Those with innovative ideas for recruiting and retaining students on the Flagstaff campus can apply for as much as $2,500 in grant money to help put their ideas into action.
President John Haeger has earmarked $25,000 in Undergraduate Student Recruitment and Retention Grants that will help fund pilot projects and activities designed to increase the number of students attending or staying on the Flagstaff campus. The deadline to apply for funds is March 15.
“The idea is to provide seed money for people to test ideas and see if they work,” said Jeanette Baker, associate vice president of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs and co-chair of the committee reviewing grant proposals.
Now in its fifth year, the program has helped fund an array of creative initiatives. One year, faculty in engineering and health sciences collaborated on a project to test whether sound amplification contributes to student success in a lecture class.
“Their findings showed it does, which was taken into consideration in the remodel of the engineering building,” Baker said.
Other activities over the years have included cultural sensitivity training, workshops on teaching college freshmen, a DVD for the anthropology department to use in its recruitment efforts, building an alumni network for the history department, activities focused on recruiting Native American students, and others.
Baker said having an assessment component is an essential part of the process; past activities are being tracked even years later to determine their impact on retention and enrollment. Equally important, she said, is having a sustainability plan that will identify how the project will continue if the project was deemed successful once the grant has been completed.
Review proposal guidelines and download an application form online.