Truman professor documents life with camera page 7
Truman plans campus improvements for summer, page 5 Truman welcomes first film festival on campus, page 9 Women’s basketball starts season strong, page 14
Truman State University tmn.truman.edu THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2018
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SEM Works reveals audit findings to Truman After spending $154,000 on a strategic enrollment management group, Truman State University will be moving forward and focusing on four problem areas that might be affecting enrollment. The University hosted a meeting Nov. 8 where SEM Works President and CEO Jim Black and enrollment
consultant Kathi Baucom presented their preliminary findings. After spending a few days on campus and meeting with various focus groups, department heads and faculty members, Black and Baucom proposed three possible scenarios to improve the University’s enrollment. The scenarios included conservative, moderate and aspirational models, all of which looked at different growth plans over the next five years.
The Executive Leadership Team, which consists of the vice presidents and chief information officer at Truman, along with academic deans and other University leaders made the decision to pursue the moderate goal, which assumes master’s enrollment will increase by five students per year, retention rates will increase by 1 percent annually and freshman enrollment will increase by 25 students each year for the next five years. See ENROLLMENT page 6
Executive Leadership Team Vote Results
Prioritization of Strategic Opportunities
BRENTLY SNEAD Editor-in-Chief
Raising awareness and Institutional Positioning
24%
Focus on Retention Website Enhancements
18% 16%
Diversify the Enrollment Portfolio
16%
0
5
10 15 % of Voters
20
UCS LIMITATIONS TO Dialogues planning SERVICES CHANGED moves forward RACHEL BECKER Staff Writer
University Counseling Services has introduced an updated Scope of Services policy. The change came after negative student response to the previous Limitations to Services policy. Photo illustration by Daniel Degenhardt
UCS policy post incites heavy student backlash BRENTLY SNEAD AND RYAN PIVONEY Editor-in-Chief and News Editor The University Counseling Services replaced their Limitations to Services guidelines with a Scope of Services policy after student response online. On Tuesday, Oct. 30, UCS created a Facebook post to share updates it had made to the Limitations to Services policy. The post was shared nearly 100 times across social media and spurred current and former students to share their opinions about UCS as well as Truman State University. One such response was a blog post from former student Lawrence Hu that received close to 3,000 shares and more than 14,000 views. The post included his letter to Truman as well as anecdotes from his personal experience on campus. (Excerpts from the post available on page 4.)
University President Sue Thomas said while she feels the blog post is significant, it is important individuals not draw conclusions based off of one person. “I would hope that no student would have the perceived experience that that student did,” Thomas said. “I won’t deny his perceived experience; that’s what he felt like he experienced on this campus, that’s what he believes he felt like. I don’t know that one student’s experience would be generalized to the University as a whole because I would not generalize any one student’s experience to the University as a whole. And so, his experience and his perception of his experience are his. I respect and accept that.” Janna Stoskopf, vice president for student affairs, wrote in a statement to The Index that she feels the mission of the University is to help people and she never wants a student to suffer.
“I feel badly that the author did not have a better experience during his time here,” Stoskopf wrote. “It is always my hope that students who choose to attend Truman would find it to be a supportive environment that provides students the intellectual challenges necessary to learn and grow. As a liberal arts institution, our mission is to help people engage in critical thinking and exercise their intellectual curiosity. I really appreciate those who have come forward to ask questions and gather factual information about what the university is doing to address student mental health. This can be an emotionally charged and sensitive topic, which makes it even more crucial for members of our community to have accurate information. We continue working to identify ways we can be more transparent about the JED strategic plan.” See UCS page 3
The motion to postpone the implementation of The Dialogues was voted down and they are still set to start in fall 2019. Undergraduate Council Chair Justin Jarvis brought forward a motion to postpone the implementation in early November. Jarvis said he brought the motion forward because he wanted to make sure no council members felt overburdened. “The purpose of the proposal is to gauge support for our current progress,” Jarvis said. “The implementation of this core curriculum, The Dialogues, is an extremely huge amount of paperwork and just work in general. We are meeting multiple times a week, many hours at a time.” Jarvis said it is absolutely possible to implement The Dialogues in fall 2019 and was pleased with the support that UGC showed to the original timeline by overwhelmingly voting the proposal down. “I am happy to see that the large amount of support demonstrated at the beginning of the process has not waned,” he said. “If anything, it looks like faculty are even more committed to The Dialogues now than when we first started this process.” Symposium committee member Kathryn Brammall said The Dialogues are something completely new to Truman State University. Both the UGC and the Faculty Senate expressed disapproval for postponing The Dialogues. Meanwhile, Student Senate is pushing for a later start date. “There is some concern from Student Government,” Brammall said. “They say they want this to be an excellent experience, and the faculty agrees with it. They are a little concerned that we are still putting it together, and it won’t be that. It won’t be like the symposium, a complete experiment.” See CURRICULUM page 6
Changes come to Study Abroad and Chinese program DANA BARTCH Digital Director
The Center for International Students and the Study Abroad Office are under new management this semester, and an assistant professor of Chinese is making alterations to the Chinese study abroad program. Tim Urbonya, executive director of international education, started at Truman State University in early August. This position is new to Truman, although the Study Abroad Office and the Center for International Students have utilized people in similar roles in the past. As executive director, Urbonya oversees both the Study Abroad Office and the Center for International Students. The Center for International Students has an assistant director along with two assistant coordinators, and the Study Abroad Office has study abroad advisers. Additionally, each office has a staff of student workers.
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Urbonya said he and his team have been working to hire study abroad advisers for the Study Abroad Office because previous staff members have moved on to other positions or retired. “Especially within this transition, we had to rely on our students [on staff] to help advise our students wanting to study abroad at a level we don’t typically have them do, and they came through really well,” Urbonya said. “The thing I’ve been most impressed with being here my first three months is just to be with the students and have a chance to watch them grow and to see just how capable they are.” Alcidean Arias, a former Center for International Education Abroad employee, retired at the end of October, and she will be coming out of retirement and returning to the office to help with the transition over the course of the next few months. See STUDY ABROAD page 6
The Center for International Students and the Study Abroad Office became under the supervision of Tim Urbonya this fall. The Study Abroad Office is located on the first floor of Baldwin Hall. Photo by Daniel Degenhardt