Standard IV – Support of the Student Experience

Geneseo is a medium-sized institution that feels small. We are a primarily residential college where students are active both academically and outside the classroom. Recent years, however, have seen challenges to Geneseo’s enrollment rates and a downward trend in Geneseo’s strong retention rates. Program development, therefore, has become intentionally comprehensive, watching out for students who fall between the cracks. The Wildly Important Goal (WIG) committee on retention has brought together faculty, staff, and administrators from across the College to build and assess programs that assure all students are welcomed, supported, and equipped with the tools and resources to persist at the college and earn their degrees. Reflecting Geneseo’s commitment to social justice, student support services are focused on building retention through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion—our third, fourth, and fifth institutional priorities.

This chapter suggests how these three institutional priorities are co-dependent. Without vigilant attention to transformational learning experiences and an inclusive campus climate, there can be no “social sustainability.” Awareness of this—including a recognition of the college’s shortcomings—underlies Geneseo’s announced commitment to be an antiracist college, to put social justice and racial justice at the center of decision-making and strategic planning. Cross-college input solicited by the President’s Commission on Diversity and Community and the Office of Diversity and Equity created a new diversity statement^[1] replacing a passive statement listing ways the college does not discriminate. Responding to students’ concerns about campus sexual assault, the college re-organized the Title IX office and hired a new coordinator and investigator. Seeking a central rather than peripheral space for voices of marginalized students, a full day diversity summit has grown, since its inception in 2018, into an institutional priority; in Spring 2021, the College Senate passed a resolution to adjust the calendar to make the Diversity Summit a day without classes. Likewise, the Cultivating Community series and training for the Advancing Cultural Competency Certificate have become a routine part of the rhythm of the academic year.

As a rural campus that has frequently topped the net family income list of SUNY colleges,^[2] Geneseo recognizes that prioritizing social justice requires more work and action. Assessing the effectiveness of student support programs and determining how co-curricular activities can enhance the college’s goals to be welcoming and inclusive are putting the college on the right track to being recognized not just as a residential public liberal arts college, but as an institution that will launch students into lives of purpose and change.

1: Admission, retention, student success

Clearly stated, ethical policies and processes to admit, retain, and facilitate the success of students whose interests, abilities, experiences, and goals provide a reasonable expectation for success and are compatible with institutional mission, including accurate and comprehensive financial information; support for students not adequately prepared; orientation, advisement, and counseling programs; and processes designed to enhance the successful achievement of students’ educational goals.

The beginnings: admission and orientation

(SIV.C1; RoA8)

The college’s admissions website describes the cost of attendance, financial aid opportunities, and dates and deadlines for applying as a first-year student, transfer student, or graduate student.^[3] During the 2019-2020 admissions cycle, the vice president for enrollment management assembled a group of faculty and administrators to discuss eliminating the standardized testing requirement from the admissions process as a way to eliminate barriers for marginalized students. In May 2020, Geneseo submitted a test-optional pilot proposal to SUNY for review. Prior to receiving consideration, SUNY approved a system-wide pause to the requirement for standardized admission testing. Consequently, Geneseo’s request for a test-optional pilot was put on hold. Geneseo participates in the Common App, and students applying for the 2021-22 cohort were informed that Geneseo admission is test optional.^[4]

As the table belows indicates, while applications to Geneseo have been relatively stable since 2018, the number of first-time college students who chose to attend dropped by eight percent in 2019 and decreased significantly under pandemic conditions in Fall 2020, declining nearly 28 percent in comparison with 2019. Geneseo has been fortunate to see some rebound in 2021, but the college is still rebuilding the first-year, first-time class. New work focusing on transfer admissions, including Geneseo’s acceptance to the Aspen-AASCU Transfer Intensive for 2022, will build enrollment through community college partnerships to partly compensate for the demographic reality of a smaller number of New York state students graduating from high school.

