UNews - Trevor Flexhaug

RRP finds success points

trevor.kenney — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 16:05:22 +0000

It’s been nearly three years since the Recruitment and Retention Project team was established, and over that time a number of student-focused initiatives have been put in motion. To date, there have been 13 projects delivered or in the process of being delivered.

Responding to the needs recommended by student associations, units on campus, as well as many learner focus groups, this collaborative team has provided a rich environment of ideas to be acted upon in the pursuit of serving learners, helping create a real sense of community and support on campus that aligns with President Dr. Mike Mahon’s vision of a destination university.

“The RRP team’s energy, dedication and commitment in guiding and delivering these innovative projects focused on the recruitment and retention of our students is outstanding,” says ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Provost and Vice President (Academic), Dr. Andrew Hakin.

Student success is at the heart of the RRP team's mission.

As the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ opens the Fall 2013 Semester, four more projects are moving forward, all examples of the co-operative effort that has been a hallmark of the RRP mission:

• The introduction of an online graduate application process under the leadership of Alice Miller (Admissions) has put to rest a timely, labour-intensive paper application system and help streamline the manner in which students apply for graduate school.

• Predictive Modeling, under the leadership of Mandy Moser (Institutional Analysis) for early intervention with an applicant to enrolment model, as well as a student retention model to aid Faculties and campus services to direct their future actions with greater efficiency and effectiveness, thereby increasing the likelihood of student success.

• The business case and analysis for new housing led to the opening of Mt. Blakiston House this fall, the newest campus residence building, directly targeted at retaining learners into their second year and beyond, all the while freeing up additional rooms for first-year learners.

• With the guidance of James Graham (New Media), the innovative online virtual campus environment created by the RAVE project will be introduced this fall, allowing users to virtually visit campus in a 3D environment. It allows peopl to get a look at all of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s facilities and services, granting users a sense of the campus community available to them.

“The entire Recruitment and Retention project has been very collaborative from the beginning,” says Heather Mirau, director Integrated Planning. “The RRP team and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community have all been fantastic, and the spirit I’ve encountered while working on these projects has been fabulous. It’s the students who benefit from this work, and that has been the goal of this project from day one.”

Mirau credits the success of the Recruitment and Retention Project due to the strong support from students, faculty and staff, and senior leaders. Much change has taken place in just a few years with nine initiatives piloted (four more are in the process of being delivered), which is testament to the broad support the project has received.

“I look at the Game Day Shirt project under the leadership of Trevor Flexhaug that grew out of work from the Enhancing Community & School Spirit subject matter team,” says Mirau. “The project team thought a great way to enhance Pronghorn pride on campus would be to encourage faculty, staff and students to wear Game Day Shirts on the day of Pronghorn Athletics games. It started small and now we have a number of campus units requesting shirts so that they too can take part.”

While some of the projects are focused on pride building, others are academically focused, such as the introduction of the Liberal Education 2850 course. Described as “Mapping Self, Career, Campus, Community”, the course was introduced as a pilot for the Spring 2013 semester and went over extremely well with students. Designed to help students with the transition to university life, it provides an active learning component focussing on the U of L’s student resources, including those that are imperative in supporting student success from their first semester through to graduation.

“It was very encouraging to see the positive comments students had for the LBED 2850 class,” says project team leader, Dan Kazakoff (Management). “It was evident that many students appreciated the exposure to the value of our liberal education foundation and the many support services that are at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge to help them reach their goals. The key in the future will be to learn from the pilot class and expand the number of first-year students exposed to such an endeavour. A big thank you to Dr. Jan Newberry who taught the pilot class.”

The reworking of the Writing Centre within the Academic Writing Program provides students with a wider base of support within a multi-disciplinary approach.

“The greater level of support and expertise now enables writing skills and methods to be targeted to the various disciplines and needs of students,” says Dr. Cliff Lobe, coordinator of the Academic Writing Program.

