Notes from Dialog from 2/8 in IRC 3 at 1 pm
Notetaker: Jonathan Brown, Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics
President Cardelle gave an introduction, where he explained the purpose of these dialogs is essentially to come up with short term goals that we can start working on right away before we come up with a long term strategic plan in several years.
The discussion then was mostly people identifying challenges we are facing, as well as areas in which we need to improve, though in some cases people also pointed at things that they thought we were doing well, or were at least improving.
Challenges:
Our reputation has been damaged in recent years, and we should work to bolster reputation. While this is largely due to the initial handling of Covid, there is also a sense among alumni/dissatisfied students that the quality of education here has gone down.
Low enrollment
Retention of students is a concern and has been declining
Budget deficits
Low Moral among employees
Burnout among employees
Mental health of students is a concern.
Students are more unprepared than they used to be.
Many students suffer trauma from the Covid pandemic.
Need more engagement with first generation students.
Students are burned out.
Students have less energy and less curiosity.
Lack of staffing in some departments (eg Health Center)
It can be difficult to access support services.
Things to focus on improving
More micro-credientials
Increase experiential learning.
Increase participation in internships - some internships are not getting enough applications.
Need to plan more, we spend to much time reacting to problems instead of anticipating and preparing for problems.
Need to focus on health and wellness
More training for RAs
We need to be more welcoming.
We should reach out to alumni so we can advertise about the positive experiences they had at SUNY Oneonta.
We need better outreach/marketing to potential students.
We need to encourage a growth mindset.
Things going well:
Communication is improving.
Good EOP office
Strong international education