BUILDING A STRONGER FOUNDATION
FIRST-YEAR ENGAGEMENT AND RETENTION
The QEP supports Shorter’s mission of “Advancing God’s Kingdom through a commitment to academic excellence, spiritual growth, Christian leadership, and global service within the context of a Christian worldview” by impacting the development of the “whole student,” helping them to proactively cultivate the skills necessary for a commitment to academic, spiritual, and personal excellence.
To achieve the overarching goal of improving student learning, persistence, and success, SU has established the following program outcomes that represent a three-pronged, integrated approach:
- Provide students with an exceptional college experience.
- Enhance students’ knowledge, cognitive skills, and values in their chosen field of study.
- Eliminate obstacles that prevent students from successful degree completion.
“Building a Stronger Foundation” reaches students before they first arrive on the SU campus through the entirety of their first year of college. With proactive contact prior to the first day of class; integrative classes that support student learning through value-based learning, career preparation, and executive functioning; and enhanced student-support services that focus on the whole student, SU is better equipped to retain more students to the second year, where the prospect of academic success is greater.
The target population for “Building a Stronger Foundation: First-Year Engagement and Retention” will be first-year students; however, second- and third-year students will also benefit from the plan, thus ensuring the QEP will directly influence a sizeable portion of the student body.
The QEP will be assessed through the use and analysis of various metrics. Direct measures, including the average number of student-advising sessions and percentage of faculty trained, will be evaluated along with indirect metrics, such as student satisfaction with support services, to determine which aspects of the plan are successful and in what ways the plan can be improved or enhanced. In addition, performance indicators, such as persistence, retention, graduation, and transfer rates, will be used to review progress toward the achievement of the overarching QEP goal of enhanced student success, in keeping with Shorter’s mission of “Advancing God’s Kingdom through a commitment to academic excellence, spiritual growth, Christian leadership, and global service within the context of a biblical worldview.”
Shorter University QEP Committee
Contact Us
Dr. Angie O’Neal
Chair, Quality Enhancement Plan Taskforce
Joan Alden Speidel Chair in English
Chair, English, Modern Languages, and Liberal Arts
Associate Professor of English
Director, Honors Academy
aoneal@shorter.edu
Dr. Earl Kellett
Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Research
Vice-Chair, Quality Enhancement Plan Taskforce
Associate Professor of Christian Studies
706-233-7472
ekellett@shorter.edu
Dr. Marcus Washington
Assistant Professor of Education
Ms. Amy Neal
Instructor of Music/Piano
Ms. Katherine Dudley
Associate Professor of Communication Studies
Dr. Kris Douglass
Associate Professor of Nursing
Ms. Brooklyn Stepp
Staff Accountant
Mr. Wess Timmons
Head Baseball Coach