The academic support project led by Dr. Heidi MacDonald (History) provided further emphasis on tutoring and learning strategists. This project resulted in several professors piloting the very successful visit from campus service professionals to their classes and the establishment of the 24-hour Collaborative Learning Centre (W650).

Other initiatives established through the Recruitment and Retention Project include the Learning Circles pilot project under the leadership of Dr. Craig Milner, the introduction of a Campus Information Services outlet, a campus service web page design, a services for students web page providing one online location for student support connections, and a Fun With Math program created through the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science with leadership from Dr. Hadi Kharaghani. Other project proposals have received approval for delivery over the next year.

“There’s been a real emphasis on talking to our learners and finding out what supports they need to be successful,” says Mirau. “We are trying to give them every opportunity to find that success. It starts with getting them engaged with our community the day they walk through the front door and then reinforcing those supports as they work their way through to graduation.”

For a look at the RRP team and for more on the project, visit www.uleth.ca/recruitment-retention.

Game day shirts establishing Horns culture

trevor.kenney — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:04:46 +0000

The challenge is on!

As part of the Recruitment and Retention Project (RRP), the Enhancing Community & School Spirit (ECSS) subject matter team is challenging ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ departments, faculty, staff and students to wear Game Day Shirts on the day of our Pronghorn Athletics games.

The ECSS team has partnered with Sport & Recreation Services to develop the initiative, and an initial order of shirts for participating departments has already taken place. ECSS team leaders, Kara Watson and Trevor Flexhaug, say the initiative is designed to foster a greater awareness and promotion of when Horns games are taking place, to engage more faculty, staff and students with Pronghorn Athletics by having them attend games and to increase the pride of wearing our ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge branded clothing.

Horns culture gets a boost from a new campus initiative aimed at engaging the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community.

"It's also about having some fun and challenging departments across campus to see who can promote the Horns' brand the best and increase attendance at the games," says Flexhaug.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's Calgary and Edmonton campuses are also invited to participate.

"It's exciting to see an initiative like this take shape," says Sandy Slavin, executive director of Sport & Recreation Services (SRS). "Pronghorn Athletics represents the entire ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and to see widespread support like this is great for the program and will really be noticed by our student-athletes."

Robb Engen, the manager of marketing and promotion for S&RS, is a member of the ECSS team and helped direct the proposal. He says that SRS will provide campus with notice the day prior to every Horns game so that everyone will know when to wear the shirts. Game days are also promoted on the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's digital signage system and on the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Drive digital screen. A full Pronghorns season schedule is available at gohorns.ca.

The impetus for the initiative comes from a School Spirit Student Survey that was conducted by the ECSS team. The survey indicated that 49 per cent of student respondents (1,017 students responded in total) had never attended a Pronghorn game, 25 per cent indicated there was a need to create more awareness of Horns Athletics on campus and better communication of campus events, while less than 44 per cent of respondents had ever worn U of L branded clothing.

This is just the initial stage of the Game Day Shirts project, with the campus departments that most interact with our students invited to participate.

Watch for further promotion of Game Day Shirts (they'll be available at the Horns Athletics Office, PE210, later this month) and upcoming staff, faculty and department opportunities to get involved.

"It's a great way for everyone to get involved in our campus community and to really add to our school spirit," says Watson. "Let's go Horns!"

This story first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Game day shirts a part of establishing Horns culture on campus

trevor.kenney — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:17:28 +0000

The challenge is on!

Horns culture gets a boost from a new campus initiative aimed at engaging the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community.

"It's also about having some fun and challenging departments across campus to see who can promote the Horns' brand the best and increase attendance at the games," says Flexhaug.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's Calgary and Edmonton campuses are also invited to participate.

This is just the initial stage of the Game Day Shirts project, with the campus departments that most interact with our students invited to participate.

Watch for further promotion of Game Day Shirts (they'll be available at the Horns Athletics Office, PE210, later this month) and upcoming staff, faculty and department opportunities to get involved.

