EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

Present: Aguilar, Latta, Miller, Prochaska Cue, Scheideler, Siekman, Zorn

Absent: Bender, Bryant, Ford, Humes, Mayo, Whitt

Date: July 21, 1999

Location: 1227 R Street, Academic Senate Office

______________________________________________________________________________

1.0 Call to Order (Latta)

Latta called the meeting to order at 2:38 PM.

2.0 Announcements

2.1 Faculty Liaison Diversity Task Force Report

Latta distributed copies of the Faculty Liaison Diversity Task Force Report. She asked the committee to review the report before the August 18^th Executive Committee meeting when it will be discussed with Senior Vice Chancellor Edwards.

2.2 Executive Committee Retreat Follow-up

Latta reported that she is working on the summary of the Executive Committee Retreat. She stated that she has contacted Chancellor Moeser regarding the committee's request to provide detailed information in the report on the impacts of reallocation.

3.0 Larry Routh, Interim Director of Admissions

Latta welcomed Larry Routh, Interim Director of Admissions, Kristine Stelzer, Assistant Director of the Honors Program and Director of National Recruiting, and Jennifer Nelson, Associate Director of Admissions. Routh announced that a candidate from Texas A & M will be coming in on August 16^th and 17^th to interview for the position of Director of Admissions. Latta stated that we have been hearing about the new recruiting efforts taking place and with administration asking faculty to be more actively involved in recruiting, she thought it would be helpful to have admissions to come and speak with the committee. Routh pointed out that recruiting students has become a highly competitive market place. He stated that it is essential now to establish relationships, via the phone, mail, and email with prospective students. He noted that there is a great deal of interest from the various colleges in playing a role in recruiting students but that they are unsure of what role, and what kinds of efforts they should take. Stelzer stated that personalization is the key in recruiting today's students. She pointed out that they have contact throughout the year with these prospective students. She noted that these students would rather hear from a faculty member rather than someone from the admissions office. She stated that the students want to build relationships with faculty. She pointed out that the students need to visualize that they can be in a classroom with a faculty member and know that this is a personal university. She noted that there are four strategic times during the year when correspondence from a faculty member would be very helpful. Latta asked if they have a faculty contact in each department? Stelzer stated that they do for the honors program but that with general campus visits the students see the academic advisors first. Aguilar asked why this is? Stelzer stated that faculty availability is a factor. She pointed out that the honors students are seeing faculty at other universities and that we must do the same in order to compete. Routh pointed out that it varies across the departments. Aguilar asked how many good students are lost because so much emphasis is put on honors students? Stelzer stated that unless students show an interest, there is not much that they can do to contact these students because they do not know that these students are out there. Aguilar asked if they get lists from Nebraska high schools? Stelzer stated that they try to get as many names as possible but there are privacy concerns that prohibit getting some of these lists. She noted that they do purchase through PSAT a list of names of students from all of Nebraska and Iowa, the Kansas City and Denver areas, and the Dakotas. She stated that an initial mailing goes out to these students and those that show some interest get further correspondence. She pointed out that they have limited resources and that they can not contact everyone. Aguilar asked if they work with the high schools? Stelzer stated that they do but that they are not able to get a list of all the students in the school. Latta asked if the PSAT lists provide subject interest on the students? Stelzer stated that sometimes it is provided. Miller asked if admissions has information on what are the most effective recruiting techniques? Stelzer stated that they have some information regarding this. Routh pointed out that financial aid is one of the biggest drawbacks to recruiting because many students will not qualify for it here at Nebraska. Scheideler pointed out that getting the transfer of tuition remission would help increase enrollments. Aguilar suggested spreading out the initial wave of contacts to a larger group of students. Stelzer pointed out that they would like to but they need to get the names of these students in order to do this. She suggested that another way faculty can help is by providing names of students who they know are considering going to college. Siekman asked what else is being done to develop a good working relationship with the counselors? Routh stated that this year they have been working hard to cultivate their relationship with high school counselors by hosting dinner and breakfast meetings with them. He pointed out that the university has improved its publications which should also help in recruiting. Aguilar suggested advertisements in high school newspapers with the university website and toll free numbers maybe helpful. Stelzer stated that newspaper advertisements are not very effective and with their limited budget they need to focus on the most effective tools of recruiting. Stelzer pointed out that they are working to get the success stories of students and faculty into the local newspapers. Miller asked what their top plans of strategy are for this next year? Stelzer stated that they hope the telecounseling program will be up and running, to reach students