Albany State University Campus Plan Update 2021

INSTITUTIONAL MISSION AND STUDENT BODY PROFILE

Albany State University offers certificate programs, transfer associate degrees, career associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and the education specialist degree.  Students may take classes through online instruction while face-to-face classes are offered on two campuses located in the city of Albany, GA and three off-site locations in Cordele, Cairo and Waycross, GA.

The mission of Albany State University, approved by the BOR in March 2016, is as follows:

Albany State University, a proud member institution of the University System of Georgia, elevates its community and region by offering a broad array of graduate, baccalaureate, associate, and certificate programs at its main campuses in Albany as well as at strategically-placed branch sites and online.

Committed to excellence in teaching and learning, the University prepares students to be effective contributors to a globally diverse society, where knowledge and technology create opportunities for personal and professional success. ASU respects and builds on the historical roots of its institutional predecessors with its commitment to access and a strong liberal arts heritage that respects diversity in all its forms and gives all students the foundation they need to succeed. Through creative scholarship, research, and public service, the University’s faculty, staff, students, and administrators form strategic alliances internally and externally to promote community and economic development, resulting in an improved quality of life for the citizens of southwest Georgia and beyond.

ASU’s total enrollment for the fall 2020 semester was 6,509 with 49% (3,168) of students enrolled in an associate, bachelor or certificate program.  Approximately 72% of the total headcount are female, 77% self-identify as African American, and the average student age is 23.  On-campus student housing reached capacity at 1,897 residents.  The majority of ASU students, 91%, are in-state residents.

FALL 2020 STUDENT PROFILE SUMMARY

*Other Undergraduates includes transient, and post-baccalaureates students

ASU First-Time Freshmen Summary Data

First-Time Full-Time Freshmen Retention Rate

Pell Grant Recipients (Fall 2020)          3,509    57.5% of Total Undergraduate Enrollment

Enrolled in Learning Support Courses (Fall 2020) 710   11.6% of Total Undergraduate Enrollment

IMPROVEMENT PRACTICES

Albany State University continues to provide opportunities that impact students from matriculation through graduation.  The continuation and enhancement of Momentum Year initiatives, alongside the implementation of additional activities, deepen ASU’s commitment to promote purposeful choice, cultivate a productive academic mindset, and support persistence along a clear pathway.  ASU uses data to gain useful insights and to inform our work to create and improve activities, while also paying focus to identified KPIs that bridge the institution’s mission, strategic plan, and Momentum Approach. 

Following the updating of program maps to align the appropriate math course required and to ensure students complete English and math in the first 30 hours to timely navigate programs, academic colleges partner with an Academic Programming Committee to review and pressure test program maps for relevancy and sustainability.  The purpose to cross-check the accuracy of maps to real-time course offerings is to support the elimination of scheduling conflicts, where possible.  To remain proactive, pressure testing incorporates assessment checkpoints to ensure a planned-for process.  Additionally, ASU initiated block scheduling in the fall 2019 semester to ensure course availability for incoming freshmen according to the program maps.  ASU is also continuing the adopted move to the co-requisite model for Learning Support classes in both English and mathematics.

Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management & Student Success employ a student success management system to analyze and review data as it relates to appointment and visit reporting, campaigning for academic and student support services, intervention and at-risk reporting, progress reporting, and student data reporting.  Analytics also benefit effectiveness reporting of interventions on academic progress and the review and analysis of population and sub-population data, intervention effectiveness, historical trend analysis, and overall activity visualization and reporting, supporting the efforts of the institution while aiding in developing applicable outcome improvement and a better understanding of the work being done at the University.  Additionally, planning and reporting tools benefit the improvement of activities and further inform the University, as relevant historical data feeds to the planning and execution of deployed and improved processes and activities.  Benchmarking and early intervention efforts also highlight Momentum data and activity planning, advance the breakdown of barriers in access and achievement opportunities for students, scale student support campaigning and progress reporting, and support momentum and persistence efforts at the institution.