The decline in first-time college enrollment of minority students concerned the Geneseo community;^[5] and the precipitous drop in 2020 underscored how BIPOC students were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. A number of factors are responsible for these 2020 enrollment figures: concern about access to technology, including internet connectivity; student and family health concerns; questions of the value of college costs when instruction is delivered online; our rural location distant from recruitment strongholds; and travel restrictions on international students.

Both the general enrollment figures and the number of ethnic minority first-time first-year students underscore the college’s need to create proactive rather than reactive support for new students. To that end, the following initiatives have been implemented since 2017:

1. (2018) Orientation and New Student Programs (NSP), Knight Life Live, a SUNY Performance Improvement Fund (PIF) initiative to disrupt new student orientation with theatrical diversity education.^[6]
2. (2018) Biology, SUNY Performance Improvement Fund (PIF) STEM Inclusion Program grant to redesign freshman biology laboratories and lectures for at-risk students and provide cultural competency training for Geneseo employees.^[7]
3. (2018) Office of Diversity and Equity, SUNY Performance Improvement Fund (PIF) initiative to construct a Cultivating Community platform and series of challenging discussions on race, class, identity, and the college experience. This series brings together administrators (including the president), faculty, staff, and students in a supportive, non-judgmental environment several times each semester. During the pandemic the program utilized Zoom web conferencing to continue community discussions.^[8]
4. (2018) New Student Programs, SUNY Performance Improvement Fund (PIF) initiative to develop student supports, including the creation of EXPL 101, an optional first year seminar targeting students exploring the major they will pursue. This course is taught both by academic faculty and instructors drawn from the Division of Student and Campus Life. Fall-to-spring retention rates for new students who completed EXPL 101 were higher than those for undeclared students who did not take the courses.^[9]
5. (2019-20) Incorporating the modules developed for EXPL 101, an increasing number of academic departments have begun offering first-year “welcome to the major” courses.^[10]
6. (2020) Adoption of EAB Navigate, an early-alert and institutional data analytics system that provides more opportunities to intervene with students who exhibit poor attendance, struggles with course materials, and challenges accessing tools that will help them be successful.^[11]

Post-admission: costs, financial support, payments

(SIV.C1a; RoA10)

Geneseo’s tuition charges are authorized by the SUNY system, and the student accounts office^[12] posts tuition rates as soon as they are available. Residence hall^[13] and dining service costs^[14] are determined locally by the vice president for student and campus life, the director of the budget, and the director of Campus Auxiliary Services. The Office of Student Accounts provides all students with clear information about how to pay their bills and payment methods accepted. Families have the option of making payments across the semester on a payment plan.^[15]

The financial aid office provides a public overview of Geneseo’s college costs^[16] on the department website, including information about how to apply for financial aid, what scholarships are available, and submitting the FAFSA.^[17] Starting in Fall 2019, the Geneseo financial aid office has used the Students On Track (SOT)^[18] compliance program to ensure students are registered for courses each semester that meet federal and state financial aid requirements for degree progress. By applying SOT as soon as students register for classes, rather than waiting for the semester to begin, the financial aid office ensures that students maximize their financial aid by remaining in compliance with state and federal requirements for courses applicable to their degree programs.

There are two sources of emergency funding for students at Geneseo: the One Knight student aid emergency fund^[19] and the Student Emergency Loan Fund (SELF).^[20] One Knight was built through Division of College Advancement outreach to alumni, faculty, and staff. SELF is a loan program in name; repayment is an alumni-supported, pay-it-forward program. Students are not expected to reimburse the program directly.

