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September 2, 2005 Arkansas State University - Jonesboro Welcome back to the fall semester, and to the first First Friday report of the 2005-06 academic year. This report and those that follow are a continuation of the communication efforts to address internal and external constituents with information about Arkansas State University. Previous First Friday reports are archived as links to this current material. Attachments to First Friday reports are often linked to provide fuller details about items mentioned in the narrative. First Friday reports will cover a range of subjects that are topical in nature, and are meant to provide insights to issues that are pertinent to the university.
Enrollment Management The Enrollment Management Taskforce has completed its work and has produced the report included here as a PDF attachment. The taskforce conducted its work over a period of five months, with extensive discussion in subgroups, visits by an expert consultant, and a comprehensive final report that is illuminating in its breadth and depth of observations. The report itself is an extension of the strategic initiative of our master plan that focuses on enrollment as an institutional priority, and also is a response to the Higher Learning Commission finding that we need to focus on stabilizing the institutional enrollment base. Readers who are unfamiliar with the environment in which ASU-Jonesboro operates, or who may not be familiar with Arkansas higher education issues in general, will find the charts in the section "Institutional and Situational Assessment" to be informative and, perhaps, surprising. What is depicted is a significant challenge to overcome problems of affordability, readiness, persistence, and cultural attitudes about going to college. Following the segment of the report on our situation, readers will find information about several strategies to be deployed over the coming year to stabilize, refine, and increase enrollments in 2006-07 and beyond. These are interesting ideas that will be further developed by some of the best minds and most engaged participants to be found at ASU. I am grateful to those listed at the end of the report who took part in the development of the Enrollment Management Plan, and who now will see to its implementation. The university is indebted to all of you. Brand
identification Readers will follow the branding and marketing developments in subsequent issues of First Friday and will be able to see evidence of these new statements from and about ASU in the future. Most immediately, these expressions will be incorporated into the initial discussions by yet another task force that will begin to focus on the centennial celebration of the university in 2009-10. With committees at work on enrollment issues, branding and marketing concepts, refinements of the strategic plan, and centennial preparations, along with the myriad of other groups that meet routinely across campus, it is apparent that the university has engaged its considerable intellectual assets to assess, plan, and put into action the many initiatives meant to continuously improve Arkansas State University. That effort is paramount if we are to serve the students who enroll this fall and throughout the future. Fall enrollment • First, we created an enrollment problem through our deliberate efforts: ASU-Jonesboro graduated 2,175 students in the last academic year, or about 20% of our enrollment. That is what we are supposed to do, graduate our students, and that is what we hope to do with each student who enrolls. But any other business or industry that loses 20% of its customer base will tell you that hard work is required to recover. So we have worked hard to produce the enrollment we see this fall. • Second, the ASU-Jonesboro enrollment will be about the same as it was last year, but will be distributed in different ways across disciplines and classes, freshman through graduate levels. Of significance is an increase in the number of entering freshmen, as this group will go into the "pipeline" as a group larger than the previous freshman cohort. It will be our goal to continue to develop successively larger freshman cohorts, in order to expand the total "pipeline" as those students continue through to graduation. • Third, targeted recruitment efforts over the last year have paid off in the freshman enrollment we see this fall, and give encouragement to expand and enhance these efforts over the coming year. Of particular note is the fact that 58 ASU faculty members made telephone calls to prospective students to encourage their enrollment at ASU. That effort was highly regarded by the students, and I am grateful to those teachers who helped bring students into their classrooms. More involvement like this will produce greater results in the future. • Fourth, the university budget reallocation that placed more money into scholarship accounts has now been invested in new students. By providing financial assistance to many of these students, ASU has helped mitigate some effect of the nationwide phenomenon of rising costs for higher education. More funds will be needed for these efforts in the future. • Finally, ASU has found equilibrium in a changing marketplace as the university itself is changing. These changes may have positive implications for the growth of the institution as we now see more clearly the development of a family of higher education providers throughout the state and region, we see a funding formula to produce state support within a more stable statewide economy, and we see more and better definition of ASU programs of teaching, research, and service through which we may engage students. By this time next year, we will have opened a range of new facilities to house, support, and educate the students of the future. But for now all of us on the Jonesboro campus proudly welcome the "Centennial Class" of 2009. Best wishes to the students, the faculty, and staff as we begin the new year. I would be pleased to know your thoughts on this report, and particularly your observations about the enrollment management report, included as an attachment. I can be reached at president@astate.edu. Thank you for reading First Friday.
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