Background

     In the NHU’s Institutional Proposal of October 2004, the report  characterized the student body as being a “predominately female, Hispanic, adult student population.”  This had been an accurate portrayal of NHU’s student body from the university’s inception nearly twenty-five years ago until the fall of 05 when half of the new student enrollment shifted to being first year traditional college age students.  This drastic demographic shift of bringing younger students occurred because the Board of Trustees and the President made the conscious decision to target recruitment from the high school population.  This was done in order to bring additional enrollment and increase revenue. The new University building could now accommodate a much larger number of students.

     These new freshmen students were largely the first in their families to attend college and, in many cases, were also English language learners.  The students brought a sense of renewal of the NHU’s mission and also brought the need for additional academic as well as student support systems.  NHU recognized that this new cohort of students now required that the University have a deeper understanding of how the academic and administrative systems helped or hindered admission as well as retention.

     It was also during this period that the University recognized that one of its unique strengths was the sponsorship of a charter high school: The Latino College Preparatory Academy (LCPA).  The sponsorship was begun in 2001 with the assistance of the Superintendent of the East Side High School District.  The vision was to establish a small seamless educational pipeline between high school and college that would follow NHU’s mission of serving the Hispanic population and demonstrate best practices in the field of education.  The sponsorship of LCPA has born fruit and an increasing number of LCPA graduates enter NHU as new college freshmen.  The relationship has been continuously strengthened and a large proportion of LCPA teachers have earned their credentials from the NHU Teacher Training Program.  This unique and collaborative arrangement will continue to be developed in the following years.  

Student Support Services Evaluation

     The President recognized that the demographics of the NHU student population had been transformed.  Therefore, in order to determine what student services and academic directions were needed for this new student population, he called for an external evaluation of student services in January of 2006.  The consultant’s report is included in Appendix 4A.  This resulted in recommendations for action that the Board of Trustees considered during its retreat in March of 2006.  Overall, the report made recommendations in the areas of student life, academic programs and academic capacity building. 

Student Life

     In the area of student life, the recommendation was to continue a student-centered and personal approach with our students; particularly with first-time college students.  There was the recommendation that a staff member be designated as a Director of Student Activities in order to harness student energies in visual and performing arts, sports, and intra mural sports and foster clubs and interest groups.  At present, the University has not yet created a new position for this role, but the new Student Success Program has stepped in and created several student community building activities such as study halls, a men’s group, a women’s group, movie nights and a monthly calendar of activities. 

Academic Programs

     In the Academic Program Area, the consultant recommended the development of core courses for all first year students that could include a University l00, Basic Technology, summer bridge, library information competency, public speaking, math and English core courses.  At present, the University has taken the first step in creating a “First Year Experience” with core courses in these areas.

     There remains a great deal of work to develop a complete program that is guided by faculty and informed by student assessment and data analysis.  Because of the unique nature of our freshmen student population that has many English language learners, NHU needs to focus on our students’ assets and maintain high expectations that excel their learning.  Our new student population also requires that all faculties who teach for NHU recommit to its mission and to the understanding of how their pedagogies contribute to learning.

Academic Capacity

     In the areas of building Academic capacity, the consultant recommended that the University define strategic areas where it could make unique and important contributions to its students and its community.  The following areas were highlighted:  Teacher Education, Early Childhood Education, Computer Science and the expansion of Liberal Studies to include Spanish and Study in Mexico.  In addition, it was noted that both the Teacher Education Program and the Business Program should undergo program reviews and find their unique contributions to the mission of the National Hispanic University.  There has been progress in some of these areas.  The Business Administration program had its external review visit in October 2006 (Appendix 1V), and the Teacher Education program is undergoing a program review (Appendix 1W) in November of 06 with external reviewers who are teacher training experts from San José State University, San José County office of Education, and the University of Arizona.  The Early Childhood Education program has begun with courses that have prepared local community child care providers with the required skills in this area.  The program is also offering a GED preparation in Spanish which is unique in the Bay area. 

Other Evaluation Results

     The Office of Student Outreach and Support Services assisted the consultant by facilitating student focus groups.  The findings from this and a student satisfaction survey that will be given in early November of 2006 will give the student affairs staff a reading on how students view their services.  The offices have conducted their own informal evaluations of student satisfaction but the survey is the first comprehensive review of all services.

     Due to the need to pay increased attention to academic and student issues with this new young cohort of students, the President decided to appoint a new interim Provost and asked the former Provost to serve as Vice Provost so that there could be more focused attention to both student and academic affairs.  The Vice Provost has served as acting chair of Liberal Studies and Math, Science and Computer Science.  The University has now been successful in appointing the Chair of the Science areas but has not yet appointed the permanent chair of Liberal Studies.  This Vice Provost also serves as the ALO to WASC.

     In order to strengthen retention efforts and create an enrollment management team, the Provost reorganized the Student Services division in August of 2006.  The Office of Admissions and Records, Financial Aid, Outreach and Recruitment, Talent Search and Student Success now report directly to the Provost.  These five directors meet bi-monthly with the Provost to discuss recruitment barriers and successes in recruitment, persistence and retention. .  These workshops will be planned by the Directors and the Provost.   The purpose is to have the student affairs staff engage in professional development to learn about best practices. The goal is to become an organization informed by student data.  The Office Institutional Planning and Evaluation will participate in these seminars by providing relevant data and having discussions about what decisions can be made based on this evidence.