Executive Summary This report provides an overview of student success activities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences during the 2008-2009 academic year. In addition to presenting data on enrollment, degree completion, and program growth, this document includes status reports on a number of recent CLAS initiatives, including: improvements to undergraduate advising; the identification of high-enrollment/high-failure courses and departmental efforts to improve student success in those courses; collaboration between CLAS and University Studies to connect Freshman Inquiry students with major departments; program-level assessment in both undergraduate and graduate degree programs; and the identification of students who have come within a few terms of graduating, only to leave the university without completing their degrees. Building on the success of these initiatives, the College will take the following steps to continue with student retention, learning, and addressing Portland State University’s pressing concerns graduation: Develop a large, multiyear dataset to evaluate undergraduate student retention and graduation rates by major. Continue to improve the CLAS Advising Center using the data and results from Center’s a 2009 assessment of the General Interdisciplinary Studies degree programs. Continue to improve departmental advising with input from professional advisors in the CLAS Advising Center. Complete the undergraduate advising website template and present it to departments for adoption.
Executive Summary This report provides an overview of student success activities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences during the 2008-2009 academic year. In addition to presenting data on enrollment, degree completion, and program growth, this document includes status reports on a number of recent CLAS initiatives, including: improvements to undergraduate advising; the identification of high-enrollment/high-failure courses and departmental efforts to improve student success in those courses; collaboration between CLAS and University Studies to connect Freshman Inquiry students with major departments; program-level assessment in both undergraduate and graduate degree programs; and the identification of students who have come within a few terms of graduating, only to leave the university without completing their degrees. Building on the success of these initiatives, the College will take the following steps to continue addressing Portland State University’s pressing concerns with student retention, learning, and graduation: Develop a large, multiyear dataset to evaluate undergraduate student retention and graduation rates by major. Continue to improve the CLAS Advising Center using the Center’s data and results from a 2009 assessment of the General Interdisciplinary Studies degree programs. Continue to improve departmental advising with input from professional advisors in the CLAS Advising Center. Complete the undergraduate advising website template and present it to departments for adoption.
Student%20Success%20Initiative%20Report%20Final%20042809.docx