4 College-wide Initiatives General Studies Initiatives • Restructuring the three-emphasis approach that marks the current BGS degree. • Adding a required second-year course (at present only the required capstone, GS 490, holds the degree together). This second-year course will help keep the students on a trajectory to complete the degree and prior to that, to take GS 490. Recruitment-Retention Initiatives • Recruitment – "Teaching Takeover" (Pilot: This semester or next) o Send 3 CAS faculty to "take over" classes at a target high school (e.g., Sioux Falls area) o Faculty deliver a guest lecture, hand out swag, and answer questions about Northern o Stay for lunch with students to build personal connections o Raffle off a "Northern Experience" package: tickets to an upcoming sports game or theater show (up to 4), overnight lodging in Aberdeen, and a meal with a faculty member in the student's area of interest • Retention – Community Building (Two parts) o Welcome Back Event: Host a CAS-wide picnic/BBQ/pizza party near the start of fall semester. Faculty should personally invite students, with extra effort to reach freshmen. Goal is a casual, fun event that builds community within CAS. o End-of-Year Celebrations: Allocate annual funds for each department to host their own year-end event. These should celebrate graduating students and connect with returning students (reminding them we know them, we're thinking about them, and we're looking forward to seeing them in the fall). • Recruitment & Retention – First Year Seminar (FYS) o Get as many CAS faculty as possible teaching FYS courses. This is our best opportunity to recruit "gen pop" (to borrow a CJ term) students into CAS majors and build the relationships that drive retention. o Part of this means addressing the workload issue; a 2-credit course is awkward to fit into a schedule without an overload. We'll need support from the Dean/campus admin to make teaching FYS feel exciting rather than burdensome. High School Dual Credit Initiatives • Establish connection to high schools by implementing a professor “TEDTalk” or semester seminar with concurrent enrollment courses to connect (in person or Zoom) with high school teachers and students. Dean’s Priorities Initiatives • Support recruitment and marketing efforts related to awareness of CAS and its degrees. Committees will report efforts throughout each academic year. Continue Fall 2026: Dean, Associate Dean, Chairs, Departments
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