Making it Count for our Students

As I was sifting through the avalanche of daily emails that flows into my inbox a couple of weeks back I happened upon one from a friend that included a link to a new Washington Monthly ranking of “Best Bang for the Buck” colleges and universities in the Midwest:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings-other-college-guide/best-bang-for-buck-midwest-rank.php#.VecIiezwGVc.facebook

The friend sent it to me because UM-Dearborn fared very well on this list coming in at number seven for the entire region and outranking all of our state public peers, including the Ann Arbor campus. I was, of course, certainly thrilled to read this as it confirmed my own view of the special nature of what this university (and especially CASL) does so well. Reading a bit further about the rankings, however, left me a bit dissatisfied.

The rankings are based on an assessment of which schools are the best value for one’s money based on "net" (not sticker) price, how well the school does graduating the students they admit, and whether those students go on to earn at least enough income to pay off their loans. While these are certainly very important goals and I am ecstatic to see that UM-Dearborn measures up so well against this yardstick, I am also struck by how much the rankings miss in this rather singular focus of what constitutes bang for the buck. The reason why UM-Dearborn ranks so highly on this list is because of the incredible learning environment that exists on this campus. We prepare students to succeed in the world and that preparation in turn allows them to graduate, earn steady incomes, and to pay any student debt they may have accrued (our students actually accrue less debt than their typical state peers). While that rich learning environment is a hallmark of all four of the university’s colleges CASL stands at the heart of that success.

When I think about the high impact practices that help students to be successful I am happy to see CASL sets the pace for the university. Beyond the longstanding staples of co-operative education and internships CASL also offers first year seminars to incoming first year students, academic service learning courses, robust academic support and tutoring services, access to mentored student research, study abroad opportunities, and a wide array of cultural programming and co-curricular events. College faculty also played a critical role in creating and implementing the university’s new general education curriculum known as the Dearborn Discovery Core, which shifts general education away from our old menu style checklist to a more purposeful, outcomes based model that offers multiple paths more carefully aligned with individual student interests. Likewise, CASL faculty and staff are playing central roles in the university’s launch of the new Metro Talent Gateway, a new initiative designed to assist students to integrate their varied university experiences to better appreciate the synergy between academic pursuits, co-curricular activities, engagement, internships, etc. and to prepare them for life beyond the university.

There is much great work being done on this front and I am happy to add that there is much more to come. CASL is embarking upon an aggressive campaign to ramp up our student success efforts to ensure even more positive outcomes. The 2015-2016 academic year promises to be an exciting one. I look forward to working alongside of my faculty and staff colleagues to ensure that both CASL and UM-Dearborn continue to deliver excellent value to our students and to ensure that they are well positioned to be successful in whatever path they choose to travel.