Consultant’s
Report to the National Hispanic University
on the
Assessment of Undergraduate Student Needs
February 2006
The
NHU is well positioned to continue attracting
a much larger number of undergraduate, graduate
and part time students in specialized programs.
However, before doing so, it is recommended
that the University develop two areas that
will be critical for student arrival and
persistence. This is particularly true for
first time freshmen.
First,
the academic program should be designed in
order to capture both the cultural and social
assets that students bring to campus and
second; a robust program in student life
is necessary in order to enrich their college
experience.
Academic
Program
The Provost
and faculty should consider developing core
courses for all first time freshmen. These
could include:
- University 101-a
course designed to prepare the student
for scholarship. It will be important
to have this developed and offered by
full time campus faculty rather than
adjuncts.
- Technology-
a course that prepares the students for
using computers at a greater sophisticated
level. A Library Internet section can
be added to this so that some coursework
and communication with faculty can be
done on line as well as in person.
- Math- Students
should be assessed for math competency
and take the appropriate level during
the first semester at NHU.
- English- A
comprehensive assessment of writing and
comprehension skills should be done in
order to place them in an appropriate
level of English course. It is
important to note that a large percentage
of NHU students are English Language
Learners and therefore, an emphasis should
be on insuring that NHU students have
proficiency in reading, writing and speaking
English while also maintaining their
cultural wealth in Spanish.
In
addition to these courses, there is already
a plan to develop strong Summer Bridge program
that will prepare first time freshmen for
college life. The program will probably be
a minimum of a month long and will require
faculty and staff resources to assess and
work with students.
Preparing
the campus for a large number of first time
students requires new thinking and new teaching
strategies. There will be a better utilization
of class space and faculty talent when all
first time students are enrolled in the same
core courses. This plan will enable NHU to
work with its current and new students while
it also does academic program reviews of
its other curricular areas.
Student
Life
Because
of NHU’s success in attracting a record
number of first time freshmen, NHU should
realize that it must provide a student-centered
atmosphere that engages the students in learning
and extra-curricular activities. Research
has shown that students who work or live
on campus have a far greater retention rate.
NHU cannot provide student housing and our
work-study funds are too limited to allow
more students to work on campus. However,
it is also known that students who are engaged
in student activities are also likely to
stay in college. Engaging in service
to the community and internships will also
be central to the University’s mission
and to professional development.
It
is recommended that NHU hire a full time
staff member who would have the title of “Director
of Student Service & Activities.” This
person could harness student’s natural
interests to participate in a variety of
activities
Sports
and Intramural Games: The
LCPA high school has been successful
at developing a soccer team. It has
already become evident that some of
the LCPA students will seek community
colleges after graduation because they
can remain in a soccer team. NHU
should not lose the opportunity to
continue the interest in soccer. NHU
students have not organized athletic
opportunities and many of the students
arrive from high school with skills
in athletics. The campus
could have scheduled sessions for volleyball,
tennis, chess, and a myriad of other
activities.
Visual
and Performing Arts: Ballet
Folklorico and Music may also
hold the interest of many of NHU’s
students. UCLA & Stanford have
excellent student mariachi’s
and there is no doubt that NHU students
have talents they have not been able
to showcase on campus. Indeed, NHU
students bring rich legacies in the
disciplines of Art, Photography, Poetry,
murals, and more. Setting aside some
time and space for these art forms
will nourish the spirits as well as
minds of our students.
Clubs
and Interest Groups. Students
are more likely to succeed in college
and career aspirations if they form
friendships and networks based on mutual
interests. NHU currently has a Business
club, and also a Film club. In the
future there can be other affinity
groups such as Music, Technology, Journalism,
Pre-Law, etc. These grouping could
call on NHU alumni for mentoring and
networking.
Capacity
Building Issues
NHU’s
vision of being affordable, accessible and
working with the next generation of community
leaders needs to be reviewed and owned by
the NHU Familia. It will be important to
engage the campus in articulating and internalizing
that vision. NHU has many strengths. A new
building that is state of the art, a successful
accreditation process and a Board of Trustees
that is strong and committed to NHU’s
success. It is because of this, that the
Board is now being asked to assist us in
this phase of institutional capacity building
before we charge ahead to bring more and
more students to the campus.
Building
a University Profile
NHU
must engage itself in defining its unique
and strong niches. Once developing these,
the recruitment of students will be a natural
outcome of NHU’s strengths. The Hispanic
community needs talent in all areas but NHU
must define some strategic areas where it
will make a uniquely important contribution.
Some of these would include:
Teacher
Education: Our
program in Teacher Education has an
opportunity to model the conviction
that Hispanic students come with assets
and dispel the language of deficits
that is too often used to characterize
the Hispanic population. There
is abundant talent in our diverse Hispanic
youth. In other words, NHU cannot afford
to be “just like any other teacher
training program.” Special Education,
Literacy, Bilingual or Dual Immersion
are all aspects in Education that NHU
can work on for bringing more students
to specialized areas.
Early
Childhood Education: (ECE): NHU
is
well positioned to offer certificates
in ECE but we must insure that our
curriculum and teaching strategies
are truly stellar. There is some talk
of planning the building of a Child
Care Center that can serve as a laboratory
or demonstration school. This entire
area of Childhood offers a plethora
of career opportunities in the future.
This is especially true for professional
who are bilingual and bicultural. NHU
should be prepared to lead in this
field. Student enrollment in this area
will be plentiful and long lasting
if we build a program that is well
respected.
Expanding
current program offerings:
- Liberal
Studies: At present,
our program in liberal studies is
only geared toward the teacher credential
program. If we are to recruit transfers
from community colleges, we must
have an expanded view of where liberal
studies can lead.
- Social
Studies: In
the long term, NHU will have to plan
out curriculum in the social sciences
that goes beyond the introductory
courses offered under General Education.
- Business: We
need to define out niche in the Business
program. We believe that International
business may be a strong area with NAFTA
in place. In addition, we can combine
our business offering with offering Spanish
language proficiency training and thus
prepare business leaders for Mexico and
Latin American trade.
- Computer
Science: We are in
the midst of reorganizing that Math,
Science and Computer Science are
all within one department. Given
our Silicon Valley home, we must
develop a particularly strong niche
in training our students for technology
in our community; our students need
concentrated attention to gain mastery
in this area. Because we seek to
attract more donors from Silicon
Valley, we must pay attention to
hiring a highly skilled faculty director
who will run with this opportunity.
Study
in Mexico: NHU
is fortunate to have a solid relationship
with the Tecnológico de Monterrey-Mexico. We
believe that we could attract more
community college students if we develop
strength in offering Spanish and first
or second semester in Mexico as a part
of the NHU curriculum. The goal would
be to graduate students who will be
profession with a proficiency in Spanish.
Many of our own undergraduates would
also have the opportunity to study
in Monterrey for a semester and this
collaborating can be viewed as a unique
NHU curricular offering. There
is no other college in California that
stresses bilingual proficiency- perhaps
even as a requirement for graduation.
