EMT MEETING MINUTES
September 28, 2006


Present:  N. Karpinski, K. Leybold-Taylor, L. LaBar, A. Lundquist, L. McClusky, C. Patella, J.Schnurr, S. Sloan, C. Speaker, A. Staples,

Enrollment Update

Karla provided the group with the Fall Enrollment data.  It was agreed that Karla’s numbers are the official count.  Confusion sometimes occurs because total count includes more than full-time degree seeking students.  There are (481) total enrolled students, (410) are in the residence hall and (466) degree-seeking full-time students of which 16% are men (74).

17% of the students, including our foreign student population, are students of color, 65.2% are white, non-Hispanic, and 17.8% are unknown (did not disclose this information).  8.5% of the students are non-traditional age.  32.1% are out-of-state and 2.7% are out-of-country and 65.2% are from NYS.

Retention Update

Karla presented the Wells College Cohort Retention report.  A discussion occurred on what the term “cohort retention” means in relation to a withdrawal update.  Cohort retention tracks a student in a class during their four years at Wells College.  This report does not include transfer students.  This report strictly looks at students who entered as first year students and tracks their enrollment on an annually basis.  Anne wanted to know if students who leave Wells College and return “are they placed back in their cohort class.”  Karla said that students who return from a leave or withdrawal are placed back in their cohort class.

Last year’s freshmen class (Class of 2009) was retained at a 72.3% cohort retention rate. The Class of 2008 has a 63.2% cohort retention rate to their junior year.  The Class of 2007 has 58% of their original entering class still enrolled at Wells College.

These numbers are lower than what Wells would like to see and the group discussed retention goals as it relates to the colleges enrollment goal for next year.  Next year the college’s enrollment goal is 534.  This would mean that the Class of 2010 would need to have a 78% retention rate and overall the college would need a 85% retention rate.

Cathy handed out a list of students who left during 8/24/05-8/24/06.  These are all students even those who involuntarily had to leave i.e. academic dismissal and suspensions.  The group discussed what the process is for students intending to leave Wells College.  Even though all students are asked to complete a form and meet with the Dean of Students, not all students meet with Dean of Students office or complete the form in a timely fashion.  There also was a concerned about the truthfulness of students in listing of why they are choosing to withdraw.  Amy asked if there could be an honest assessment of why students are leaving with follow-up phone calls or even a “third party” approach to interviewing students.  

Some members of the AFA expressed concerns with the number of beds on campus and the growing class size.  Even though rooms were adjusted from triples to doubles when enrollment was down-does Wells have enough beds to house our growing population?  As enrollment grows will we be changing our small classes for larger classes?  AFA will be talking about “selectivity” and “shaping a class” in their meetings.  

Fall 2006 Opening Concerns

Some members of expressed concern over the apparent “confusion” that was felt among faculty and students.  There was a urgent rush to hire more faculty in the languages and why was this so if the administration knew the enrollment numbers earlier.  We reviewed the results of the on-line new student registration.  All but (10) students registered on-line.  Therefore, results of the on-line pre-registration were known by July 14th.  Susan Sloan pointed out that this was a higher percentage than those who have attended Wells Warm-Up in the past (two-thirds of the new students have attended this event in the past).  Everyone agreed that the faculty call-ins were not successful and very few students called-in.  Amy Staples wondered how many students registered without faculty advising.  Karla pointed out that summer on-line registration was a pre-registration.  All new students met with their advisors during orientation and had the opportunity to drop/add at this time.  Amy asked if it was possible for major chairs to get a class listing of their courses so they could prepare earlier.  Laura questioned if this would then hinder the “academic vision” of the Dean of the College.  Cathy questioned if it would be wise for a faculty member to prepare for a specific number of students that early when many students may change their registration due to wait lists and drop/add.  Many members felt that the personnel changes in the Dean of the College resulted in this year’s early confusion in some areas but that some of these issues would be isolated to this year.

The group talked of some changes that we can review to eliminate some of the areas of concern this year:
(1).   A. Lundquist recommended that we move back the calendar even further.  Allow students to pre-register as soon as they enroll.  Therefore a review of class listings could be obtained as early as May.

(2)    C. Speaker pointed out that our new computer system will enable faculty to obtain a class listing over the summer and some of these concerns will be resolved as soon as our new system is fully in use.
(3)    A. Lundquist feels that Wells Warm-Up has a definite benefit to students and parents.  The connection to Wells is maintained over the summer.  However, she believes it does not have to be repeated in its prior format.  


“EMT Members” Only

Members of EMT met after AFA members left for their classes.  Cathy explained that instead of trying to find another meeting time for EMT members only that the logical solution would be to continue the meeting at this time.  We discussed when and why we would need to meet without AFA.  One of the reasons is that AFA and EMT together should deal with strategic planning while EMT could continue any discussion to deal with the operational implementations.