CENTRAL STATE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT DONATES $50,000 FROM HIS SALARY TO CREATE NEW SCHOLARSHIP FUND: Chairman of the Central State University Board of Trustees Mark Hatcher (photo left) with President Jack Thomas (photo right). We recently expanded our recruitment territory to build more brand awareness of our institution in regions that are not as familiar with our institution and what we have to offer. This includes working with feeder schools as well as creating partnerships with other schools. Our Undergraduate Students Success Center, which we call a bounce-back program, works with students who are here...as well as working with those students who have had challenges...academic challenges...and to help them be successful on campus. As a part of my nine goals, we created a mentoring program. This mentoring program will help students get more acclimated to the university... and this is all students. Members of the faculty and staff, as well as administrators...on a volunteer basis...are mentors. I have five mentees myself to help these students get acclimated. When you look at that demographic that you mentioned...many of the students are first-generation college students. Many of them come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. We are putting in place all the measures to make sure that they are successful...not just to be here...we want them to progress onto graduation. Also, we are building an infrastructure to support the diverse cohort of students being recruited globally for the academic year of 2020. We are also expanding partnerships with industry to increase the internship opportunities for our students. Not only does it support retention and graduation, we also look at job placement... that has become one of the top influences regarding students’ decisions to attend a particular college or university. We look at being career-ready...and as I mentioned...job placement and internships. We have met with various companies in business and industry to get support for internships, summer jobs...as well as jobs during the winter...and to have them hire our students when they actually graduate. So... what students want to know now...when they are looking into an education... or considering an academic major...is are they going to get a job? We want to assure them that they will be able to get a job. Gary: When you took the helm at Central State University, you shared nine specific goals that the university will work toward. This question is concentrated on two of those goals: 1) What is the university doing to increase enrollment (globally and in diversity)?; and 2) What is the university doing to improve retention and graduation rates?
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