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== '''Strategy 8: Increasing First Year Student Retention''' ==
'''Project Lead: Mohamed Moustafa'''
One of the main problems facing first year students is uncertainty choosing a field of study or a major to pursue, this applies directly to undecided students but also impacts a great population of freshman students who are decided yet dubious. Through our journey as UIF candidates we had the opportunity to interview freshman students and we found that they are mostly unaware of the wide range of university major offerings. Making students more aware of majors available and career opportunities in each field can make them more likely to commit to finishing their degree and counteract 'first year drop off'. Another very useful startegy for freshman retention that we uncovered through our discussion with several faculty and staff leaders is student-faculty engagement outside of class. Increasing this engagement helps create a home-away-from-home feeling for students which increases their attachment to the university and improves their academic performance, hence increasing retention. Following these discoveries, we developed two intiatives that focus on increasing student-faculty collisions and students' awareness of university offerings.
'''Initiative #1: Engaging Faculty in Freshman Student Orientation'''
*Invite introductory course faculty to attend lunch & dinner with students during orientation (Pilot program)
*Include faculty as participants in team building and ice-breaker events
*Run faculty & student focus groups pertaining to engagement
*Add mini-intros to different fields of study throughout orientation
*Include activity introducing WSU major offerings/resources to orientation
'''Initiative #2: Welcome Week Majors Fair'''
*Organize a fair as part of Welcome Fest
*Departments host tables and promote their available majors & minors
*Faculty interact with students and answer questions
*Invite alumni to represent departments and talk about their beyond school experience
== '''Strategy 2: Alter the campus culture through curriculum''' ==
Tactic #1: Connect ICT
[[File:12719342 1651546498441839 7502236181105147750 o.jpg|thumb|12719342 1651546498441839 7502236181105147750 o.jpg]]
Students want to collaborate on projects with people from different disciplines, but do not have a venue to interact with students from other programs or interested community members. Connect ICT is a networking event hosted by Shocker Startup designed to create meaningful collisions between students from different disciplines and the community. Students will share their project idea to a student and community member audience stating what they want to do and what they need to accomplish their goals. Members of the audience with a different backgrounds and access to resources are encouraged to approach presenting students and form teams or partnerships.
Tactic #2: Shocker Startup Impact
[[File:Shocker Startup Logo Cropped.jpg|thumb|Shocker Startup Logo Cropped.jpg]]
The Impact Speaker Series will host speakers that provide information and inspiration to encourage entrepreneurship in the student population and Wichita community. This event will contribute to the living learning community at Wichita State.
*Gather feedback from attendees to improve event
*Create a committee and assign roles to ensure the event is held for years to come.
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