WSU President Dr. Edwards at First Flight event | Photo by Michael Krieger | The Wright State Guardian
After becoming president of the university, Sue Edwards named her three most immediate goals as recruitment, retention, and relationships.
Edwards has come to call these goals her “three Rs” and they will be her focus for the next 20 months. The three Rs are separate goals, but all intertwine with each other.
Relationships
“You know, there had been this sort of black cloud hanging over us,” said Edwards. “And I can only tell you from the communications I’ve had with members of the public, and your leaders in the area; There’s caution, but there’s optimism.”
With everything that the university has gone through in the past few years, there has been a lot of negative press surrounding the university. Edwards reiterated that relationships are critical in gaining back that trust from the community.
“You know it takes you 20 years to build up trust, and it takes you five minutes to destroy it,” said Edwards. “So, you know, it’s going to take us a little bit of time to rebuild that trust from the community in us but I think we are definitely taking steps to develop those relationships.”
Edwards has big goals for the university, but she is putting the top priority on the students, and the relationships that she has with them.
“I want us to be known as a university that people choose to come to as their first choice,” said Edwards. “And it’s all about developing those relationships with those students that come here”
Recruitment
“We have taken roughly about 23% drop in enrollment in the last two years,” said Edwards. “That’s problematic.”
Recruitment is an important aspect of the university, especially as a large source of revenue.
According to Edwards, there is a reluctance around campus to talk about WSU in a positive light. Edwards has a plan to address this as well.
“One of the things that I have focused on right from the get go is changing the narrative, taking control of the narrative and talking about the great academic successes that are here on campus,” said Edwards.
As president, Edwards wants to put a large focus of her time on making sure that the community is aware of the high quality education that WSU students get.
Additionally, recruitment has direct ties to relationships and retention as well.
“If I rebuild relationships with the community, the downstream effect is increased tuition and increased recruitment, which causes an increase in tuition, so that we can do more things,” said Edwards.
Retention
“But once I bring students in the door, I can’t just let them be, because we know that we lose 40% of our students from freshman to sophomore year,” said Edwards.
In regards to keeping students at Wright State once they are here, Edwards is making sure that the university is supporting students and providing services and engagement opportunities.
“If I can create internship opportunities or Co Op opportunities or mentorship opportunities from the relationships I’m building out here, that feeds into the retention,” said Edwards. “So you see how it’s all intertwined and you can’t talk about one exclusively from the other.”
Part of the retention process includes offering students the support, engagement and opportunities that they cannot find anywhere else. It also includes talking about these opportunities so students are aware and can take part in them and be successful.
Students involved in recruitment
According to Edwards, one of the best ways for students to help is for them to tell their stories.
“One of the things that we’re looking at is taking students back to their high schools they came from to talk about their experiences here at Wright State,” said Edwards.
Students telling about their experience helps other students see their future at Wright State.
Students should also consider signing up for peer mentorship programs around campus.
“One of the reasons students leave is because they don’t feel community, and they don’t feel that support” said Edwards. “And if we can create a peer to peer mentoring system, you know, seniors mentor juniors, whatever it looks like, Then it’s an instant community.”
With so many commuter students, so many people come to campus, take their classes and then leave. It is hard to create a community and get people involved.
Edwards wants to break down barriers for commuting students, introverted students, or maybe even students whose english is their second language so everyone feels a sense of community on campus.
“We have mentorship programs across campus, but there is a reluctance from students to actually sign up for them,” said Edwards.
The number one thing that students can do to help is sign up for mentorship programs, get involved with the community, and take steps toward making students feel welcome.
“My job is just not to let anybody down and that includes my students,” said Edwards. “We will be working very hard and very diligently to ensure that the Wright State of the future is one that people are proud to be associated with.”
Edwards mentioned that she made a promise with the new “Because I said I would” movement on campus. Her promise card reads: “I will not let anyone down.”
“That’s a big order to fill, but we’re committed,” said Edwards. “You all [students] are the reason I get up in the morning.”
