by Patrick Flattery, Vice President of Finance - The College of St ...

2
Beth Domholdt
Vice President for Academic Affairs
and Dean of Faculty
The 2005-2006 academic year
was one of transition for
Academic Affairs.
I was appointed Vice President
for Academic Affairs in August
2005 and, early in the year,
established six goals based on initial interviews with campus leaders.
The goals were to realign structure with function, understand faculty
work, solidify Science Center plans, specify curricular intentions,
streamline assessment, foster a culture of scholarship, and reflect on
the Benedictine Wisdom Tradition.
These were placed into the mix of goals that had already been
established for the year as part of the routine strategic planning process.
Although important progress was made toward all goals, the major
accomplishment of the year was the adoption of a new academic
structure for implementation in 2006-2007. The major
elements of the new structure are:
• The creation of six disciplinary schools headed by deans who
are appointed internally based on a school-specific process, with
substantial released time to grow and develop the programs and
faculty within the schools. The deans are:
School of Arts and Letters, Dean Tammy Ostrander
School of Business and Technology, Transition Coordinator
Bob Hartl (a search for a dean to begin in 2006-2007)
School of Education, Interim Dean Jo Olsen (search for a
department chair was already underway; will transition to a
search for a dean in 2006-2007)
School of Health Sciences, Dean Ron Berkeland
School of Nursing, Dean Marty Witrak
School of Sciences, Dean Larry McGahey
• The creation of a formal link between the Accelerated Degree
Evening Program and Academic Affairs by establishing the
School of Extended Studies, with Dean Cathy Carter reporting
jointly to me and the Vice President for Extended Studies and
Market Development.
• Placing authority and responsibility for graduate programs within
the schools, while retaining current curriculum approval functions
and a centralized graduate enrollment management function.
Brian Dalton
Vice President for Enrollment Management
and Associate Academic Dean for Program
Development
The fall of 2005 was another
successful year for undergraduate
enrollment management, enrolling
a fourth consecutive record
freshman class, and the sixth
in the last seven years. Over
the past seven years first-year
applications have increased 78 percent (1,471 vs. 826), acceptances
have grown 61 percent (1,279 vs. 796), and entering class enrollment
is up 59 percent (490 vs. 308).
1999 to 2005
Entering Class Enrollment
+59%
1999
308
2005
490
Fall 2005 saw first-year applications increase 10 percent (1,471 vs.
1,338), acceptances grow 10 percent (1,279 vs. 1,167) and first-year
enrollment rise 12 percent (490 vs. 437). Transfer applications were
up 4 percent (428 vs. 411), acceptances were down slightly –
1 percent (320 vs. 323), and transfer enrollment finished down
5 percent (159 vs. 167) following 2004’s record transfer year.
Perhaps most significant of all was our ability to maintain the
academic profile of the College while experiencing such phenomenal
growth. As a result, our overall undergraduate full-time population
has risen from 1,150 in 1998 to nearly 1,900 students in fall 2005, a
65 percent increase in full time students.
In a continuation of the trend begun over the past couple years,
we are attracting significantly more students from the Twin Cities
and southern Minnesota – 58 percent of the entering class – while
maintaining our draw of students from the Iron Range in spite of
demographic decline there.
Students from Duluth and the surrounding area are enrolling
at record rates even though the number of high school graduates
is declining – a trend that shows that our message of quality is
reverberating in our own back yard.
Finally, our draw of diversity to the Duluth campus is ever increasing.
Domestic students of color and international students now represent
10 percent of the total undergraduate population. Students from 23
countries now call St. Scholastica home.