at a younger age, and a new website will be launched for perspective students. She stated that she would like to develop a Faculty Ambassador program where a faculty member can serve as a contact for prospective students. Siekman asked if they work with extracurricular groups at the high schools since this may give an indication of what areas they are interested in? Stelzer noted that this is an excellent suggestion. She pointed out that the university is beginning to realize it is not just the responsibility of the admissions office to recruit students. She stated that it is important to network with people to learn who the students are that they need to reach. Routh noted that the mission of the university and admissions office is changing and that they need to focus on prospective students as well as the current students. Miller stated that it was important to get people out into the state to talk about the university. Latta stated that faculty would be more willing to help if they could possibly get some release time from one course, whether its for a year or a semester. She pointed out that it really is a matter of not having enough time to get everything done that the faculty are expected to do. Routh stated that they may be able to do some outreach through NETV. The format of the program would be a panel of faculty and other university personnel who would be able to interact with the students and parents via telecommunications. Latta pointed out that it would be helpful if it was geared towards a particular subject. She asked if it would be helpful to have a letter from the President of the Academic Senate, expressing what the strength of the institution is and what the faculty have to offer to the students. Stelzer stated that this would be an excellent idea and that the students would really appreciate this because they want to connect with faculty. Routh stated that he is concerned with the lack of transfer students that we are getting into the university. He pointed out that the university is not as friendly as it can be towards transfer students. Scheideler noted that they need to be concerned with adult students as well. Routh pointed out that smaller colleges use the size of UNL against us and that this is an area that they have to work hard at to counteract. He stated that providing information through the learning communities is very helpful. Scheideler asked if there are any marketing strategies for recruiting adult students? Stelzer stated that the Division of Continuing Studies does most of that now but that the admissions office is evolving into this area although their primary emphasis is still in getting the younger students. Scheideler noted that the university is not a friendly place for adult students because there is no childcare for students and parking at night is difficult and remote. Routh noted that the computer systems that have been developed in admissions will be very helpful. Nelson stated that the NEXUS system is being used for tracking students. Scheideler stated that it would be nice to do some cross listing of students to determine what areas they are interested in. Nelson stated that NEXUS is currently geared towards indicating interests but it can only track one area. She stated that they hope to expand this. Stelzer stated they have been working on developing a form that will indicate subject interests so they can possibly do cross listing. Routh stated that a recruitment coordination committee was recently formed which is made up of representatives from each of the colleges. He stated they are working on lists developed by colleges indicating how admissions could be more helpful to them. Latta asked if they have ever worked with the library faculty in recruitment? She noted that the library liaisons work closely with subject departments and they often become very familiar with the faculty and programs in these departments. Stelzer stated that this would be very helpful. Miller pointed out that if faculty members would participate in the statewide associations in their discipline that this would be helpful in establishing networks with people throughout the state. Stelzer stated that they recently invited advanced placement teachers to seminars on campus and that these were very effective. Latta asked if they would be interested in making a presentation to the Senate? Routh stated that they would like to see this happen as many people do not know what the admissions office is doing. Stelzer stated that she would like to invite students to the presentation to tell them how important the faculty contact was in their decision to come to the university. Aguilar suggested that they may want to solicit ideas from faculty. Zorn stated that an important point to make in recruiting is that we can offer specialized courses that smaller colleges can not because they do not have the personnel to do this. He suggested that we could also offer a degree to finish up a program at a specific university. Nelson stated that the Ag college is working to offer a program called 2 plus 2 which is something similar to this. Latta thanked Routh, Stelzer, and Nelson for coming and stated that we will continue working with the admissions office.

4.0 Approval of 5/26/99, 6/9/99, 6/23/99, and 7/7/99 Minutes

Zorn moved and Aguilar seconded approval of the 5/26/99 minutes as amended.

Scheideler moved and Prochaska Cue seconded approval of the 6/9/99 minutes as amended.

Prochaska Cue moved and Aguilar seconded approval of the 6/23/99 minutes as amended.

Siekman moved and Prochaska Cue seconded approval of the 7/7/99 minutes as amended.

5.0 Unfinished Business

No unfinished business was discussed.

6.0 New Business

No new business was discussed.

Meeting adjourned at 4:48 PM. The next Executive Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 4^th, at the Academic Senate Office, 1227 R Street. Respectfully submitted, Miles Bryant, Secretary.