Retention & Completion Subcommittee

Purpose

This committee aims to improve the retention and completion of all students by supporting their academic success and transition from enrolling at Weber State to graduating with a desired credential.

Charges for 2022-2023

  1. Monitor and evaluate the implementation of first-year learning communities and prepare an expanded set of learning communities for Fall, 2023
  2. Prepare and assess a Transfer Student Best Practices document for departments to standardize the process of supporting transfer student success.
  3. Examine predictors of successful completion of students with 90+ (bachelor-seeking) and 50+ (associate-seeking) credits to design effective interventions for supporting their completion.
  4. Host a First-Year Summit for the campus in which common goals for a comprehensive first-year program are discussed
  5. Continue to monitor the retention success of first-time and transfer students with the new dashboard disaggregated by underserved student status.
  6. Fully utilize the capabilities of Starfish software to support retention and completion initiatives through progress surveys, flags, retention scores, and the in-take survey, as well as reaching out to students who have not registered for subsequent semesters or who have lost their financial aid eligibility.

Summary of Accomplishments for 2021-2022

The Transition and Opportunities committee implemented the second year of the FAST Start program with eight classes, more than 230 students overall, and 130 first-year students. Most of the first-year students enrolled 6-weeks before the semester began, and their persistence rates were higher than expected for that comparison group. The DFWI and persistence rates were no different from students in the same class, but their affiliation with their instructor was stronger. More detailed results are available in the presentation of the program at the national FYE conference. The Year 3 FAST Start Learning Communities enrolled a cohort of 121 students, with approximately 98% first-year 12 learning communities, each having a course with an embedded Learning Assistant. T&O also reviewed transfer data suggesting most transfer students are ready for upper-division program degree requirements and complete those programs quickly. We surveyed the programs with the most success to identify their best practices. Finally, a T&O dashboard was completed, allowing the committee to track first-year and transfer students’ enrollment and outcomes of various academic programs designed to support their success. 

Membership and Subcommittee 

A list of the R&C committee and subcommittee members is available upon request. Please email Eric Amsel (eamsel@weber.edu) if you are interested in becoming a committee or subcommittee member. 

Meeting Agendas, Minutes & Documents

Retention and Completion Committee