Improvement practices at the institution engage a broad audience to support Momentum activities and positive student success outcomes.  The Momentum Approach is adopted campus-wide and strategies are a shared responsibility.  Engagement with various campus departments, to include IRE for data collection, analysis, and forecasting, helps the institution to further identify possible institutional and programmatic adjustments.  University faculty attend the Professional Development Seminar Series to focus on instructional strategies, culturally responsible and inclusive pedagogy, relevant high impact practices (HIPS), course redesign, online education and continuity of instruction, academic mindset, and student and academic support strategies.  Academic Affairs and Students Affairs partner to provide freshman residence hall tutoring and is implementing living and learning communities to engage co-curricular activities that support our six focus areas and correspond to academic pathways.  First Year Experience and Career Services, to advance outreach of matching interests for major identification and linking assessment results to student advising sessions, the Focus2Career assessment was embedded into the ASU 1101 FYE Pathways to Success course.  The pathway from FYE to Career Services supports improvement practices to better anchor students’ understanding of results through course assignment activities to career and clear pathway opportunities provided by the institution.  Academic Affairs, along with Enrollment Management and Student Success, provide a host of workshops and feedback sessions to engage student voices and focus conversation on student success as well as current and relative success strategies that feed improved retention and graduation rates.  Offerings are built to breakdown obstacles and student barriers, support academic skill building while promoting momentum strategies, and promote gains in student achievement.  Examples of workshops and sessions include freshman in-hall learning and study strategy workshops, milestone conversation sessions, Stay Ready student success workshops, Late Nite Library roundtable conversations, SGA and student listening sessions, and 1-1 personalized student support meetings.

OUR BIG IDEA

Summer Success Academy and Ram Success Week

ASU’s Big Idea focused to restructure the ASU Summer Success Academy and Ram Success Week, programs apart of ASU’s Welcome Week for entering freshman.  Restructuring aims to increase the amount of time with faculty and peer leaders to enhance student academic mindset and to collaborate with Career Services to provide efficient career development and purposeful choice activities.  Summer Success Academy is a 6-week program that provides students with a head start on their college experience while being involved in co-curricular activities. 

Summer Success Academy was structured to provide two program tracks for students, the Quantitative Cohort (QC): STEM, Business, and Health Sciences track and the Communication Cohort (CC): Arts, Education, Humanities, and Social Science track.  Students are assigned to tracks based on focus areas.  Students assigned to the STEM, Business, and Health Sciences track schedule for ASU 1101 (FYE), MATH 1001/1111 and either COMM 1100 (Human Communication) or HEDP 1164 (Stress Management).  Students assigned to the Arts, Education, Humanities, and Social Science track schedule for ASU 1101, ENGL 1101 and either COMM 1100 (Human Communication) or HEDP 1164 (Stress Management).  During the Academy, a week is dedicated to career exploration, deciding how to choose, and talking to professionals in different fields to have activities support connection from program to career.  Campus, community service, peer speakers, peer learning, self-care, mindfulness, and group building activities serve to promote purposeful choice and develop the academic mindsets of first-year students and University initiatives.

Summer 2021 semester’s Summer Success Academy (SSA), 1 31-student learning community, participated in activities to enhance academic mindset and purposeful choice.  In support of purposeful choice, Week 2 of the SSA devoted sessions and activities to “Charting a Golden Future,” to include: Guest Speaker Kenneth Boler on Entrepreneurship, Guest Speaker Dr. Julie Pettway-Francis, Interim Director of Career Services, on Are You Pursuing the Best Major and Career for You?, Speaker Dr. Kimberly Burgess, Executive Director of Student Success on Meaningful Work, where students developed value statements for their careers, .Table Talks of eight representatives from various careers spoke with students at roundtables for 10 minutes each in a "speed dating" format, and a student engagement activity for See the Vision and Make it Plain (Developing a Vision Board).

SSA provided a Lunch ‘N Learn Speakers series throughout the program that discussed how students may use practical skills in their everyday careers, to include: Guest Speaker Ms. Jawahn Ware, Dougherty County Clerk for the Dougherty County Board of Commissioners, on It's the Receipts for Me!  The Importance of Documentation, Guest Speaker Dr. Sonya Johnson, Albany Police Department, on What Should I Do? Solving Ethical Dilemmas, and Guest Speaker Ms. Ada Davis, Executive Assistant to the VP of Enrollment Management and Student Success on Leveraging Your ASU Network to Get Things Done.

