To successfully advance our new SEM 2025 Plan, we need engagement campus-wide. We want to grow our student body and see greater student success through improved retention and more equity for our underserved students.
Check out the featured strategy this week to see if it aligns with work in your area:
Strategy 2.3: Grow the diversity of our student body through recruitment and retention efforts.
Ideas for the classroom: Include multicultural course content and get a diversity attribute in the course catalog so students are aware of this content. Invite students from the cultural ambassador program to visit your class or invite students from pre-college TRIO, Upward Bound, Gear Up and other programs to visit your class/department. For more information on how to do this, contact Deltha.Colvin@wichita.edu
Ideas beyond the classroom: Provide bi-lingual materials and support services or hire diverse student assistants and ambassadors to connect with prospective and current students with a broad range of experiences.
Shout-outs to:
- The staff in the Office of Financial Aid provides extensive outreach to high schools for FAFSA completion to help local and low-income students secure funding. They also promoted the launch of the Shocker Promise and Neighborhood programs to reach more students from underrepresented backgrounds.
- Ana Lazarin, College of Engineering director of Broadening and Student Recruitment, provides extensive outreach through admissions events for low-income and first-generation student populations in western Kansas.
- The Office of Admissions creates multiple publications in Spanish, including a Parent Guide, Housing brochure (with assistance from Housing and Residence Life), a scholarship flyer and hosts Shocker Information Programs and Shocker Saturdays entirely in Spanish.
- Anna Dixon, admissions representative, has worked with the WSU-USD 259 Better Academics and Social Existence initiative and produced a dedicated newsletter for more than 230 parents and students in the program.
For more information, contact Dr. Carolyn Shaw at 316-978-7130 carolyn.shaw@wichita.edu.