November 11, 2002
Dear Colleagues,
The fall semester is almost over and it has been a while sent I wrote you about what is going on at the University. Hopefully, my attendance at faculty senate, student government association, committee, departmental, and college meetings, as well as the weekly radio program on KEDM has kept you informed. I have also seen many of you at recruiting events, football games and in the grove. I will however find time to write you more often in the future.
In any event, we have been about the business of running the university. Recruiting students has been one of our top priorities, and many of you joined the recruiting team at high school football games this fall. We think the high school tailgating activity is a great way to reintroduce ULM to our future students and their parents. We also held a "Meet the President" event on campus where students and their parents got to meet not only the president, but many faculty members, as well as admissions and financial aid counselors. We generated over 70 new applications for fall at the event on campus. We held a similar event at OCS and Union Parish, and plan others in Alexandria, New Orleans, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge. Lisa Miller and the recruiting staff are on the road everyday and many nights trying to spread the good news about our university.
Many of you have been helping us in our recruiting events. We really appreciate that extra effort. Others have asked, "What can we do?" My response is to start a departmental recruiting effort much like Jeff Galle did in English. Contact Jeff to see what they are doing or contact Lisa Miller and she will find ways for your department to complement what the recruiting team is doing.
In a related area, on December 2, we will be starting the development of a new retention plan. Through funding from the Board of Regents, Noel-Levitz, a national consulting firm, will be assisting us in the development of the plan. Over the next few months we will be asking a number of our faculty, staff and students to assist us. Currently, our graduation rate is hovering around 30%. If we could increase our retention rate to retain just 500 additional students a year, many of our financial issues could be addressed.
Dr. Richters and several others have been working in advance of the consultants exploring the concept of expanding the Center for Academic and Student Success (CASS) to all of our students. Many of us believe that since the strategies have been successfully implemented at the CASS center for some of our students, they would likewise be beneficial to all. We will be exploring this concept more fully during the consultant's visits.
We have also been working with the many individuals in the College of Health Sciences to raise the public and legislative awareness of the financial issues related to the cost of our health science programs. With the assistance of the Health Science department heads and Dean Bill Bourn, we met with several groups of interested and concerned individuals. These included; the Ouachita Medical Association, the Dental Association, Nursing Home Administrators, Rural Hospital Association, Louisiana Pharmacy Association, and numerous others individuals representing the health services industry. Dr. Richters, Dr. Bruno, Keith Brown and I have met with local community leaders and most of our legislative delegation and impressed upon them the importance of our College of Health Sciences to the community, region, and state. In addition, Dr. Jan Corder and I are serving on the HealthCare Workforce Commission in Baton Rouge. We are exploring ways to address the critical shortage in many healthcare professions, including many of those disciplines that we teach at ULM.
Our message is, and will continue to be, that the health sciences are important to this institution, and that not only has our attempt to fund them fallen short, but it has drained resources from many of our other academic departments. It is important that everyone understand that all of our programs are under-funded and we need additional state dollars to maintain our current academic offerings. Our message is being taken to the appropriate executive and legislative leaders. We will keep you informed on our continued efforts to gain additional funding.
We are not only looking at additional state dollars, but by working with the consulting firm of Alexander, Haas, Martin & Partners, Inc. of Atlanta, GA, we are elevating our private fundraising efforts to a new level. The consultants were hired by our ULM Foundation and they are providing support for our University Advancement staff, as well as helping with the national search for a new Vice President for University Advancement.
One of the first changes we are making is to transition private fundraising from a fiscal year (July 1 to June 30) to a calendar year basis. Under the capable leadership of this year's Annual Fund chairman, Lynn Lincecum, we are personally calling on all University Associates ($1,000+ donors) who have not made their gift this year and requesting that they renew their investment in our institution. Also, a direct mailing is being sent to those alumni and friends who have supported the Annual Fund with gifts under $1,000, but as yet have not made a gift this year.
As a result of direct solicitations for major gifts, we have generated $420,000 since last April and have commitments for close to that amount in the near future. I am very appreciative of the responses we have been getting as our story is being told, and I'm convinced it is because we are proving that it is all about "Students First."
In an unrelated issue, yesterday Mike Collins was named head football coach. Athletics Director Bruce Hanks has been working on finding a coach since Bobby Keasler resigned, and I know he had numerous discussions with the Faculty Athletic Committee before he made the recommendation to me. While Coach Collins is dedicated to intercollegiate athletics, and has brought an exciting brand of football back to the campus, I have been impressed with his promotion of the student in "student athlete". I have seen Mike discipline players for being late for study hall, insist that they turn in attendance and mid-term grades, and demand that they get their CASS hours. Mike got a list of the names of some of the students who attended the last few home games and personally wrote and thanked them for supporting the football team. He took the whole team to church after a recent home game, and took time out of
practice to support a recent Lady Indian's soccer match. In addition, Mike did not request a long-term contract. He said that no one else on campus got one and he wanted to be treated like all the other employees. It is nice to meet a man of character in an oft-maligned profession. It is even nicer to have him on our campus.
We are currently placing on the ULM webpage the summary of our response to SACS and the most recent quarterly financial report. In addition, the search committee for the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, as well as the Vice President for Advancement will be completing their work shortly. I will write another "Dear Colleague" letter shortly after Thanksgiving discussing the above topics.
I want to say a special thanks to each and every one of you for your hard work this semester. Have a safe, restful, and Happy Thanksgiving.
James E. Cofer, Sr.
ULM President