Goal: Increase retention in the second to third year through targeted campus engagement.
Rationale: Most of UWG’s retention strategies around Momentum have focused on first-year students and retention into the second year. However, there are also retention challenges for students in the second year transitioning into the third year. This can be caused by many factors, including financial constraints, but it can also involve uncertainty about a major and/or a future career pathway. One specific strategy to support these students is to plan and implement a Second-Year Student Experience week across campus that focuses on engagement activities specifically for second year students. Planning will include a career-readiness component in collaboration with career services and academic programs.
Actions completed in support of this goal focused on revisions to the Majors Fair, which focused on support of students beyond the first year, including transfer students and other students who were uncertain about their major or future careers during the second and third years. The Momentum Council also realized that the campus needed a more comprehensive, data-driven understanding of retention and support frameworks for students in their second and third years. Therefore, in September 2023, the council formed a work group to work around the issue of second-year student retention. In addition to identifying relevant data to inform this work, the workgroup has conducted targeted interviews with campus leaders who are engaged in working with this student population to gain a better understanding of where second and third-year student retention and programming has been adequate and also inadequate. The work group is now planning to collect data that will inform the actions that will be proposed to the Momentum Council and the Momementun Planning Team for implementation in 2024. One of the first data collection priorities will be to conduct small focus groups consisting of seniors and sophomores (and maybe other classifications) so that students' perspectives are part of the campus planning.
