Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Message from the President

Dear Faculty and Staff,

I am so grateful for the many programs that we have at UNO that are aimed at supporting our undergraduates, particularly as they navigate to and through the second year of college. Our most recent first-year retention rate is 70.2%, which is undoubtedly due in part to the hard work of many faculty and staff associated with these programs. However, this also means that nearly one-third of the students we enroll as freshmen do not persist to the sophomore year. That is a problem that we must collectively address. 

I am very excited to share that we will begin working this spring with the Gardner Institute – a nonprofit organization with a long history of partnering with colleges and universities to improve equitable outcomes associated with teaching and learning, as well as undergraduate retention and completion. We will join the second group of colleges and universities that will work together as a community of practice to improve student retention and success throughout the first two years of college.

This initiative, called Transforming the Foundational Postsecondary Experience, was the focus of an Inside Higher Ed article last fall. I am thrilled that we will invest in a 5-year process to understand, refine and enhance the systems, structures and programs that support undergraduate students at UNO. We also plan to use this work as the basis for our SACSCOC Quality Enhancement Plan and as one of several tactics for improving undergraduate student enrollment and retention. 

I am fond of saying that every single faculty and staff member has a role to play in terms of teaching, supporting or mentoring our students. Thank you for the work that you already do, and thank you in advance for your participation in this new partnership that will help all of our students to thrive.

UNO Proud,

Kathy Johnson, Ph.D.
President
The University of New Orleans