VP candidate Anne Monroe addresses retention strategies
Anne Monroe addresses Central Michigan University students, faculty and staff at the third candidate forum for CMU's first vice president of student recruitment and retention on Feb. 4 in the Charles V. Park Library Baber Room.
Anne Monroe reflected on her personal experience at Central Michigan University and her hope to give back to her alma mater during a forum in the ongoing search for CMU's first vice president of student recruitment and retention.
"People having been asking why I am interested in this (institution and position), and it is largely because I am a product of this," Monroe said. "This was the place that gave me my start, that taught me what I needed to know to be a good professional and good at enrollment, and let me go use those skills at other institutions."
She discussed retention strategies and marketing as she spoke to faculty, staff and students Feb. 4 in the Charles V. Park Library Baber Room, during the third of four candidate forums.
Monroe serves as the vice president of recruitment consulting services at the recruitment consulting and enrollment management service Ruffalo Noel Levitz. She has held positions in student services and admissions in the Virgin Islands and in Michigan, including Northwestern Michigan College, CMU, and Alma College.
Although she has been working on recruitment and enrollment for multiple universities recently, Monroe says she wants this position because it's at CMU.
"I feel like I have an opportunity to come full circle... to help us get back to a place we need to be," Monroe said.
She mentioned the importance of improving academic advising satisfaction in order to retain the maximum amount of students.
"When we ask returning students what's important and what's not going well, they'll say advising," Monroe said. "(Second to that) is registering for courses without any difficulty and the third is faculty not providing personalized feedback."
Monroe focused on the fact that the key to retention is listening to the needs and opinions of CMU students.
"It is not just slapping on programs that seem to work somewhere else, but it's understanding what the problem is with our own students," she said. "What year are we losing them? What programs are losing them? What are our top ten courses with (drop/fail withdrawals)?"
When addressing the marketing of CMU, she suggested focusing on specific academic programs.
"I think a lot of times marketing has tended to focus on institutional marketing, but not so much on program marketing," Monroe said. "I really do think there is an opportunity for us to do better at academic program marketing."
Monroe concentrated on the importance of tailoring techniques to the specific needs of CMU in order to increase enrollment and retention levels.
Jennifer DeHaemers will speak at the final candidate forum 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5 in the Charles V. Park Library Baber Room. Lee Furbeck, CMU's executive director of admissions, and Dawn Medley spoke at candidate forums within the past week.
The forums can be streamed on the senior officer searches website. Any feedback related to the job can be submitted at the forums by completing the candidate evaluation form or emailing any comments to president@cmich.edu.
