Minutes of February 16, 1999 Meeting
The EMT met on Tuesday, February 16th with the following members in
attendance: Sharon Cannon, Rebecca Duncan, Mary Johnson, Sue Kearney,
Allen Page, Philip Roof, and LaRose Spooner, Chair. Sue Todd, Registrar,
was also there by invitation for a discussion of summer school issues.
LaRose Spooner opened the meeting with comments about the Enrollment
Planning Report and Recommendations that Sue Kearney has recently completed
and submitted to Mr. Taylor and about two informal groups that she has
convened this year. The topics under discussion by the two groups, which
are composed of faculty and administrative staff, are "improving yields on
high ability students" and "inclusiveness." Both groups have been very
enthusiastic and several ideas have been generated. A written report is
attached to the official minutes.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved. Sue Kearney distributed
an official enrollment report and a report on new student admissions for
Spring 1999, commenting and answering questions as needed. The number of
students and the credit hours are down slightly from Spring 1998, due at
least in part to the larger number of December graduates. LaRose Spooner
circulated the application report supplied by Carol Kercheval, which shows
that freshman applications are well ahead of the past three years. Mary
Johnson distributed a report on 23+ Program applications for Fall 1999.
These reports are attached to the official minutes.
Allen Page and Sue Todd distributed various materials (copy attached to
the official minutes) and led the EMT in a discussion of summer school.
Allen presented a history of how and why the current format of three 3-week
terms came into being, and there was some discussion of whether these
reasons are still valid. There are many variations from the 3-week
schedule, which cause a good bit of administrative difficulty and
confusion. The problem of providing adequate course offerings in the
third session was cited, and questions were raised as to whether or not
we are meeting the needs of students on academic probation. Other aspects
of the summer program that were cited include pedagogical issues related
to accelerated courses, the small numbers of students in the residence
halls (especially in the third session), and logistics of registration
and the determination of whether a course will definitely be offered.
The summer school enrollment has grown during the 1990’s, but last year’s
numbers and the credit hours generated took a downturn from the previous
year. The question was posed as to what is Meredith’s philosophy of summer
school/the purpose of summer school. As a result of the discussion, the
EMT agreed that the following recommendation should be sent to the Senior
Management Team. (A copy of the document sent to the SMT is attached to
the official minutes.)
The EMT recommends that the Senior Management Team appoint a "Blue
Ribbon Commission" to study Meredith’s summer school program from a
comprehensive perspective and to make recommendations to the SMT in
time for planning for the year 2000 summer sessions. The EMT suggests
that the Commission include representatives from the many divisions of
the College which are involved in the summer school program.
It was also noted that that the College catalogue needs to reflect
who has administrative responsibility for summer school. Allen Page
is the Director of the Summer School and Sue Todd is the Associate
Director.
Sue Kearney provided an up-date on research related to freshman-year
retention and indicated that the College as a whole needs to be involved
in efforts to assure a good freshman-to-sophomore year retention rate.
Sharon Cannon provided insight into reasons that the attrition rate this
year is running a little higher than last year. As for retention in
general, it is hoped that a new Open House policy will be approved by the
Trustees and that it will have a positive effect not only upon first-year
students but also upon upper-class students in the residence halls.
Sue Kearney and LaRose Spooner led a brief discussion about the
philosophy of academic advising for freshmen, particularly as it relates
to course load. In various venues it has become apparent that even gifted
students are often taking less than an average course load. It was agreed
that Ann Gleason would be invited to join the EMT at its next meeting, if
possible, to discuss academic advising issues.
By way of announcement, Sue Kearney commented on the strong number of
Regional Finalists in the Teaching Fellows Program who have expressed
interest in/applied for admission to Meredith. Also, she mentioned the
highly successful SACAC Workshop for Counselors held on the campus on
February 5th; she co-chaired this event for the association, which drew
approximately 120 high school counselors.
The next meeting of the EMT is scheduled for March 17th.
Sue Kearney
Vice Chair
Return to:
For additional information, please contact
Sue Kearney, Vice Chair of Enrollment Management Team, at 760-2364
Page created by Katie Toro, Enrollment Planning and Institutional Research
Last modified: March 15, 1999
|