President Waldron Cites Progress in Student Success Initiatives Notes increases in graduation and retention rates during spring semester address to faculty and staff Recent University-wide efforts to improve student success are beginning to yield results, says President Kathleen Waldron, who outlined recent accomplishments during her start of the semester address to faculty and staff on January 15. “(In September,) I asked the question— Do we have high expectations for our students? I am happy to report that our efforts are yielding results,” she said. “We strive to improve student success at WPU and we work to make sure that students learn what we say they are learning and succeed at what they hope to accomplish.” Among the results Waldron discussed are increases in both the four-year and six-year graduation rates for the third year in a row, as well as the freshmen retention rate. She pointed to a variety of initiatives launched at the start of the fall 2014 semester, including registering approximately 50 percent of incoming freshmen in linked courses; an expansion in supplemental instruction to provide more academic support in high-risk courses; an expansion of the Peer Leader Program to a majority of First-Year Seminar; and the awarding of $1,000 scholarships to more than 400 sophomores who entered the University in fall 2013 and a year later had completed 30 credits with a GPA of 3.0 or above. She also noted that the university has begun implementation of a new online student degree audit system, Degree Works. Waldron also indicated that numerous faculty and staff had written to her with examples of the high expectations they hold. “You gave me examples of your students doing some amazing work. You gave me examples of your students achieving national recognition. You gave me examples of your students obtaining full fellowships for doctoral work at major research universities in this country. So you have answered my question – YES, we have high expectations of our students.” Among the student examples Waldron cited: *Adonis Rivie, a senior majoring in biology, won a first place award for his poster presentation among 1,500 competitors at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) held in San Antonio, Texas. Rivie’s poster presentation grew out of his work as part of an interdisciplinary research project conducted by Professor Jaishri Menon, biology, and Professor Kevin Martus, physics. *Keep on Keepin’ On, a documentary that has received wide critical acclaim, was directed by Alan Hicks ‘07, and focuses on the friendship between the legendary jazz trumpeter and retired William Paterson professor Clark Terry and rising jazz pianist Justin Kauflin ‘08. The movie has won numerous awards, including a best director award for Hicks at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. *Matthew Orso, journalism major, published his second book about baseball, Baseball Card Generations, a children's book about “a grandfather teaching twin grandchildren life lessons through baseball cards.” Orso published his first book, Bonded at the Seams: Baseball in our Lives, when he was a senior in high school. *Denzel Bland and Austen Mahoney, professional sales majors in the Cotsakos College of Business, won first place overall in the Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales 8th Annual National Sales Challenge. The team competed against the best sales students from 39 other schools across the nation and abroad. This is the first time a William Paterson team has won the overall competition. *Professor Ron Verdicchio and six anthropology/education students took their ethnographic field study of the cultural changes in Prospect Park and turned it into a new 128-page book, Prospect Park, published by Arcadia Publishing. The six students who co-authored the book are Eman Al-Jayeh, Bria Barnes, Kelly Ginart, Amani Kattaya, Megan Perry, and Paige Rainville. All royalties and net proceeds from book sales will be donated to a scholarship set up in the authors’ names through the William Paterson University Foundation. In addition, Waldron also noted a number of faculty and staff accomplishments, including: *Thirty-eight employees have earned recognition to date as past of the university’s new employee recognition program. The P.R.I.D.E. (Praising Results Innovation Dedication and Excellence) Awards Program is designed for peers to recognize outstanding acts of William Paterson employees above and beyond what is normally expected. *Pete McGuinness, assistant professor of music and an acclaimed jazz composer/arranger, trombonist and vocalist, has been nominated for two 2015 Grammy Awards: Best Arrangement: Instrumental or A Cappella for “Beautiful Dreamer” and Best Arrangement: Instrumental and Vocals for “What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?” Both tunes are from his latest CD, Strength in Numbers. The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 8, 2015. *Rufus Reid, former director of our Jazz Studies Program, has also received two Grammy nominations: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Quiet Pride: The Elizabeth Catlett Project and Best Instrumental Composition for “Recognition,” a track from the same album. *Professor Amy Learmonth, assistant professor of psychology, received a grant for $128,899 from the New Jersey Autism Center of Excellence (NJ ACE) Clinical Research Program for her project, Can Video Speak the Language of Autism. *Glen Sherman, associate vice president and dean of student development, and Sherrine Schuldt, CHES prevention specialist, received a $96,288 grant from the New Jersey Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services for their project, Strategic Prevention Framework Partnership for Success, Year 2. *Professor Michael Griffiths, assistant professor of environmental science, received a $54,956 grant from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for his project, Late Phanerozoic Evolution of Seawater Temperature and Sr/Ca: New Insights from “Clumped Isotope” Thermometry in Biogenic Apatite. “We congratulate these faculty and the many others who are striving for excellence,” Waldron concluded.
