Junn announces $1M award to raise Stanislaus State grad rates

President Ellen Junn took her Convocation speaking time to introduce herself to the Turlock campus, present a daunting goal and announce a $1 million award to help make it happen.

Tuesday’s annual California State University, Stanislaus, fall kick-off had a new name and a new headliner this year. Junn took the reins from retiring President Joe Sheley on July 1. The Convocation was one of the first stamps of the new leader. A Freshman Convocation, a welcome to campus and cohort, was held Aug. 22.

The ceremony for freshmen, Junn said, is to get them connected to the campus and planning for graduation, a theme she returned to several times through the speech. The goal, set by the CSU system, is to more than triple Stanislaus State’s on-time graduation rate.

Statistically, only 12 percent of this year’s 900 entering freshmen will march the stage in spring 2020. By 2025, the goal is to have 37 percent holding degrees in four years, with the same success for low-income and minority students.

“Our campus is so important because we are the transformational agent for our students in our region,” she said. To help move the graduation needle, the state is awarding the campus $1 million in one-time funding, she learned Monday, Junn said.

She has a number of ideas for new programs on the table to help students through, but said nothing will be decided until the campus community weighs in. Collaborations she has planned include regular meetings with the Academic Senate executive committee and the campus unions, joint symposia on a variety of topics and a President Transition Team charged with holding what she called a fall listening tour.

Junn’s list of five top priorities puts student success at the top, with supporting faculty a close second. The two go hand in hand, she explained. The Turlock university has the second-highest ratio of tenured faculty to part-time lecturers in the CSU system, she noted.

Campus infrastructure needs to work smoothly and community ties create an ecosystem for campus life, she said. Her fifth priority: Have a little fun.

A 31-year veteran of the CSU system, Junn brings a diverse background of training and practicality to the task of raising graduation rates. Students need to think “15 to finish,” she said, meaning taking 15 units each semester will get them through.

Having academic advising available is part of the answer, she said after the event. But getting into all the right courses in the right semester still can be a challenge. Technology she hopes to bring on board by next fall can link student course plans to staffing needs and budget allocations, easing the crunch for tight classes.

Junn said she sees opportunities in cross-field majors. “All the cutting-edge discoveries in recent years have happened in the juncture between disciplines,” she said. One new major Sheley put in motion will cover food safety – combining agriculture, biology and business training to help farmers, restaurants and others.

The needs of the regional employers, especially where business offers internship possibilities and financial support, will figure in future plans, she said – all part of helping the area thrive.

“This is just the beginning of something big,” Junn said.

This story was originally published August 30, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Junn announces $1M award to raise Stanislaus State grad rates."