Service obligations are always a slippery slope. The administration would like you (us) to do more and faculty would (generally in my experience) like to do less. I think that is a generally tension that can be handled (better or worse) by asking for volunteers, spreading the work across departments and faculty within the departments, giving some of it to the chair (e.g., answering questions about the program, meeting with students), and paying people (our faculty who advice students over the summer are faculty who are paid and who volunteered).
I think the anonymous poster was asking whether there was something fundamentally wrong or different about this type of service (as opposed to all the millions of others small and big service activities faculty do). Marie **************************************************** Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS), +45 2065 1360 Dickinson College (on leave 2010/2011) http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html **************************************************** From: FLINT, ROBERT [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011 11:16 To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Anonymous Post It is a slippery slope! We have been asked/required to participate in an increasingly growing number of such events over the years. While I agree that some recruitment-/conversion-/retention-related activity is ok, we are now asked to cover approximately 7 3-hr accepted student/transfer advising days over the summer during which we are not under contract, plus another 6 or so prospective student and early acceptance events during the normal fall/spring academic year. Rob Flint ------------------------------------- Robert W. Flint, Jr., Ph.D. Professor of Psychology The College of Saint Rose Albany, NY 12203-1490 518-458-5379 [email protected] From: Helweg-Larsen, Marie [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011 4:04 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Anonymous Post I don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong with having faculty help with recruitment. Faculty already help with recruitment in other ways (at least I do) such as by hosting prospective students in their classes, meeting with them, answering questions from them about the psychology program, etc. I've also given talks to visiting families (with my students about faculty-student research). A lot of colleges "sell" close faculty-student contact as one of their primary assets so getting a call or an email from a faculty member congratulating them on getting accepted is a way to reinforce that. It is also (I suspect) more meaningful to correspond with a specific faculty member instead of a staff person in admissions (at least about psychology related issues). Does it actually help? - I have no idea. I think the admissions people figure that personal contact is likely to make students feel welcome. Of course it should be voluntary (at a place I used to work, one faculty member said that she was pretty sure that her call discouraged students from attending because she was so awkward on the phone). Marie **************************************************** Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS), +45 2065 1360 Dickinson College (on leave 2010/2011) http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html **************************************************** From: Annette Taylor [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 22:24 To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Anonymous Post Oh, it was not my post! But that's OK. It is someone else on tips who wanted to remain anonymous. I just want to clarify that this is NOT happening at my institution. Just for the record! I didn't realize that if I left off my sig line that it would still be linked to me, LOL. I posted this as a courtesy to another tipster. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> ________________________________ From: don allen [[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 12:26 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Anonymous Post Hi Annette- I don't know whether there are data which show that these types of faculty contacts boost (or hinder) recruitment. That said, I always resisted management's attempts to get faculty to "market" their "product". I have no training in sales and marketing and I don't think that it should be part of the job description (unless, of course, you are teaching sales & marketing). I think that efforts like these reflect two things: A panic mentality in administrators and a desire for free labour. If management really thinks that this is a productive way to increase enrollment then they should hire professionals to do the job. -Don. ----- Original Message ----- From: Annette Taylor <[email protected]> Date: Sunday, March 20, 2011 12:09 pm Subject: [tips] Anonymous Post To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > Anonymous post > Our institution is experiencing a decline in enrollment and as a > way to reverse this trend the administration is asking faculty > members to call prospective students. They provide the faculty > with a short friendly script, which in no way directly > encourages the student to enroll. It simply asks the student > whether s/he has questions and to feel free to contact the > faculty member or institution if questions about the school or > program arise. > Some faculty members endorse the effort while others see it as a > ill-conceived strategy that might not only be counterproductive, > but that also demeans the profession. > What are your thoughts on this type of strategy? Is there > evidence that phone calls by faculty members to prospective > students increase the number of applicants who end up enrolling > in an institution? > Any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated. > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13157.966b795bc7f3ccb35e3da08aebe98f18&n=T&l=tips&o=9508or > send a blank email to > leave-9508-13157.966b795bc7f3ccb35e3da08aebe98...@fsulist.frostburg.edu Don Allen Retired professor Langara College --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. 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