In support of academic mindset, Weeks 1, 3, and 6, were devoted to activities relating to the theme of developing a productive academic mindset.  Week 1 of the SSA aligned themed content to Great Start with invited Guest Speaker Ms. Marcia Poulos, Director of Academic Support Services on Let's Normalize Tutoring and Study Tables.  Week 3 aligned to Speaking the Language of a Golden Ram with invited Guest Speaker Dr. Elizabeth Delancey on Say What?  Speaking the Language of Access and Guest Speakers Dr. Chinenye Ofodile and Dr. Rani George on Working with International Faculty.  Week 6 aligned to Moving Forward with invited Guest Speaker Mr. Frank Malinowski on Taking Care of Your Academic Business and The ASU Cabinet on Student Success Roundtable with Campus Administrators.

The Summer Success Academy assess success of the program and potential need for adjustment and improvement by way of surveying and data collection.  In preparation for next year’s Summer Success Academy, plans will incorporate enhancement of deliberate sessions on enhancing academic mindset along with mandatory academic coaching.  The program will continue to build on ASU’s purposeful choice activities by incorporating experiential field trips related to careers, mandatory career advising, and reflective activities relating to career in our freshman year experience course.

MOMENTUM WORK RESILIENCE UPDATE

ASU’s Momentum Year Initiatives are aimed at providing access and opportunities for students to achieve their educational goals, including successful degree completion and on-time graduation. Purposeful choice and academic mindset are significant to the Momentum Approach/Year initiative.  The ability for students to link their learning back to their career choices while also learning how students may shape their beliefs toward a growth mindset that promotes learning, purpose, and social belonging is an aspect on which ASU has focused our efforts. 

GLOBAL MOMENTUM SUPPORT

Communications, Data, and Faculty and Staff Outreach and Support

Albany State University, as a means to promote and inform, partners with University Marketing and Communications to publish targeted emails, press releases, social media, marketing materials, roadmaps, and touchpoint graphics as a means to interact with the campus community through a communication strategy that provides both a physical and digital approach, customized for each Momentum Year and Approach activity and customized for respective audiences.  These plans and associated processes run on an ongoing, as-needed, scheduled basis, as determined by each activity.  University Marketing and Communications also publishes content, by request, to the University MarComm digital display system, which rotates communications as assigned by audience and location. Additionally, disseminates and promotes information for the Summer Success Academy and RAM Success Week through marketing materials and session delivery, to include sessions for Academic Advising, Degree Programs, Academic Planning, Goal Communication, Fuller Schedule, and Time Management.  To support First Year Experience, information is distributed through marketing materials, academic advising, success coaching, interaction with the First Year Experience Coordinator and Academic Support Services, focus groups, and through course delivery, to include promotional materials, video and multimedia engagement, 1-1 and group messaging sessions, seminars, course enrollment, and end-of-course feedback.  Tutoring On-Demand and Study Table promote and inform by way of marketing materials, academic advising, success coaching, interaction with Academic Support Services, focus groups, and through online learning management system integration, to include promotional materials, 1-1 and group messaging sessions, seminars, course enrollment, and surveying.  ASU disseminates pre-career assessment information and Focus2Career results in embedded course offerings.  A touchpoint graphic of the career assignment plan is provided to assigned faculty and hosts of embedded course offerings to promote implementation and student engagement.  Information is also promoted through marketing and promotional materials, interaction with Career Services and Academic Support Services, seminars, and surveying.  EAB Navigate is used to communicate with and inform students, faculty, and support staff, where outreach focuses on referral and campaigning opportunities for appointment scheduling, course-based tutoring, academic tutoring, advising, success coaching, at-risk reporting, and student success reporting.  Challenges that have been experienced include ensuring timely posting and removal of communication postings and accessibility of content in various platforms.  As a response to these challenges, lessons learned aided the University in its strengthened partnership with University Marketing and Communications so that communication strategies are planned for to better ensure timely dissemination of information relating to Momentum activities.