"It's a great way for everyone to get involved in our campus community and to really add to our school spirit," says Watson. "Let's go Horns!"

This story first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

A clear focus on students

trevor.kenney — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:45:25 +0000

There's no doubt you've heard the buzz about a student portal or seen the campus-wide campaign about a U of L learning commons and study centre, while just recently the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ broke ground on another student residence.

If there are common threads to these initiatives, it's that they embody the student-centred ideal that is embedded within the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's Strategic Plan; an ideal that is articulated in part by the activities of the Recruitment & Retention Integrated Planning (RRIP) team.

In 2009, in response to a dramatic shortfall in student application numbers, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ wide Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM) program was formed to create a competitive advantage in recruitment by collaborating and sharing resources across campus.

Members of the RRIP team, including (Back Row L to R) Steve Brodrick, Heather Mirau and Trevor Flexhaug. (Front Row L to R) Dan Kazakoff, Nicole Leusink, Alice Miller and Karen Clearwater.

"It was designed as a vehicle that would pull the faculties together to support and have a more structured approach to recruitment techniques," says Vice-President (Academic) and Provost Dr. Andy Hakin.

Recognizing that getting students in the door was only half the solution however, Hakin began thinking about how the institution could keep its new students. RRIP was subsequently created to compliment the work of SEM and to drive student retention initiatives.

"RRIP basically looks at how we need to support our students once SEM has done its work in bringing students to the U of L," says Hakin. "They ask the basic questions about the student experience, about how students get into the institution and what supports students use when they are here."

Karen Clearwater, the lead on the RRIP team, brought members of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community together from a number of different areas of the institution.

"We did not necessarily want all unit managers, we looked at those people that work directly with students on a day-to-day basis or that have been directly involved in providing services to students," says Clearwater.

The team includes faculty members, APO's and AUPE membership and all have been very dedicated to the RRIP project. The team started its work with focus groups and unit presentations, as well as an environmental scan.

"We collected information from as many sources as we could," says Clearwater.

From the information compiled, certain subject themes took on greater priority than others. It was at that point Subject Matter Teams (SMT) were established. Currently 85 faculty, staff and students are working toward the completion of priority projects. Student leaders on campus have played a critical role in these SMTs.

"The whole process has taken a lot of time and we are pleased to see the results coming forward with some great initiatives," says Clearwater.

Student retention rates have long been an issue for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, and the RRIP initiatives have been aimed directly at improving those numbers.

"The idea is that we have to change what we are doing in respect to the student experience, with the overall goal of reducing that attrition number," says Hakin. "But no success will be possible without maintaining the high quality of our academic programs."

Four major projects are currently in the works, all having been identified as priorities by RRIP. They include the establishment of a student portal, the move from paper to electronic applications for graduate studies, the establishment of a 24-hour study centre with a more robust tutoring and mentor service and the creation of an academic success centre which will house a number of student services. As well, the push for more student housing came through RRIP recommendations, something that will be realized with the construction of Aperture Park Phase 3.

"That was another major piece that came forward from that group," says Hakin. "They identified that we needed more residence spaces, and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
responded to that because we know that students who are supported in a student housing environment perform better and have a substantially improved retention rate."

Both SEM and RRIP are seen as ongoing initiatives.

"It's a continuous improvement vehicle," says Hakin. "It cannot be one or two projects and we're done, things need to keep improving in terms of how we support our students, how we interact with them and how we improve their academic experience at our ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

GET THE FACTS

· For more information on the RRIP project, check out the website www.uleth.ca/recruitment-retention

· The RRIP team was established in 2010

· In addition to team sponsors Andy Hakin and Nancy Walker and project manager Karen Clearwater, the 10-person team consists of co-ordinator Heather Mirau, Steve Brodrick, Trevor Flexhaug, Dan Kazakoff, Carma Leishman, Nicole Leusink, Heidi MacDonald, Alice Miller, Chris Roberts and Barbara Williams

This story first appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Legend. If you'd like to see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Trevor Flexhaug

RRP finds success points

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