Columbus State University Annual Report of Institutional Progress 2003-2004 (This page left blank to facilitate front and back printing) Columbus State University 2003-2004 Annual Report of Institutional Progress Table of Contents Section A: Summary of Major Institutional Accomplishments in 2003-2004 1 Section B: Annual Progress in Institutional Strategic Planning 7 Section C: Annual Progress in Assessing Institutional Effectiveness 9 Section D: Improving Student Retention and Graduation 3 Section E: Overall Institutional Health 16 (This page left blank to facilitate front and back printing) Columbus State University Annual Report of Institutional Progress 2003-2004 Section A Summary of Major Institutional Accomplishments As a teaching university, Columbus State University remains focused on providing superior student-centered learning experiences. (CSU Goals1 1, 3, 4) During a retreat held by the Vice President for Academic Affairs in the summer of 2003, academic colleges renewed their commitment to increase student engagement and later set goals to expand student activities inside and outside the classroom environment. Many objectives have been met dur- ing the 2003-04 academic year. Below are some examples of how academic departments are enhancing the as- pects of their students’ learning experiences. · CSU’s biology curriculum generated extraordinary experiences for students in 2004. Highlights included a swim with dolphins along the Bahamian ocean reef while there to study the ecosystems of Andros Island, and an interactive demonstration in the Australian rainforest of the endangered “flying fox” by one of Australia’s leading environmental scientists. Incorporating such activity into the curriculum has merited the “Best Prac- tices in International Education: Most Internationalized Academic Unit” designation from the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. The board will feature CSU biology as a model to increase an interna- tional focus in academic curricula—particularly science—system wide. · Piano performance majors at the Schwob School of Music experienced “Pianomania” in June 2004 at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts campus. The students spent 20 hours within the span of two days and one evening with CSU’s Associate Professor Betty Anne Diaz in intensive sessions of piano study. · The D. Abbott Turner College of Business formed a Student Advisory Council, which provides input to the college on a host of student-related issues. · Psychology professor Mark Schmidt and two CSU students presented a poster entitled “Numerousness Dis- crimination in Rats” at the annual International Conference on Comparative Cognition in Florida. One of the students, Jennifer Warhawk, presented some of the data in three student competitions, winning first place in the poster presentation competition and second place in the paper presentation competitions. · The College of Education staged a Spring Literacy Conference, coordinated by Professor Sallie Miller, that brought together 156 area teachers and CSU graduate students to share research and/or learn about advanced strategies for teaching reading. Joining the College of Education as event sponsors were the Muscogee Read- ing Association, the Muscogee County School District, and CSU Continuing Education. · Professors in the College of Education have found a new way to keep up interest in their Early Childhood Education class. They have started a “While You Were At Recess” component. While elementary students are out of their classroom on a field trip, CSU education students rush in and give the classroom a full make- over using a design that accounts for a good learning and teaching environment. CSU and the Columbus community have a long established collaborative and supportive relationship. (CSU Goals 1, 2, 4, 5, 8) · The CSU Testing Center administered over 8,000 tests to CSU students and the Columbus community in- cluding the Regents’ Test, Compass, Praxis and many more computer and paper-based tests necessary for graduation, admission or professional certification. · CSU teacher candidates from the College of Education presented a workshop at the Muscogee County School District’s Teenage Parenting Center to young mothers and pre-school workers on applications designed to build a young child’s vocabulary. _________________________ 1 Columbus State University’s Strategic Plan is on the CSU Web at http://faculty.colstate.edu/program.htm. Columbus State University —— 1 · CSU’s computer science department formally became the TSYS Department of Computer Science in February 2004. The renaming signifies the legacy of the cooperative effort between TSYS and CSU. CSU now has edu- cated more than 1,400 computer professionals for employment with TSYS. · Several faculty from the TSYS Department of Computer Science helped found and organize the Columbus Regional Technology Association with several hundred community IT professionals as members. · CSU mathematics professor Renjin Tu completed six consulting projects for the Research Department of Hughston Sports Clinic in Columbus, for which she received a 5,250-dollar grant for faculty development. · Charlotte Ingram of CSU’s Department of Nursing provided consulting services regarding safe nursing proto- cols and practices for the New Horizons Community Service Board and, also, presented quarterly educa- tional offerings in cultural diversity to the Columbus Rape Crisis Center volunteers. · In March 2004, more than 1,000 fourth graders from Georgia, Florida and Alabama along with their teachers and regional natural resources professionals gathered on CSU’s main campus for a first annual groundwater festival named “Winning Water: AFC (Apalachicola-Flint-Chattahoochee) Children’s Water Festival.” The Georgia Department of Community Affairs recruited the schools for the event · An endowment to provide tuition and books for eligible CSU students in the Teacher Education Program who are planning to teach in the Talbot County School System was established by the estate of Richard M. Alsobrook in memory of his wife and veteran Talbot County educator Ophelia Fleming Alsobrook. · A three-member team representing the CSU Teen Achievers program tied for first place in the annual Alpha Kappa Alpha Black Heritage Bowl in Columbus. A CSU outreach program since 1987, Teen Achievers in- cludes monthly seminars dealing with issues such as gangs, health awareness and college and career planning. The participants are selected each year by local school administrators and teachers. · The 283rd Fort Benning band has turned to CSU’s Rankin Arts Center’s Music Conservatory in the division of Continuing Education to update their skills as instrumentalists in the Army. The “Instrument Update Pro- gram” is considered unique since it is the first professional development course in the arts offered to soldiers through the conservatory. · Continuing Education at Columbus State University successfully extends the university’s remarkable stan- dards of higher learning through its comprehensive portfolio of personal enrichment and professional devel- opment programs. In fiscal year 2004, eight thousand thirty-three adults and children took courses through the two locations for the Center: The versatile Elizabeth Bradley Turner Center on CSU’s main campus or Uptown Columbus at the historic Rankin Arts Center. Collaborative efforts included other state, national and international institutions, most often involving CSU stu- dents in the implementation and delivery of activities . (CSU Goals 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8) · Dr. Florence Wakoko, Assistant Professor in Sociology, and two professors at two other system institutions, received a Title VIA Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program grant of $364,700 from the U.S. Department of Education to collaboratively develop and implement a USG Certificate in Afri- can Studies on behalf of the USG's African Council. The result will be an interdisciplinary African Studies Certificate that will be available to the 190,000-plus undergraduate students at any of the USG's 34 institu- tions. The grant will run for 3 years. · As a result of proactive collaboration of CSU’s computer science and biology departments, four students have built a one-of-a-kind robot to counteract faulty methods for finding gopher tortoises, a federally protected, endangered species. The student-led team initially came together because of CSU senior Fredrick Johnson’s push for CSU’s first robotics course, under the supervision of computer science Professor Ronald Linton. As- sociate Dean of Science Glenn Stokes, who has worked closely with the students, provided the group with rooms to set up their workshop, computers for programming the robots and some $400 through the student affairs office to help fund the project. · CSU’s Center for International Education in collaboration with several other CSU departments hosted the fourth annual International Education Week at CSU including activities such as lectures by visiting scholars and a “European Night” at CSU’s residence Global Village, a unique setting created especially to meet the needs of CSU’s international students. · CSU’s Mead Observatory at the Coca-Cola Space Science Center was one of 13 observatories worldwide se- lected by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to assist in recording the rare transit of Venus across the disk of the sun. Professor Shawn Cruzen and the center’s graphic artist Chris Johnson moved equipment to Anas- tasia Island in Florida to record the event. Images