By Sasha Williams
“Graduation Date: Never” is part two of a two-part series focusing on the University of Louisville’s graduation rate for undergraduate students. This week’s article investigates what the university is doing to boost the number of students who graduate.
The University of Louisville’s undergraduate graduation rate has fallen to almost 33 percent, meaning only one in three freshmen will graduate within six years. According to data from the Center for Postsecondary Education, U of L’s graduation rate is just 33.1 percent; the university’s Office of Institutional Research and Planning puts the rate only slightly higher at 36.7 percent.
“When I became President and evaluated all the pluses and minuses at the University of Louisville, I saw many pluses – few minuses,” said university President James Ramsey. “The major minus, particularly from the educational and public policy perspectives, was our low graduation rate.”
Such dismal numbers have also caught the attention of other university administrators, including Provost Shirley Willihnganz and Associate Provost Dale Billingsley. Both are working on a new plan to improve graduation rates by boosting student retention. According to Billingsley, improving the school’s graduation rates is one of Ramsey’s “top five priorities for the university.”
“Kentucky state culture has produced one of the lowest rates of college-educated citizens in the country,” Billingsley said, “and we have our work cut out for us.”
In November 2004, the university created the office of Retention Management and Research to investigate problems students at the university face, and those students’ reasons for leaving the university. So far, research has indicated the majority of students leave U of L because of personal issues, including finances, illness and commitments outside the classroom.
Dr. Cheryl Gilchrist, director of the Retention Management office, said it is just as important to find out why students succeed at U of L as it is to find out why others withdraw.
“A lot of times, all we hear about are the students who leave. We also want to concentrate on the students who are here,” Gilchrist said.
In an effort to do just that, a focus group made up of graduating seniors will be studied this semester. According to Gilchrist, this focus group will reveal the motivating factors of successful students, as well as any problems they have encountered during their university careers and how the university could better have assisted with those problems. Also, student surveys and exit interviews help the university understand how to improve student support services.
“These initiatives are coming into place so that we can be pro-active,” Gilchrist said.
In addition to concentrating on student success and retention, the office of Retention Management and Research also intervenes when a student is struggling.
“If a student is not doing well academically, we try to contact them about student services that are available to them,” Gilchrist said. “We are trying to be more intentional and interactive with them.”
Gilchrist said some students don’t realize the multitude of resources available to them on the university campuses, including the seminars about finances, counseling services, advising and the REACH academic center.
The REACH Center, located in Strickler Hall, opened in 2000 as part of the effort to improve retention rates. It offers a variety of student support services, including a welcome center, a peer mentoring program and computer and math resource centers.
U of L junior Mari Nelson said she’s used the REACH Center’s tutoring services to succeed in many of her courses. “I wouldn’t be able to get through any of my math classes without the math center,” Nelson said.
Executive Director of REACH Cathy Leist said the center primarily targets lower-division undergraduate students who are struggling academically. “Helping students improve their course grades is one major way REACH assists students and contributes to improving retention,” Leist said.
The university also hopes to boost retention by improving students’ experiences in the classroom. Dr. Marianne Hutti, assistant director of the Delphi Center, is heading up a series of seminars for part-time faculty members aimed at improving teaching skills. Such skills include classroom management, curriculum development and test writing.
Hutti explained that part-time teachers come to the university with expertise in their field, but that doesn’t always mean they know how to teach.
“They are dealing with a lot, and nobody has ever taught them this stuff,” Hutti said. “We want to help [teachers] learn other things to do than stand in front of the class and be a talking head,” Hutti said. “We want students to be an active part of the class instead of lecture recipients.”
Engaged students, Hutti said, will be less likely to drop classes and more likely to stay on track for graduation.
Ramsey stated that the provost’s plan to improve retention and graduation rates reaches into most aspects of university life, even campus beautification.
“We want a campus where students want to come, and want to be, and not come for an 8:00 class and then leave and come back for a 1:00 class.”
Gilchrist agreed that raising the retention rate is the responsibility of the whole university. “Retention isn’t really an office, it’s a university-wide commitment to the educational excellence of the students, and it takes the whole university to help the students be successful and graduate.”