Getting a strong start: placement and academic support

(SIV.C1b; RoA10)

Placement in Geneseo courses is accomplished predominantly through course prerequisites. There is, for example, no mathematics placement exam; to qualify to enroll in Calculus 1, a student must have a high school calculus grade of 80 or better, a high school precalculus grade of 85 or better, or college credit for precalculus. International students whose first language is not English may be placed by TOEFL scores into WRTG 101, or they may elect this course voluntarily if they wish to build confidence before starting the composition requirement fulfilled at the college by INTD 105 (or by an equivalent transfer course). The only placement exam offered at the college is for language proficiency (administered by the Department of Languages and Literatures). Effective Fall 2021, the general education requirement in language is second-semester/102 level. Students can place out of their general education requirement for language if they complete four years of high school study in a single language. But many students also take the proficiency test for language study required by an academic program (e.g., international relations, Latin American studies, Asian studies) or general interest.

Because placement of students in math, writing, and language courses cannot account for differences in high school preparation, the College provides skill centers in math^[21] and writing.^[22] These centers complement support that students receive directly from faculty, peer mentors, and tutoring. Upper-level students in Spanish and French volunteer as tutors in languages.^[23] Tutoring in any subject is provided by arrangement for students in the Access Opportunity Program (AOP)^[24] and the new (as of Spring 2021) TRIO^[25] Student Success Services program. Tutoring is available in most subject areas through department-based tutoring centers. Geneseo also participates in the SUNY-wide STAR-NY tutoring consortium, a night-time online tutoring program in nearly every introductory academic area.

Many of Geneseo’s introductory science and mathematics courses hire advanced undergraduates as Supplemental Instructors (SIs) who attend class and hold outside-of-class review sessions. A 2017 assessment on the benefit of supplemental instruction (SI) showed a strong correlation between attending multiple sessions of SI across the semester with higher-than-class-average scores on major exams.^[26]

Counselors in both AOP and TRIO provide ongoing support of their assigned students. In their first year, and as needed thereafter, students meet with their AOP/TRIO counselor at least biweekly. The Office of the Dean of Academic Planning and Advising (DAPA) oversees an academic coaching program pairing students in academic difficulty with staff, faculty, and professional advisors (including AOP advisors) for biweekly meetings. The academic coaching program includes a learning community for coaches organized in coordination with the Teaching and Learning Center. Fall 2020 assessment of academic coaching showed a correlation between regular attendance at coaching sessions and persistence to the next semester.^[27] Longer term data in the assessment, however, also gave DAPA direction for improving academic coaching. In too many instances, learning skills have not been sufficiently internalized and academic recovery may not be maintained in subsequent semesters once the coaching meetings stop.

Connection and persistence: orientation, advisement, counseling

(SI.C1c; RoA8,15)

Orientation and inclusive programming

New students are welcomed to the College through an orientation program overseen, since 2020, by the Department of Student Life in the Division of Student and Campus Life, in coordination with the academic affairs division. The orientation program underwent revision coinciding with the college’s COVID-19 response, replacing the decades-old summer model of students coming to campus in orientation groups in June and July prior to the fall semester and in January prior to the spring semester. Orientation’s current model engages students remotely during the summer (or late fall for the spring semester) through peer engagement mentors and virtual engagement modules. Registration for classes is handled by faculty and staff advisors who construct first semester schedules based on major, student interest, and coursework that will meet financial aid requirements for degree applicability. Rather than having a one-time fall orientation weekend when students arrive on campus, the student life department has constructed a multi-week orientation, including state-mandated sessions on sexual assault and alcohol awareness. Since 2017, the orientation program has elevated education on diversity, recognizing that Geneseo students coming from rural, urban, and suburban communities have much to learn from each other.

