Minority-Serving-Institutions Symposium Focuses on Pursuing Excellence

More than 160 faculty and administrators from 60 postsecondary institutions serving minority students participated in the 2007 USA Funds^® Symposium “Pursuing Excellence in Student Preparation, Access and Success” Feb. 27-March 1. The event was the sixth-annual symposium sponsored by USA Funds to promote dialogue among administrators of minority-serving institutions.

Participants represented 10 Tribal Colleges and Universities, 25 Historically Black Colleges and Universities and 24 Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Those in attendance ranged from presidents, to academic department chairs, to student-affairs staff and financial-aid administrators.

From information about finding useful student data that exists on campus, to tips for enhancing service to students, to motivational messages about working with students, symposium participants received concrete ideas to take back to their own schools. The following are some highlights of the 2007 symposium.

Serving students ‘in midst of calamity’
Norman Francis, president of Xavier University in New Orleans, opened the event with a presentation about “Student Retention in the Midst of Calamity.” He discussed the major challenges that his school and many other schools in the New Orleans and Mississippi Gulf Coast areas have faced since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.

Francis chronicled the task of communicating with students, faculty and staff in the aftermath of the storm and subsequent flooding. Xavier successfully implemented an ambitious plan to reopen for the beginning of the second semester of the 2005-2006 school year. The school still faces many issues, however, including recruiting and retaining students in a city that has less than half the population that it had prior to the storm.

USA Funds requested that participants donate supplies to assist New Orleans-area schools in need. Attendees contributed materials ranging from backpacks and pens to printer supplies. USA Funds President and CEO Carl Dalstrom presented the school supplies to the New Orleans chapter of the nonprofit organization Communities In Schools.

Data mining to enhance retention
Retention-research expert Lana Low presented a sequel to her 2006 presentation about data mining. In “Data Mining II: Overcoming Challenges of Moving to the Next Level,” Low showed schools how to take their data mining and analysis on campus a step further to continue their quest for information and student trends in an effort to improve student retention.

Providing outstanding service
Symposium participants learned about implementing a “service-champions” program on campus, from Tim Culver, vice president of consulting services at Noel-Levitz. He emphasized the importance of making life on campus convenient for students, in an effort to improve student satisfaction and retention.

Margarita Benitez of the Institute for Higher Education Policy stressed to those at the symposium that they can’t do everything themselves, offering tips for hiring staff who can do the most-effective job.

Changing lives through higher education
Bertice Berry, sociologist, author and educator, urged attendees to remember the impact that their efforts can have on the lives of the students they serve. She shared her story of being raised in poverty and being told that college wasn’t an option for her, only to overcome her background and graduate magna cum laude from college — thanks to a donor who wanted to fund the education of someone who otherwise would not be able to attend school.

Sharing ideas and best practices
School representatives took part in break-out sessions that fostered discussion about solving retention issues; the group members reported on their findings during a general session. Schools also shared their own best practices for promoting student success — with this year’s featured ideas presented by Morgan State University, Arizona Western College and Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College.

Future issues of USA Funds Education Access Report will highlight topics featured during the symposium.