2008 Woodie Awards
Officials combat decreasing retention rates among students
Paige Gabriel
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: News
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According to Philip Oldham, provost and vice chancellor, the task force will be co-chaired by himself and John Delaney, vice chancellor student development.
"Right now you have upper level classrooms that could hold a lot more people and intro level classes that are maxed out," Oldham said.
Evening out the distribution of first year students and upper classmen would allow the university to serve more students without spending any additional money, according to Oldham.
The increased revenue would allow UTC to hire faculty and provide more resources for students, Oldham said.
According to Oldham, students decide to leave UTC for a variety of reasons, including academic problems, homesickness, changes in the financial situation, and work related issues.
The task force hopes to increase retention by focusing on first year retention and improving the overall campus community, Delaney said.
"Research shows that the first six weeks of school is when students begin to feel a connection to the university," Delaney said.
According to Oldham, one of the goals of the task force is to determine ways to make the transition from high school to the first year of college easier so that first years will make this connection with UTC.
Delaney emphasized that the task force will obtain most of its information on how to improve the university from conversations with students.
"Instead of focusing on improving retention we should try to do the right thing in all areas to the best of our abilities and then see what happens," Delaney said.
Delaney said that he hopes that if the overall campus environment improves then students will be more satisfied with UTC and more likely to stay until they graduate.
"We have everything we need to make it happen, we just have to pull together the institutional will," Oldham said.
