University Policies Study
March 13, 2012
UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications
UT Tyler to Participate in New Study of College and University Policies
March 13, 2012
Media Contact: Hannah Buchanan
Editor/Writer–Strategic Communications & Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.539.7196 (cell)
March 13, 2012
Media Contact: Beverley Golden
Director
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.566.7303 or 903.330.0495 (cell)
The University of Texas at Tyler is participating in the Linking Institutional Policies to Student Success study that is designed to promote student retention and graduation rates, Dr. Donna Dickerson, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, announced.
The LIPSS project seeks to identify specific institution-wide policies that can be leveraged to increase college student engagement, which is a key predictor of student grades and persistence. This is especially beneficial to underrepresented and academically under-prepared students.
“University administrators have long struggled to implement institutional policies that foster student success in a way that is both cost effective and consistent with the latest research findings. The LIPSS project will assist us in doing so,” Dickerson said.
In collaboration with the National Survey of Student Engagement and the Center for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Innovation at Florida State University, LIPSS will survey chief academic officers and chief student affairs officers at 57 bachelor’s degree-granting colleges and universities in five state including California, Florida, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Texas.
The survey will address institutional policies and practices related to issues such as assessment, faculty/staff hiring practices, curricular offerings and student services.
Over the past 30 years, hundreds of specific initiatives have been designed to facilitate student engagement during their first year of college. This first year is a time during which four-year colleges and universities lose an average of 26 percent of their beginning students.
One of the 15 campuses of the UT System, UT Tyler offers excellence in teaching, research, artistic performance and community service. More than 80 undergraduate and graduate degrees are available at UT Tyler, which has an enrollment of almost 7,000 high-ability students at its campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine.