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Executive Council Meeting: April 2022

Meeting Date

April 14, 2022

Call to Order

Facilitator:  Dr. Robert Wood

In Attendance:  Jane Simon, Jenni Gudapati, Jen Eichmeyer, Leslie Kendrick, Megan Koster, Olga Salinas, Kristy Grabert

Invited Guests: Tim Dunnagan, Lutana Haan, Tina Freeman

Introductions

 

Discussion with Dean about structures that we need for our students and programs

Feedback on Graduate Programs

KIN – Jane

3 grad programs (MSK, MAT/Pre-Allied Health, MAL). MAT continue to grow and MSK inquiries. Workload to keep track of and communicate with students is difficult; loss of students due to lack of bandwidth. Need help getting students into program and communicate in a “timely manner”. 

GENCO – Jen

200 applicants a year, not counting inquiries (approx. 1000) managed by director and admin assistant. Heaviest at close in December and review in January. Echo needs from KIN. 

RESPCARE – Megan

Their issues with getting things done are at the Grad College level. Communicating with students is done by Megan Koster and Sara Smith in-house, so additional help might take the burden off the directors, etc. in this aspect, but it’s hard to determine where exactly the shortfall is. Dept, Grad College, or…? Slate was originally supposed to help with workload, but that was not their experience. So tracking is done in-house for them. It is very possible that Slate concerns is a variable in the decrease in MSRC applications.

Bob’s feedback – Quantifying the time commitment might be helpful

MPHSM – Jenni

Lack of system management/communication. Echoes concerns as Megan when it comes to Slate. System fails to make proper notifications to support proper workflow. Tracking the life cycle of an application from start to finish is not possible. This makes process difficult. 

Bob’s feedback – Unless students notify faculty, there is no easy way of knowing if an application is stuck in the system

Dean – Tim

  1. Being explicit and giving a lot of info to the Provost in feedback request is one option to help gather/support this information. 
  2. Pushing for Salesforce (last 5 years). Ready to move on Salesforce, but wary due to other success rate of other product launches. The software IS designed to track people and do the things we are addressing here. One thing to think about, who will be manning the software? We could add staff to College/School…but requires funding. 
  3. Would like to have an additional meeting to discuss concerns around Grad College, and would like to include Provost and Mark Wheeler. 
  4. Presented to Dean’s Council that we do have great systems, we need to address them at more of a macro level. 
  5. Conclusion: We need both a short term solution and a long term solution (Salesforce is expected to be part of the long term solution). Will set up a way to visit with Grad College to discuss this further.

Feedback on Undergraduate Programs

Director – Bob

There are gaps in what we offer; how do we advise students into our majors that are undeclared, etc. (not students that are already in our majors). 

RADSCI – Leslie

Feel like there is a group of folks that they are missing in their online venue for recruitment. They spend a lot of time in their academic; do a good job of recruiting that group. They have a large number of students that come from word of mouth that hear from hospitals they are already working in. Looking to recruit those wanting to advance their degree already in the field, etc. How do we get in front of those folks? Would like to see how they can afford a recruiter that goes to hospital, dept meetings, educational events, etc. Don’t feel like they have that ability currently to go out into the community and have those conversations. 

RESPCARE – Megan

How do we identify the folks that don’t know about us yet? Faculty/staff do not have ability to decipher trend analytics. Could we invest in opportunities to have someone that understands and has the ability to market to students. 

KIN – Jane

  1. K-12 could use support in advising/recruiting.
  2. The amount of advising Tina is doing is overwhelming. Keeping track to maintain satisfaction of students and making sure they are on track to graduate is just not doable. 

Director – Bob

  1. Would be great if we had folks that this was their role specifically (recruiting) to fill the gap and recruit students “into” our programs. 
  2. Asst. Dean – Lutana
  3. In regard to the marketing piece around google analytics and effective return, college has hired Taylor Music to assist with this at the college level. They understand the need for and importance of this. How do we spend our money and time effectively?

Dean – Tim

  1. Tangible investments
    1. Funding two more advisors. Currently Kinesiology advising is separate; need to look at centralized advising effort. 
    2. Taylor Music’s temp hire to support marketing/analytics; if this works and can support the College at a larger level, maybe we can bring in a full time person for this. 
  2. Agree with statements above. SSAA has staffing issues. Missing the marketing piece. 
  3. Director – Bob
    1. There are things we can do locally with existing resources that would pay a return on investment. Let’s identify these as short term solutions. 
    2. Schedule follow up meetings with Leslie and Jane for further discussion.

ADJOURNMENT