Forum attendees come away with shirts, ideas

Those who attended a campus forum today came away with black and gold “Reach Higher” tee-shirts designed to build enthusiasm at UCCS for embracing new approaches to both recruiting and retaining students.

David Moon, senior associate vice chancellor, Academic Affairs, was joined by Steve Ellis, interim associate vice chancellor, Student Success, Barb Gaddis, director, First Year Student Experience, Chris Beiswanger, director, Admissions Services, and Allison Swickard-Gorman, marketing director, University Advancement, to explain a Strategic Enrollment Management initiative, one of several efforts designed to boost UCCS revenues.

“The toughest thing about success is that you've got to keep on being a success,” Provost Peg Bacon said to begin the forum, paraphrasing famed composer Irving Berlin.

While UCCS has been successful in attracting students – growing almost 30 percent in the decade – the campus faces increased competition, Ellis said. It’s also important that the campus move beyond tactics to recruit students and look holistically at the student experience, delivering on promises made during the recruitment phase.

“Strategic enrollment management is where the university’s mission and student personal goals meet,” Moon said. “It’s about more students, but also more students who find success.”

To achieve that goal, all parts of the university experience, beginning with the time a student is recruited until he or she graduates must be high-quality and coordinated, Moon said.

“We recruit to retain,” Moon said. “We retain to be sure students achieve goals.”
To see the Power Point used in the presentation and samples of recruitment materials developed by Swickard-Gorman and Jeff Foster, multimedia marketing coordinator, University Advancement, click here (.ppt).

-- Tom Hutton