ASU uses data to gain useful insights and to inform our work to create and improve activities, while also paying focus to identified KPIs that bridge the institution’s mission, strategic plan, and Momentum approach.  Qlik is used to review and analyze data and data visualization opportunities, and through query and the exploration of data, ASU is provided better insight into the impact and success of activities and initiatives while also identifying thresholds, trends, and improvement opportunities.  EAB Navigate is used to analyze and review data as it relates to appointment and visit reporting, campaigning for academic and student support services, intervention and at-risk reporting, progress reporting, and student data reporting.  Analytics also benefits effectiveness reporting of interventions on academic progress, benchmarking and planning activities as well as the review and analysis of population and sub-population review, intervention effectiveness, historical trend analysis, and overall activity visualization and reporting.  Student specifics on progress data and institutional data is used to tailor communications to faculty, staff, and students.  Argos also serves as a reporting tool for course and program management and analysis, grade reporting for midterm and final DWF analysis, and for student progress reporting, as a means to influence planning and improvement and campaigning for academic and student support services.  Engagement with various campus departments, to include IRE for data collection, analysis, and forecasting, helps the institution to further identify possible institutional and programmatic adjustments.  Challenges that have been experienced relate to collecting and reporting on meaningful and real-time data.  To overcome this concern, the University is training data stewards in efforts of requesting, collecting, and analyzing data.  Focus aims to ensure access users are aware of the appropriate source to collect data, while also being trained on filtering and reporting tools.  To promote the collection and use of impactful data, instruction on presenting data visually, whether through a graph, chart, or other visual representation model, is also provided, and scaling of data analysis is working to support a system that grows within the institution as current and historical data elements are examined.

Faculty and staff use EAB Navigate for progress reporting, early alert referrals, and academic support referrals, where cases are routed to Student Success or Academic Support Services for resolution.  Training for faculty and staff on referrals and progress reporting is provided at the start of each semester, helping to ensure proper submission, accuracy in routing, and timely resolution.  Additionally, the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE) at ASU conducts professional development workshops for faculty to share best practices in classroom instruction.  The CFE has created Global Training Modules that focus on areas such as curriculum design, providing effective feedback, designing effective learning outcomes and aligning classroom assessment to learning outcomes.  These modules are available through the distance learning platform to facilitate access for faculty.  The Center’s programs and services are available to all faculty involved in teaching students at the University, with development opportunities reflecting the program objectives highlighted in the annual plan for The Center for Faculty Excellence.  There are several major tenets that form the foundation for the faculty professional development, to include (1) Provide training through the New Faculty Academy, (2) Develop and implement an Aspiring Leadership Seminar Series, (3) Schedule and deliver a minimum of five faculty professional development workshops, (4) Provide Dean and Chair training, (5) Provide support to faculty through promotion and tenure, and (6) Support faculty scholarship and research opportunities in teaching and learning.  In addition, six Faculty Excellence Associates have been identified to help support the Center’s activities, and a cohort of Faculty Workshop Developers have been identified to help deliver faculty development that is content specific.  The Center for Faculty Excellence continues to be stocked with faculty resources that are available for faculty use and development. The USG has also offered additional support through the Chancellor Learning Scholars and the USG HIPS Implementation Team.  All these initiatives are brought together to support student learning through improved teaching and learning.  Challenges that have been experienced relate to evaluating the quality and impact of professional development and training programs.  To overcome this concern, programs will develop a data collection strategy and surveying approach. In efforts of implementing a data collection strategy, activities produce measurable and consistent outcomes, which promote learner awareness of how to achieve each outcome, with assessment of those outcomes producing data points for further review and continuous improvement practices.  Surveying also functions to allow participants an opportunity to express what they learned, how they will put what they learned into practice, and to have an opportunity to recommend suggestions for improvement and report their overall level of satisfaction.

Through a continued collaborative mindset, Albany State University remains encouraged throughout its Momentum work.  The Momentum Approach and ASU’s selected suite of strategies aim to help students in their first year of college while also supporting all students in the achievement of their educational goals, to include successful degree completion and on-time graduation.  Planning, evaluating, and improving ensures a meaningful response to the mission of Albany State University and its continuation and enhancement of Momentum Year initiatives and deepened commitment to promote purposeful choice, cultivate a productive academic mindset, and support persistence along a clear pathway.