BAC conference focuses on retention, innovationBriscoe Academic Center use showing positive resultsBy Rose McIlveen | |
| The IU Bloomington Advisors’ Council (BAC) held its second annual conference at the Indiana Memorial Union Sept. 29. With a theme of “Advising in the 21st Century: Tradition, Innovation, and Vision,” participants heard
about issues regarding retention and “developmental advising.”
“During the last five years, retention on the IUB campus has improved markedly,” said Doug Anderson, senior research analyst for the IUB Office of Institutional Research. “Among first-time, full-time, degree-seeking freshmen who entered in fall 1999, near ly 85 percent are back for fall 2000.” “Retention rates have usually been high for Asian-American students and international students,” he said, “but the gap is closing as Latino and African-American students are staying in school at a much higher rate than they were five or six years ago.” “Men have a slightly higher retention rate than women,” he said, “and students from out of state are a little more likely to persist than Indiana students. First-generation students (ones whose parents didn’t attend college) are also more likely to leave IUB.” Anderson had some promising statistics related to the Briscoe Quad Academic Center. Students who used the facilities at the center in both the fall and spring semesters of their freshman year had a higher retention rate than ones who used the center only one semester or not at all. More than 90 percent of the two-semester users returned to school after their freshman year. Anderson was optimistic about the trends. “Good things are happening at IUB. To continue the positive trends, we need to help students connect to IU, both academically and socially. This is especially critical in the first year. If we can get them through the first year, we usually keep them through to graduation.” “Developmental advising” is a new concept for the counseling of students, said conference keynote speaker Lou Moir, assistant director of student academic support for Groups Student Support Services at IUB. “Developmental advising is aimed at getting the students to take charge of their own existence with a minimum of the adviser’s time,” she told the conference participants. How to retain students? “The number one reason for retention for students is a relationship with a faculty or staff person met in college,” Moir said. http://www.indiana.edu/~iubac | |
IU Home Pages
400 E. 7th Street. Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone: (812) 855-6494
Publication date: October 13, 2000
Comments: homepgs@indiana.edu
Copyright 2000, The
Trustees of Indiana University