office until we determine next steps.

Many of you continue to ask about the status of the Dean of Students search.  At this time, I am finalizing the secondary referencing.  I will keep you informed as we move forward.

The plans for Freshman Student Convocation scheduled for August 15 are coming along nicely!  I appreciate the time and effort spent by the Office of Student Engagement in handling the many details involved with this event.  It is the intent of our President to make this an annual event, and one of NMSU’s traditions.  We will all play a role in the many important events scheduled for that week, beginning on Sunday, August 14th – Move in day!  I will be counting on everyone’s cooperation and support as we welcome our entering freshman class, as well as our continuing students.  Updates will be shared in the coming weeks on ways that you might be involved.

Again, please take this opportunity to provide relevant feedback on the updates and information I provide.  I look forward to continued dialogue with you.

Bernadette

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June 14 Update

By Bernadette Montoya | Published June 15, 2011

Division Colleagues ~

Thanks to all of you who participated in our recent Dean of Students on-campus interview process.  I am pleased with the pool of candidates that the search committee recommended, and feel confident that we can continue moving forward in our process.  We owe a great deal of thanks to our search committee members:  Tony Marin (Chair), Stephen Lopez, Susan Waldo, Danois Montoya, Abby Goodin, Delia DeLeon, Julie Weber and Ann Nieto.  At this time, I am preparing to complete final referencing on the candidates.  I will keep you apprised of the progress.  The target date for hire is scheduled for July 18th. 

In addition to a busy week with our candiate interviews, several of our colleagues were extremely busy working on the submission of a Lumina Grant.  If awarded, this grant will support the success and graduation rates of Latino/a students at NMSU.  The project is named for one of the first minority students to ever attend NMSU (then called the New Mexico College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts), Fabian Garcia.  The specific name for the project is the Fabian Garcia Baccalaureate Achievement Program.  A great deal of work was done by Dr. Tony Marin, Dr. Terry Cook and Christina Chavez Kelley. Thank you all for a job well done!  Please keep a good thought that we are awarded this funding. We will know more in the coming months and will keep you posted on the progress. 

I am preparing to present to the NMSU Board of Regents on June 22 during their annual Board Retreat.  I have been given the opportunity to discuss the organizational structure of our division, as well as to discuss the many plans that we have to help boost our graduation and retention rates.  I am looking forward to sharing the good things that all of our areas are doing!  Thanks to those of you who provided data and information for the presentation. 

I know there are many other things happening within our division right now. Some of you are involved in moving into new space, others are dealing with the challenges of being in new space, and others are engaged in planning for the upcoming year.  We have some areas involved in cleaning our student data for HED reporting, awarding scholarships,  managing and preparing for all of our new student registration programs,  and generally preparing  for the start of the fall semester.  Even with all that is going on, it is my hope that you are each finding some personal  time to relax and enjoy the summer.

As a reminder, I hope that you will use this forum as a place for collegial and professional dialogue related to our division. Your comments are encouraged.  This web site will grow and expand as we continue our efforts to broaden our communication within the division.  A closing thought and quote to consider:

“The greatest compliment that was ever paid me

was when someone asked me what I thought,

and attended to my answer.“

-Henry David Thoreau 

In closing,  I appreciate all of the support and positive feedback that I have received from so many of you.  Thank you. 

Bernadette

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From the Vice President

By Melody Munson-Mcgee | Published June 1, 2011

To all DSS staff:

I am honored to serve NMSU as the Vice President for Student Success. As an alumna of NMSU, it is a privilege to be able to give back to this institution and to work alongside each of you.

In this position, I am responsible for areas that deal with student affairs, health and wellness, and enrollment management. Staff in this area play an essential role in the success of our students and in the academic mission of the university. As NMSU sets new goals, the Division will be particularly involved in those focused on graduation, diversity, efficiency, and pride. Among our current efforts in the Division:

  • The search committee for the Dean of Students will announce this week candidates who will be invited for campus visits.
  • The Office of Student Engagement is partnering with the President’s Office to hold NMSU’s first New Student Convocation.
  • In partnership with the Provost’s Office, we are creating a center for transfer students in the Educational Services Building. This center will give these students one place to go for advice on credit evaluation, advising, and financial aid.

In addition, we have other vacant, key positions that must be filled, and I will work with the Student Success leadership to establish strategic directions for the future.

And finally, this website is a first step in addressing concerns I have heard from DSS staff about communications. This site will be a primary channel for communication in the Division, and it will evolve over time to meet our needs. I will use this site to update staff with news and events; we will also use this site to post items such as meeting notes.  While some of these items are routine in nature, they inform us all what is happening in other areas of the Division.

The goal is for effective communication to become not just be part of what we do, but part of our culture. I invite you to comment below. I want to hear from you; let’s keep up the conversation.

Bernadette Montoya
Vice President for Student Success

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