College persistence depends on an inclusive campus climate. In line with Institutional Priority 4, “…to foster an inclusive campus climate and sense of belonging at Geneseo,” Geneseo’s orientation program emphasizes connectivity and engagement. Student and campus life programs like Real World Geneseo (RWG)^[28] engage specifically with issues of identity and belonging. By allowing students to question who they are and who they want to be in a safe and supportive space, RWG is transformative in the sense meant by Institutional Priority 3, “…to encourage, support, and document robust cocurricular transformational and integrative learning experiences.” This program is critical to Geneseo’s quest to become an anti-racist college. In the 2020 cohort, 48 percent of students observed religions other than Christianity; 71 percent were from low-income households; 29 percent identified as LGBTQIA+; 37 percent were students of color; 30 percent identified as Latinx; and 30 percent identified as Caucasian.^[29]

Additional Geneseo programs that help build an inclusive campus climate are:

• SafeZone training, supporting allies for the LGBTQ+ community^[30]
• The Advancing Cultural Competency Certificate (ACCC), offering voluntary training for faculty and staff on equity and cultural awareness^[31]
• Diversity and Inclusion Community Educators (DICE), students trained to provide peer-to-peer and student-to-staff diversity education^[32]
• Intergroup Dialogue, a set of courses and a microcredential in intergroup communication, teaching students formal dialogue strategies for holding conversations and building communities with others from different cultural backgrounds.^[33]
• Training for the campus (by student and campus life professionals) in Mental Health First Aid, a national mental health assistance intervention program.^[34]

Advising

Geneseo’s academic advisement process is primarily a faculty advisor model, complemented by professional advisors who work across campus. The faculty advisor model assigns students an advisor in their academic major department. Professional advisors are value added, serving students with extra needs or academic interests beyond their major. AOP’s counselors are professional advisors. Students who are McNair scholars receive academic advising assistance from the director of the program as well as the faculty who mentor students’ research. The TRIO program has one full-time professional advisor in addition to the director and counselor on staff. DAPA has four full-time professional employees (including the dean) and several faculty members who rotate into the office as a partial obligation in addition to teaching. The School of Business and the School of Education each have a dedicated full-time professional advisor, in addition to the faculty, who all serve as advisors to their students. Advisement is mandatory for all new students and students on academic probation. All students must attend a “pre-grad check” meeting with their advisor after they have passed 75 percent of their degree program (including credits and requirements) to ensure that they understand their remaining degree requirements.

Counseling

Counseling of students is multifold: the Office of Student Health and Counseling encompasses Health Services, Psychological Counseling Services, Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Programs, Health Promotion, and Sexual Health. The Office of Accessibility Services (OAS; formerly the Office of Disability Services) reviews requests for academic and residential accommodations and provides academic counseling to students served by the office. (Approximately 12 percent of the student population is registered with OAS.)^[35] Additional academic counseling is provided by counselors in the Office of Career Development, by academic coaches (professional staff and faculty) trained by DAPA, and by peer mentors in DAPA, the career development office, the Student Association, and academic departments.

The counseling services office sees approximately 14-16 percent of Geneseo students each academic year, providing students with high quality, appropriate behavioral health services. Students may access mental health services within the limits of staff expertise and licensure (meeting requirements of professional ethics). Geneseo’s counselors are generalist therapists who offer short-term services, referring students to external counselors and therapists for certain needs, for example to work on substance abuse addiction issues, testing for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or other learning disabilities, long-term treatment, or treatment mandated by a non-campus entity. Counseling services support the Office of Accessibility and Residence Life by providing students with documentation for Emotional Support Animals (ESAs).

In addition to individualized therapy, the counseling services office promotes positive mental health through ongoing opportunities to practice yoga, develop wellness in nature,^[36] and train in mental health risk awareness with the Kognito^[37] online program. The assistant director of multicultural affairs for LGBTQ+ life, who reports to the director of multicultural affairs, is not a counselor but refers students^[38] to counseling services with assurance that counselors are Safe-Zone trained and committed to inclusive practice.

The college’s Mental Health Advisory Committee (MHAC) sponsors local forums on mental health and student well being.^[39] In 2015, MHAC participated with the JED foundation in a self-assessment of Geneseo’s services. One significant outcome of this assessment was the creation and adoption of the Medical Leave of Absence Policy in 2018-19.^[40]

2: Transfer, experiential, and prior learning credits

Policies and procedures regarding evaluation and acceptance of transfer credits, and credits awarded through experiential learning, prior non-academic learning, competency-based assessment, and other alternative learning approaches.

