CUNY Master Plan 2012-2016

MISSION PART THREE
SEEK and CD
SEEK (Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge) and CD (College Discovery) are the two City
University long-standing higher education opportunity programs designed to assist high-potential, lowincome
students who otherwise might not be able to pursue a college degree because they are not academically
well prepared. In July 2011, SEEK was renamed the Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK Program. This
change memorializes the contributions of Percy Sutton, who led the New York State legislative delegation
that drafted the law creating the SEEK Program in 1966.
SEEK and CD will continue to serve as venues for piloting best practices and demonstrating successful
collaborative efforts between academic departments and student support services divisions. CUNY is
committed to integrating and sharing the benefits of SEEK and CD innovations in instruction, counseling,
academic support, student leadership development, advocacy, and professional development within
and without the larger CUNY community.
SEEK and CD professionals have become increasingly aware, when establishing admission profiles, of
the need to consider the programs’ limited budgets and their mission to provide access to students who
truly need services. The newly convened SEEK/CD Enrollment Management Task Force is charged with
recommending enrollment and budgeting models. The recommendations are expected to be comprehensive
and to mark a major departure from previous practice. Under discussion are areas such as transfer,
reallocating freshmen, pre-college credits, and financial-aid award components.
A newly constituted assessment committee will develop and implement a program-wide assessment
plan that establishes standard metrics of effectiveness for SEEK and CD including effectiveness of outof-class
activities such as counseling, tutoring, and co-curricular activities. The data will provide objective
evidence that will be used to improve outcomes in SEEK and CD programs. Additionally, during the
period of this Master Plan, CUNY will develop standardized electronic formats for various reports and
will explore database management systems that all campus programs might use in their counseling and
academic support components. CUNY will also investigate new ways to use technology (e.g., instructional
software, diagnostic instruments, and electronic inventories) to deliver support services.
CUNY will also continue to convene two signature biennial conferences for SEEK and CD, “Sharing
What Works” and “Tutor Talk,” and will expand participation. Additionally, recognizing that merely earning
a degree is not sufficient to guarantee student success, the SEEK and CD programs have increasingly
been expanding initiatives designed to improve students’ soft skills. Coursework is being supplemented
with co-curricular activities such as internships, community service, community reads, and study abroad.
Ongoing professional development activities, including an increase in support of program professionals
who present at regional and national conferences, will help staff envision and promote such programs.
CUNY is in the process of organizing a CUNY-wide SEEK/CD student organization, an initiative that could
potentially embrace thousands of students. By 2016, this organization will energize and mobilize SEEK and
CD students who are passionate about their studies and their historic roles as members of the nation’s first
higher education opportunity programs, created when local and state civil rights agendas were being enacted.
Members of the organization will have the opportunity to interact with SEEK and CD students from all of
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