Monday, November 13, 2006
40-2

An Academic Enhancement Program to Increase College Student Retention.

John Kelly, University of Arkansas, 2723 N. Valencia Street, Fayetteville, AR 72703-3321, Rebecca Newgent, Univ of Arkansas, Educational Leadership, Counseling and Foundations, 137 Graduate Education Bldg, Fayetteville, AR 72701, and Donna Graham, Univ of Arkansas, College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, AFLS Bldg, Fayetteville, AR 72701.

The Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences has developed an Academic Enhancement Program (AEP) which takes a more developmental approach in assisting students who are experiencing academic issues. The program enhances student growth by providing information and an orientation that views students through a human development framework. The AEP employs developmental counseling, which is both goal-centered and student-ownership based and it focuses on the whole person by working with the student at that student’s life stage of development. With this approach, the counseling process is about guiding—not directing the students toward which personal goals to set and how to achieve them. The target population for the AEP is primarily those students who have been placed on academic warning by the registrar’s office or are referred by concerned faculty members within the college. A student’s presenting problem is typically academic in nature, yet often it reveals itself to be a personal issue affecting academic success. One of the goals of the AEP is to encompass more than traditional academic issues; it also includes addressing students’ personal concerns and their adjustment and integration into campus life. The AEP provides academic and social support and personal counseling that affirm the cultural, linguistic, and social backgrounds of minority students. The program provides an environment where students are acknowledged and respected and that enhances gender and racial diversity which allows particular groups of students to feel comfortable and supported within the classrooms and college. All students are administered to with a sincere belief that they are capable of learning and can become self-directed learners.