Recap of University Senate's Sept. 8 meeting

Here is a recap of the University Senate's meeting held Sept. 8.

Impending initiative to increase the number of transfer students

During his remarks to the Senate, President Mitch Daniels announced that the University soon will roll out an initiative designed to increase the number of transfer students at Purdue. This year, Purdue expects to receive about 800 transfer students, down from 1,336 in fall 2009. Institutions in the Big Ten average 1,420 transfer students, Daniels said.

Daniels said the impending initiative, which Provost Deba Dutta designed, requires collaboration on the part of faculty, the University Senate, the Office of Admissions, and college deans and department heads. The initiative's goals are increasing annual transfer enrollment to 1,250 by 2016, removing transfer and credit barriers, and enhancing transfer students' academic success.

More information will be coming soon from the Office of the Provost, Daniels said.

The president's full presentation to the Senate is available here.

Senate chair's discussion topics

During her remarks, Senate chair Patricia Hart laid out topics that she would like to see the Senate discuss this academic year.

The topics included focusing the University's environment on family-friendliness; improving Purdue's partner-hire practices; and providing more English language support to international students. More information about Hart's hopes for this academic year can be found in this archived Purdue Today article. Hart's full presentation is available here.

Hart also urged the faculty to be active in examining the data from the Purdue-Gallup Index and in deciding how the data should be used to improve the Purdue experience.  She encouraged the administration to begin a public discussion of where the 100 new faculty lines in Engineering will come from, saying that faculty want to know how decisions will be made so that they can plan the best strategies for their units.

An update from the Purdue Student Government's Senate

Caroline McKinney, vice president of Purdue Student Government and president of the Student Senate, updated senators on the Student Senate's goals for this academic year.

The goals included receiving more input from student constituents to ensure that the Student Senate is representing the student body as comprehensively as possible.

Other goals were revamping the elections rules for student government elections, sending out a survey to determine what issues are most important to students, and working more closely with the West Lafayette City Council to ensure that students' voice are heard in that arena. McKinney also said the Student Senate will pursue placing a nonvoting member on the council to provide a student-centered perspective of city affairs.

McKinney said the Student Senate is also exploring ways to work with organizations within the Big Ten and state government.

Presentation about the transformation of Boiler Gold Rush

Jared Tippets, director of Student Success at Purdue, and Dan Carpenter, senior associate director of Student Success at Purdue, spoke about the recent improvements made to the Boiler Gold Rush student orientation program.

The improvements involved an entire restructuring of the program, including the addition of a Family and Parent Program, a new student induction ceremony, and a new event called "We Are Purdue!" The event celebrated the campus' multifaceted culture, Carpenter said.

More information about the transformation of BGR can be found in this news release and in the presentation.

Presentation about making textbooks more affordable

Frank Dooley, interim vice provost for undergraduate academic affairs, gave a presentation about the recent partnership Purdue entered with Amazon to make textbooks more affordable for students.

Benefits to students include overall cost savings; the ability to choose a digital or print format of new, used or rental books; higher buyback rates; and the convenience of online ordering and delivery, Dooley said. The ability to choose a format is also among the benefits for faculty.

More information can be found in this news release and in Dooley's presentation.

Writer: Amanda Hamon Kunz, 49-61325, ahamon@purdue.edu