Goals always in sight: degree completion, transfer support, and placement

(SIV.C1d, C2; RoA10)

Geneseo uses DegreeWorks, a software platform that tracks students’ progress to degree completion and provides “what if” scenario testing for changes to major and minor programs. Advisors use DegreeWorks in general advising appointments but also in the required pre-grad check when students reach at least 75 percent completion.

Students may transfer credits into Geneseo if issued by accredited colleges or universities and if they earned a grade of C- or higher on the transfer courses. Additionally, students may transfer courses in which they earned grades of P (Pass) or S (Satisfactory) if that is the only available grading mode for the course. The latter exception (along with similar exceptions for international study) was implemented in 2019-20 after the registrar’s office recognized that many college-issued credits students earned while in the military were S-U graded and thus unrecognized as transfer credit. The policy change made the transfer process much more inclusive. In Spring 2021, the Geneseo College Senate passed a seamless transfer proposal in keeping with the SUNY-wide seamless transfer policy: transfer students (with associate’s degrees or 60 credits) who have satisfied the general education program at another SUNY college may consider their general education requirement completed when they begin their studies at Geneseo.^[41]

Students can consult a public-facing transfer articulation data bank^[42] (posted by the registrar) to determine how their credits will transfer to Geneseo. Because the data bank was compiled over a long period of time and may not reflect updates in course descriptions, a student may petition to have a data bank articulation reviewed and revised by submitting a copy of the course description to the dean of academic planning and advising. Students who plan to transfer to another college from Geneseo will find similar data banks on other SUNY colleges’ websites. Advisors in the academic planning and advising office routinely meet with students who are interested in attending Geneseo and have questions about transfer articulation or taking their credits to another institution.

Once a student reaches 90 completed credits, they may apply to graduate. The graduation records officer reaches out to students at the start of the semester in which they have indicated that they plan to graduate and encourages them to complete a 10-point graduation checklist posted by the associate provost for assessment and curriculum.^[43] Along with satisfying all required courses for their major and general education, students must complete, minimally, 120 hours of college credits.

3: Maintenance and release of student information

Policies and procedures for the safe and secure maintenance and appropriate release of student information and records. (SIV,C3; RoA10)

All faculty, professional staff, and support staff who have direct interactions with students must complete mandated training on FERPA.^[44] Currently, this training is provided online through Biz Library. The college registrar and the dean of students have primary responsibility for ensuring the security of student information and records and for overseeing record maintenance. They also work closely with the college controller in processing Freedom of Information Act requests.

4: Extracurricular activities

Athletic, student life, and other extracurricular activities that are regulated by the same academic, fiscal, and administrative principles and procedures that govern all other programs. (SIV.C4; RoA8)

The student and campus life division creates a community where everyone belongs, everyone thrives, and everyone succeeds and works to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion while supporting a community that fosters kindness, curiosity, sustainability, and service to society. Complementing a rigorous academic program, Geneseo offers a vibrant student and campus life environment. The co-curricular programming and athletics offered include award-winning leadership development and community service programs, nationally competitive intercollegiate teams, and about 180 student-led organizations. There are numerous opportunities for student engagement to forge a supportive and challenging collegiate experience.^[45]

The Department of Residence Life creates inclusive living and learning environments where strong, diverse communities can grow and students can develop socially and academically, while promoting well-being.^[46] This is done by intentionally connecting learning inside the classroom to learning outside the classroom through living-learning communities (LLCs).^[47]

The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) supports the college’s core value of diversity. OMA works toward creating a welcoming and inclusive campus community for students from diverse backgrounds by collaborating with faculty, staff, and students to develop programs and resources that will support curricular and co-curricular success. Sponsored programs promote diversity awareness and an inclusive, respectful campus community. Specific attention is given to retention efforts of BIPOC students.^[48]

The Department of Student Health and Counseling has been designated a “Medical Home” by the Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Centers (AAAHC). Of the nearly 4,000 higher education institutions in the U.S., only 17 have achieved Medical Home accreditation, considered by the AAAHC as the highest achievement for primary care.^[49]

The University Police Department (UPD) works to provide a safe and secure learning and living environment by promoting responsible citizenship. By actively engaging with the SUNY Geneseo community, UPD contributes to respect and inclusivity between campus constituents.

