The Maverick Minute: Enrollment Growth

Full Transcript:

Chancellor Gold
-Welcome to this segment of Maverick Minute. I'm Jeff Gold, and thank you so much for being with us today. I have the pleasure of being joined today by Dr. Dan Shipp, and as I'm sure you know, Dan is our Vice Chancellor of Student Success. Dan, thanks for being with us today.

Dr. Shipp
- Great to be here.

Chancellor Gold
- I want to talk a little bit about the enrollment profile of this year's incoming class here at UNO, and too, I know that you're a part of a very large team that you lead, that focuses on enrollment, works very closely with our deans and our colleges. But I know it's a banner year again for us, and tell our audience a little bit about that.

Dr. Shipp
- Well, we're really proud to say that this our record year for the third straight year for our undergraduate incoming first year class. That obviously does take a lot of work, a lot of people involved, and everyone rowing the same direction, but you know, some highlights that I would share, I think that it's important for everybody to remember is almost 45% of our incoming class are first generation students. Over 30% of the students come from a diverse background, so it's really part of our metropolitan home to welcome those students to campus.

Chancellor Gold
- Well, that's really great, and how big is the team of individuals that works with Enrollment Services? I know Omar Correa leads that team, works closely with you, but is that a dozen people or more?

Dr. Shipp
- It's a big basket. I would say that we probably have in front and behind the curtain over 50 people that are involved in everything from initial outreach in Junior High to High School, to planning to welcome those students once they arrive on campus. So it's a large group that it takes to really do this well.

Chancellor Gold
- And I understand that part of the equation, of course, is all preparedness, because we don't just enroll students, but our entering class we always consider to be our graduating class in several years to come, and could you comment about what the profile looks like this year?

Dr. Shipp
- Well, I love it when you say that, because that's been a cultural shift that's been led on our campus by academic advisors, the college deans, all of our teams throughout Student Affairs and Enrollment is making sure that a student doesn't just enroll, but they graduate. There's a lot of things that we have in place to make sure that those students have a identified lifeguard. People probably get tired of me saying that on campus, but to make sure that every student has a connection to the campus, and somebody to turn to when things get tough. And again, having so many first-generation students, it's important that they understand that they have people that are helping support their success.

Chancellor Gold
- But even if they're not a first-generation student, I know from my own children, sometimes things do get tough, and you need people to talk to, and you need resources, and we need to be sure that we do everything possible to guarantee our students' success. Well, Dan, I just want to thank you and I want you to thank your team for all of their hard work. We obviously look forward to your continued success in this area, but congratulations on a job well done.

Dr. Shipp
- Thank you, appreciate it.

Chancellor Gold
- Thank you for being with us today, on this Maverick Minute.