Left to right: Diane Lampe, associate provost for Undergraduate Student Affairs; Bob Gay, interim associate provost for Student Affairs; and Matt Gaglione, vice provost, Student Affairs, and University registrar.

UMUC Invests in Student Success

By Wil McLean
Special to FYI Online

UMUC's new Student Success Center is an outgrowth of the University's ongoing commitment to making a quality education available to adults in the workforce. The center formally opened July 1, 2002, with the goal of providing a higher level of focused academic services to current students. A new enrollment management team has also been established to welcome prospective students and help them through the admission and registration process.

"We realize our students work full time and need more time to earn a degree. That's fine. We just want to be sure they don't lose sight of their goal and that they always know that we're here to help them through," said Matt Gaglione, vice provost for Student Affairs and University registrar. "Our goals are simple: student success . . . and the highest student retention rate in the industry!"

The Student Success Center is a product of the Process Improvement Project, headed up by Kim Kelley, associate provost and executive director of UMUC's Center for Intellectual Property, and Sal Monaco, UMUC professor and executive director of the Office of Executive Programs. After the concept was developed, implementation was turned over to Gaglione's office.

That implementation is an ongoing, and time-consuming, process. According to Pamel Demartino, associate provost for Graduate Advising and Graduate Student Affairs, a wide variety of entities within the University have to work together if the center is to succeed—the offices of Facilities Management, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Marketing, Financial Aid, Finance, and Student Accounts all play important roles.

Ultimately, the Student Success Center will comprise the following teams and services.

• Enrollment Management Team Members of this team interact with prospective students, via e-mail and telephone, and work to turn applicants into first-time enrollees.
• Graduate and Undergraduate Advising Centers Advising staff contact students throughout the semester to mentor them through the current term and arrange future semester schedules. Some staff members act as liaisons with designated academic departments, and all keep in close contact with the various deans' offices. Advisors are trained to be proactive and provide students with information before they even ask.
• The Degree Audit Team Members of this team do not work directly with students, but focus on administrative work, assessing undergraduate applications for college credit, credit transfers, and so on.
• Admissions Staff
• Veteran & Disabled Student Services
• Registrar's Office This office is the administrative arm of Student Affairs and provides academic record maintenance, transcript production, verification and certification of attendance, and degree and certificate completion.
• Information Desk

The goal, said Diane Lampe, associate provost for Undergraduate Student Affairs, is for the University to develop more personal relationships with students, helping UMUC win recognition as the "institution of choice" for adult students seeking undergraduate or graduate degrees.