The board of trustees held two meetings on Sept. 11 and 12, discussing topics ranging from enrollment to summer initiatives taken on by members of the faculty.
According to Sister Margaret Carney, O.S.F., university president, university administration reported to the board on potential innovations for increasing enrollment numbers.
“We didn’t have results as good as we had hoped for this year,” in regards to freshman enrollment, said Sister Margaret.
The administration plans to increase numbers by recruiting international students, enlisting students through club sports and by focusing on what Sister Margaret described as “highly attractive” programs. Those programs include majors that tend to have many students, like accounting and psychology, among others, according to Sister Margaret.
“We’re not trying to put more students in every single major, but in the majors where students are clearly saying, ‘More of us want to be in this major,’” said Sister Margaret.
The board of trustees also discussed new communication and marketing strategies for the year, introduced by Emily Morris, vice president for student relations.
Sister Margaret said the board discussed attempts to increase enrollment from areas outside of upstate New York. The university is specifically looking at Washington, D.C., northern Virginia, the Philadelphia area, northern New Jersey and metropolitan New York for marketing to potential students.
The university also conducted a positioning study over the summer.
“[The study] will give us information on how to do better advertising, more targeting advertising,” Sister Margaret said.
The board also discussed how to update communications internally, so that everyone is aware of university news and events.
“We are looking at what are the communication methods that will reach the campus, and what are the advertising methods that will reach prospective students and their families,” said Sister Margaret.
Joseph Zimmer, Ph.D., interim provost, outlined summer projects taken on by Xiao-Ning Zheng, chair of the biology department and David Hilmey, chair of the chemistry department this summer, including a late spring science fair. The pair worked with local high school science teachers to coordinate the event.
Zheng also spent the summer looking at possible new programs of study in the healthcare field, said Sister Margaret.
Zimmer also laid out potential revisions to the Clare curriculum that would be introduced over the next few years.
According to Zimmer, the Clare College began almost 20 years ago, and the Faculty Senate believes revisions are in order. However, he cautioned that students should expect to complete the Clare curriculum as it stands currently.
“Student should plan to complete Clare College as it currently stands until any new general education curriculum comes through the departments, the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee and the Faculty Senate itself,” said Zimmer, “This is a lengthy review process that we hope to complete this academic year.”
mcelfrdh14@bonaventure.edu
