The partnership between academic and student affairs is critical for student success initiatives, often embodied as joint task forces that span both divisions. I created a Student Success and Engagement committee, in partnership with FHSU Student Affairs, to address first year and overall student retention issues, and served as a member of similar committees at Stony Brook and at Mercy. I was also a member of the steering committee for the Foundations of Excellence™ assessment process at both Stony Brook and Mercy.

On a day to day basis, the faculty who know students best need to be encouraged to communicate with student support staff about academic and personal challenges that could impact student retention. With responsibility for student tutoring services at Mercy (a major component of the College’s retention strategy with over one million dollars in annual operating budget), I have been involved in designing these communication processes, and implementing policy to strengthen this partnership, including tracking and setting metrics for faculty referrals of students for tutoring. At Mercy College, I supported an innovative inter-session intensive tutoring program for students who had failed critical core courses, that resulted in a significant increase in pass rates and student retention.

Within Academic Affairs, I have encouraged and supported implementation of meta-majors, structured learning assistance (SLA) and supplemental learning instruction (SLI) programs, and a restructuring of the delivery and design of the undergraduate math curriculum to improve student success and retention. I also implemented ePortfolios at both Mercy and Stony Brook, so that students could showcase and reflect on their work and successes.