Geneseo’s student life programs combine the college’s fifth institutional priority, “To increase…social sustainability” with the third priority, support of “integrative learning experiences” precisely because they are co-curricular rather than extracurricular. For example, the Center for Integrative Learning (CIL, located in the academic affairs division) teams with the residence life office in creating and implementing living-learning communities. Faculty and staff alike offer leadership workshops through the Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership program (GOLD). This divisional cross-walking creates an institutional check: co-curricular activities align with academic goals, including critical thinking, global citizenship, creativity, and economic and environmental stewardship. The student life orientation ensures that faculty consider the whole student—academic competencies together with social, emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental health.

To ensure social sustainability, Geneseo co-curricular programming follows best practices and area-specific competencies (both professional standards of the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education and local student learning outcomes from Geneseo’s Division of Student and Campus Life). Co-curricular programs comply with all applicable New York State and federal laws and guidelines. A good example of such compliance is the 2020-21 COVID response facilitated by the student and campus life division.^[50] In creating a Return to Campus guide, the vice president for student and campus life assembled appropriate department heads to review and apply state and federal mandates to the Geneseo student experience. Given the rapid escalation of COVID-19, the division’s organizational structure (comprised of the vice president and directors) created a system of checks and assurances for compliance accuracy. Student leader training promotes a healthy and safe student experience. Resident assistants and College Union managers are trained in FERPA, Title IX, Diversity, and emergency response. Student life tracks and monitors all fund-raising activities of student organizations, providing an external control for organizations also overseen by the Student Association.

Geneseo is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III athletic program that complies with all NCAA and SUNY Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) regulations, including player eligibility (with respect to grade point average and full-time enrollment). The mission of intercollegiate athletics at Geneseo is to guide students’ “intellectual, physical, and social development,” complementing the college’s academic goals. Geneseo’s Division III sports programs reflect the NCCA philosophy of ensuring that athletic participation is fully integrated into the educational experience, with coaches playing a significant role as educators.^[51] In collaboration with the assistant dean of students for leadership and service, the intercollegiate athletics and recreation department has created a student leadership program, Student-Athlete Mentors (SAMs),^[52] emphasizing peer-to-peer training in health, safety, interpersonal respect, leadership, and academic success.

Like all areas of the college, athletics complies with internal controls for funds and risk management procedures. The athletic director supervises full-time and part-time coaches, two assistant directors, trainers, and support staff. One assistant director is responsible for internal controls (e.g., enforcing Title IX educational access rules) and one is responsible for external controls (e.g., facility rentals, game management).

5: Student support services

Adequate and appropriate institutional review and approval of student support services designed, delivered, or assessed by third-party providers. (SIV.C5; RoA10)

The College contracts with external organizations for a small number of student support services. The following tools depend in part on external sources for a delivered service (in contrast with contracts for software-based services such as Canvas, Banner, or DegreeWorks).

