Action Items and Policy Changes Recruitment and Enrollment

There has been considerable progress made in developing a positive relationship between the Tri-Campus recruitment team and the Storrs admissions office, especially in relation to freshman admissions. The AVP and Directors are especially supportive of this excellent work as it enhances the admissions processes for the regional campuses.

There is clearly a need to focus on UConn policies and practices related to transfer admissions. This is a priority focus for all the regional campus AVPs this year, with a particular concern about students from the Connecticut Community Colleges. The AVP and Directors will be a part of this discussion and will rely on Dana to provide them any information that she has relative to transfer admissions issues, opportunities, etc. so that they can be as effective as possible in trying to bring about changes in UConn transfer admissions.

Within Tri-Campus, the AVP and Directors are supportive of the greater development and implementation of a recruitment focus emphasizing the Tri-Campus degree programs as an important attraction for both freshmen and transfer students. We agree to work with all staff and faculty throughout Tri-Campus to increase their involvement in recruiting. We believe that the communication system proposed in item 5 (below) will be essential to these efforts.

With increasing enrollment trends at the Waterbury and Hartford Campus and essentially no growth at the Torrington campus over the last two years, and because the Torrington Campus seems to offer a microcosm of challenges and opportunities that could occur at the other campuses during leaner times, we propose that the Torrington Campus be the pilot campus for the development and trial of recruitment efforts which result in proven strategies that can then been applied at the other campuses as needed. Since there has been less programmatic emphasis on the degree programs at Torrington than at the other campuses, we expect that there is potential for a strategic and well designed emphasis on these programs to produce a significant enrollment return. In addition to, and in support of the degree program emphasis, we expect the following results over the next two years:

1. Develop and pilot new recruitment initiatives based on Tri-Campus Degree opportunities;
2. Emphasize linkages with all the K-12 institutions in the traditional campus catchment area including campus visits and specifically developed events to enhance awareness of higher education in general as well as Tri-Campus and campus opportunities;
3. Emphasize community engagement and alumni involvement to increase enrollment;
4. Develop and implement a system of best practices for the involvement of degree program representatives in the recruitment process; and
5. Establish a best practices model for involvement of the Campus Director as well as campus faculty, staff, and students in the recruitment process.

Even with the pilot focus on the Torrington campus, it is our expectation that those emphases listed in item four will be incorporated into recruitment plans for the Waterbury and Greater Hartford Campuses as appropriate, with each of the Tri-Campus locations having effective and innovative on-going recruitment programs.

As recruitment figures more prominently in the strategic planning of each campus, it is clear from the perspectives of both the Recruitment Team and other staff who are interested in being supportive of Tri-Campus recruitment efforts that there should be better communication among all of us relative to recruitment and admissions.

1. It is the responsibility of the recruitment team to set up a dependable system of communications – using e-mail, the web page, the campus calendars, etc. – to insure that all of the rest of us know their schedules and planned events.
2. With that system in place, it will be the responsibility of the rest of us to keep the Recruitment Team abreast of our interest in participating and our suggestions and concerns. We would like to have this system in place no later than January 1 of 2006.

In her leadership role for Tri-Campus Admissions, Dana should meet with each campus director once each semester:

1. In the fall, to discuss campus plans and priorities, and
2. I the spring, to discuss the annual evaluations of the campus-based recruiters.
3. The Campus Directors will provide Dana with a written evaluation of their campus admissions counselor for input into Dana's annual evaluation of the Tri-Campus admissions counselors.

There is unanimous agreement among the Campus Directors and the AVP that successful recruitment, and the achievement of the goals and implementation of the policies listed above can only occur through careful planning and management of the recruitment process and collaboration and commitment from throughout Tri-Campus. We expect Dana to propose appropriate recruitment roles for us as well as others in Tri-Campus and we expect to back her up to insure that people take those roles seriously and fulfill them effectively.

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