Five years ago, when Purdue
University’s administrators sat down to brainstorm ways to improve
diversity and retain students, they came up a solution they never thought would
become an award-winning retention
program.
In their program, “Multicultural
Learning Communities,” a diverse selection of students studying the same
discipline live in the same dorm as well as take the same classes. MCL
project enforce the importance of living and learning from a multiple
perspectives by requiring students in the courses to live and learn together.
Purdue, the University
of Central Michigan and West
Virginia UniversityOrlando.
received the Lee Noel and Randi Levitz Retention Excellence Award earlier this
month at the higher education consulting firm’s 2007 National Conference on
Student Recruitment, Marketing and Retention, in
“The winning programs…went above
and beyond in terms of generating identifiable and measurable institutional
outcomes, demonstrating originality in program development and using resources
in a creative manner,” said Tim Culver, vice president of the firm.
University of
Central Michigan’s program,
“Suspension Waiver Program,” gives students who had been suspended because of
low grades a second chance. The students first have to agree to get academic
assistance and sign a contract of commitment, that they must abide to.
West
Virginia University’s
program, “Adventure WV,
is a wilderness outing that serves as an
alternative to the traditional orientation sessions. Prior to the start
of the school year, first-year students spend a week at a designated camping
ground and take part in outdoor activities such as hiking and rock climbing.