• Geneseo belongs to a SUNY online tutoring consortium, STAR-NY Tutoring, operated by SUNY Cortland.^[53] The college’s contribution is $1000 annually to support the online technology and the services of one undergraduate chemistry tutor (5 hours per week, approximately $1800 per year). In 2019-20, usage (requesting and completing online appointments) in all subject areas was high across SUNY (especially math, English, and chemistry), including usage by Geneseo students. Usage dropped off during the pandemic, ironically, when most student learning went online.
• Geneseo contracts with EAB Navigate, an early-alert system with historical data analytics for strategic decision-making about student support services. Navigate has been live since the start of the Spring 2020 semester. Navigate is primarily an internal tool, but much of the analytical groundwork is provided by EAB.
• The health and counseling office uses several contractual services and tools for student support:
  • CCAPS (Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms, a nationally-used diagnostic and assessment tool)
  • UptoDate (a medical clinical assessment tool used by Geneseo health services)
  • MindWise Innovations (an online tool for mental health screening)
  • First Light Web Services (BASICS: self-screening assessment of alcohol and other drug use)
  • Kognito (an online simulation training tool for mental health awareness)

6: Assessment

Periodic assessment of the effectiveness of programs supporting the student experience. (SIV.C6;RoA8)

The entire student and campus life division engages in continual assessment of the functional areas that affect the student experience. Examples have already been mentioned above in descriptions of academic support and mental health counseling.^[54] In addition, the student life department assesses how well its programs help students meet intended learning outcomes. A Fall 2020 Orientation and Weeks of Welcome assessment provided information on recruitment efforts (including melt rates), retention, and equity and access during the pandemic. Results of the assessment showed that 80 percent of the respondents rated the Orientation/Weeks of Welcome experience as good or better with assisting them with their transition to Geneseo. Based on the assessment, several improvements are being implemented in the program.^[55]

Athletics uses assessment routinely to improve students’ experiences and ensure safety. An example of athletics closing the assessment loop is their assessment of the sports medicine functional area. The assessment of training rooms in terms of usage, staffing, injury prevention, and access was submitted to the College Assessment Council (CAC); recommended renovations based on that assessment were approved by the president’s cabinet and have now been implemented. (As of March 2021, they were 50 percent complete).^[56]

Finally, listed below are some examples of program assessments that led to the improvement of student learning:

Conclusion

The college recruits and admits students whose interests, abilities, experiences, and goals are congruent with its mission and educational offerings, for all of its baccalaureate and masters programs, in all modalities. Geneseo is committed to student retention, persistence, completion, and success, and it employees qualified professionals in these endeavors in order to enhance the learning environment, educational experiences, and student success.

Points of pride

• The first chapter of this self-study describes the Geneseo community process of re-thinking and re-stating the college’s mission statement, concluding that the key words for vision and mission at Geneseo are “learning” and “access.” This chapter has identified the ways student support services and co-curricular learning are a strategic part of improving learning and access.
• National studies, such as research provided by EAB, show that BIPOC students and their families were disproportionately affected by COVID-19, economically, socially, and educationally. Responses to the pandemic by student and campus life offices and student support offices across the college also identified areas of strength and areas of growth. The shift to remote-hybrid orientation in 2020, for example, found that the majority of the students who participated in Weeks of Welcome programs (both virtual and in-person) felt more connected to the College, but there was a decline in overall participation in the Cultivating Community and Knight Life Live programming in comparison to earlier years without pandemic restrictions. Because these two Orientation areas were growing as a result of work done through SUNY PIF grants, student and campus life departments are using their 2020 assessment reports to re-grow attendance to pre-pandemic levels, and to ensure that BIPOC students feel included and have full access to campus resources.
• While maintaining its identity as a distinctive, small state liberal arts college, Geneseo affirms its public obligation to equity and access and its support of active and applied learning both inside and outside the curriculum.

Suggestions

• To increase student access to assistance from advisors and mentors, by 2027 increase “appointment availability” for 70% of the faculty and staff through EAB Navigate.
• To increase students’ sense of belonging, institute a “peer mentor system” for every new student by 2027, examining current opportunities and training for peer mentors (FYE TAs, RAs, OLs, APMs, etc.) and reframing the mentor/mentee relationship.
• All student support offices should ensure that their assessment programs use an equity lens to review delivery of student services.

Recommendations

None.