Proposal for Improving IUP Enrollment
Team Members:
- Willy J. Clinton (smartprez@iup.edu)
- Ronnie R. Regan (nocommies@yahoo.com)
- Boy W. George (prez@iup.edu)
Project Overview
IUP enrollment has been decreasing over the past few semesters. This is partly because of an increase in tuition, which is out of our control, but other factors such as a lack of a proper academic image coupled with weak advertising practices. These two problems can be simultaneously addressed through the development of a public academic research community, which could be utilized as a recruitment tool to research-minded applicants.
Team Description
This project shall be overseen by the student team and Dr. Jack Scarpitini, who is a distinguished faculty member. Members of the student team have varied experiences as students of the university, are active members in IUP life, and are attentive to the problems that the university deals with in the face of decreasing enrollment. Dr. Scarpitini also lends his many years of administrative and teaching experience to the strengths of the team. Mr. Willy Clinton is proficient in website production, skills that would contribute to the creation of the online research community. Mr. Ronie Regan shall contribute to researching new facets of technology to be utilized in the project. Mr. Boy George shall be contributing to the multimedia and advertising aspects of the project.
Proposal Overview
We are proposing this approach because research attracts positive attention and respect to universities. Also, online communities are a developing trend that will show that IUP is a forerunner in the movement. This attention leads to a higher level of enrollment, especially in the forward thinking students of today.
Project Scope
- Encourage research within university departments
- Create a public website where research can be showcased
- Invite high schools to utilize the IUP research community to generate interest in the project and university in general
- Offer credentials for student volunteers who conduct research within their departments, overseen by research advisors
Timeline
Fall 2005 – Spring 2006
- Encourage departments to begin research
- Begin developing the community website
- Introduce current students to volunteer research program and its incentives
Fall 2006 – Spring 2007
- Complete website project and have departments integrate current research
- Continue current departmental research
Fall 2007 – Spring 2008
- Introduce research site into high schools and encourage its utilization
- Require research within technical departments
Evaluation
We will evaluate the effectiveness of our project by monitoring the amount of research in the university, and the use of the online community by both internal and external individuals over time.
Project Resources and Budgetary Needs
We already have most of the resources for the project, as they will come from the faculty and students of the university. They will carry out the research and work on the website. The computers they will use are already available all over campus. We may need money mostly for advertising the project to the public and to high schools.