Third Town Hall Meeting Addresses
Changing Organizational Culture to Meet the Needs of a Changing
Student Body
St. John’s staff and administrators gathered in The Little
Theatre on October 22 for an update and discussion on the progress
in the University’s efforts to transform the University culture to
better serve students.
“I’m pleased to share that the impact of our first two meetings.
The sharing of data and successful stories of student service, and
the opening of a dialogue seem to be having a positive impact.
There seems to be a sense in the community that we should be more
collaborative in our efforts to service students,” said Executive
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer James P. Pellow, Ed.D.,
reporting on feedback he received from his two previous Town Hall
meetings. “There is a real sense of momentum…and as a community we
seem ready to embrace the challenges of serving today’s
students.”
Dr. Pellow reviewed the messages from the first two Town Hall
Meetings, the transformational change that occurred at St. John’s
before 2000, as well as the recent change from a local to a
national and international university, in which fewer than 50
percent of the students come from New York City’s five boroughs. He
pointed out that the students from 45 states and 122 countries
enrolled at St. John’s are Millennial students who have changing
expectations of the University experience.
According to research on student success, the two key measures
for transformation to a culture capable of providing excellent
service are student satisfaction and student success, measured by
student retention and graduation rates. While new freshman
enrollment numbers have climbed, St. John’s experienced an all-time
low of 76 percent retention for the Fall 2007 freshman class,
indicating a declining level of student satisfaction.
Responses to a survey taken after the June Town Hall meeting
impelled Dr. Pellow to introduce the 1st Annual St. John’s Academy
Awards to recognize exceptional student service in action.
Videotaped testimonials by 10 employees “who listened to a student,
resolved a problem, made a connection or otherwise served a St.
John’s student in an exceptional way” were presented to the
assembly. Members of the audience were asked to vote on the service
they believed went the “extra mile.” Votes were tallied and while
all were winners, Public Safety Officers Eva Wilk and John
Schliesser received the most votes!
Strategies for Engagement
In the second part of his presentation, the University’s Chief
Operating Officer shared updates on the University’s focus on
programs related to mission, engagement and global initiatives.
The mission programs include a continuation of the efforts to
provide employee formation and training on the spirit and essence
of the Vincentian community. The Office of University Ministry is
leading a University-wide celebration of the Year of St. Paul,
which coincides with the Catholic Church’s celebration.
In addition, the University will soon launch VISA, or the
Vincentian Institute for Social Action, a program designed to
enhance the academic integration of Vincentian values. VISA
encompasses the two-year-old Ozanam Scholars Program, now with 65
first- and second-year students dedicated to learning and serving
the poor; a Faculty Research Consortium made up ultimately of about
20 faculty members who will work with students to serve and move
partner communities forward in a meaningful way; an enhanced and
coordinated Academic Service Learning Office; and a soon-to-come
University Press that, among other things, will produce a national
peer-reviewed journal on poverty solutions.
The global programs include a major push to enable many more St.
John’s students to embrace an international learning and serving
experience. The study abroad programs are designed to include a
mission and engagement component via unique service
opportunities.
“In Europe alone, our students served 900 hours with local
charities of the Vincentian partners. We’re changing the face
of study abroad. At St. John’s, when we go abroad, we are not like
typical study abroad programs that are white, affluent and female.
Our students are our students; they’re very diverse, very engaged
and are serving in communities of hope around the world.”
He added that he expects to have 1,500 students serving beside
Vincentian partners around the globe by 2012-13.
The engagement efforts are multi-dimensional, including the
creation of physical spaces and various programs to enhance student
engagement. St. John’s efforts to better engage students are very
visible in the latest phase of its $600 million investment in the
construction of new facilities that will provide more and better
space for students and faculty to come together to study, recreate,
dine or simply relax. Prominent among these are the
University/Academic Center that will open in Fall 2009, new
student townhouses, a redesigned 21st Century Library,
upgraded laboratories and classrooms in St. Albert Hall and a
renovated Carnesecca Arena . The University’s efforts to promote a
Sustainable Future in partnership with the New York City’s PlaNYC
2030 Challenge are succeeding (as evidenced last week in the “gold
star” recently awarded to St. John’s by Mayor Michael
Bloomberg for its “aggressive plan to achieve the goal in just six
years,” (as opposed to the required 10).
Circling back to student retention, Dr. Pellow translated the
student success measures into “what this means to me.” The prior
year’s 3 percent drop in retention means 95 fewer students and a
drop of $1.5 million per year, or $4.5 million over three years.
The decline in retention to 76 percent (from a goal of 83 percent)
translates to 221 fewer students and a drop in revenue of $3.3
million per year or $10 million over three years. That foregone
revenue, he pointed out, would have supported over 100 new
faculty!
“We have strong students, we have diverse students, we have
capable students. We just celebrated the largest, strongest
freshman class in the University’s history. Why do we initially
attract such a strong class and then struggle to keep them coming
back? How can we make sure they come back?” he asked. “We
really need to be focused on the retention issue.”
The good news is that he and others in administration have been
laboring intensively to provide new solutions and strategies for
developing student engagement in new and different ways. Retention
Action Plans include the now-in-place Institute of Core Studies,
the development of academic intervention for at-risk students,
enhanced advisement beyond the freshman year, an increased number
of internship opportunities to help students choose a major, and
more learning communities with increased faculty participation.
“We’re not standing still here. Everyone at the University is
working hard.”
After Dr. Pellow closed his presentation, a success story was
shared by Nancy Kaplan Ed.D., who spoke about a new Freshman Center
Early Alert program that was implemented in the Athletics
Department to identify students with academic, social or personal
concerns that might impede success.. Her initial findings show that
students who take advantage of such programs have more academic
success, are more engaged in learning, are more empowered over
their college experience and more connected to the University.
Carol Fisch and Donna Danahy of the Customer Service Center
reported that their unit handles approximately 300,000 calls per
year, covering a wide variety of inquiries from current and
prospective students. They also manage the Quality Service
Initiative that allows the University to measure student
satisfaction using swipe-card technology
Future Town Hall meetings will be integrated with the academic
and mission sectors, and will continue to showcase best practices
in student services.