Nota Bene Fall 2016

Student Services

• With the help of numerous donors and the EWU Foundation, the VRC created six scholarships or endowments which are awarded to veterans or military service members. For the 2016-17 academic year, eight students who proudly served, or continue to serve their country, will be awarded $15,850 in scholarship support to help them continue their education at EWU. These students served in all branches of the service, several are still serving in the National Guard or Reserves, and several have families.  VRC staff continued to support new student recruiting events in the region such as the Veterans Resource Fair in Tacoma, the Fairchild Air Force Base Education Fair, and the Hiring our Heroes event at the Spokane Fair Grounds.  We expect over 500 students using VA educational benefits to be enrolled this fall quarter.
• Career Services has heard many exciting success stories from our recent graduates! Examples include graduates being hired at firms such as Itron, Thermaline, Inc., Paw Print Genetics, and Black and Veatch of Denver, CO. A number of students received competitive internships such as the Avista Student Program, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Puget Sound Energy and Trans-Systems. This fall, Google will bring 20 EWU Computer Science students to their Seattle campus for a tour. We are currently in the process of fall accounting recruiting with a record number of companies participating in on-campus interviews posting over 23 full time and internship opportunities. We will be hosting an all majors career fair in October in the University Recreation Center – the first time we have hosted such a large event on the Cheney campus.
• EWU Spokane Student Services launched a new website to help students better navigate the Spokane campus: https://staging-inside.ewu.edu/spokaneservices/. Since spring quarter 2016, campus tours have been offered on a weekly basis. Tours can be scheduled by appointment to allow more flexibility for visiting guests.  The year kicked off with orientation in August and Welcome Fest in September. Partnering with colleagues at WSU Spokane, we’ll join forces to provide increased wellness programming: social, financial, emotional, etc.
• Over 1,800 students are living on campus this year. Move-in Day was an exciting event (Sept. 16). We again heard from our families how much they appreciated the helpful staff, warm cookies, and assistance from the volunteer faculty/staff/students who are our “Movers and Shakers”.   This fall, we are engaging leadership in a planning activity to assess and plan for a 10 year Housing Master Plan.  After a successful pilot last year, the faculty mentoring program for 1^st gen students living on campus will be back.

Student Life

• Progress on the PUB renovation continues, including work with the Multicultural Center Exploration Team to scope the space and job description for the Director. In October, we will engage some consultants on the project. Updates about the PUB and the Multicultural Center are provided regularly on the EWU Initiatives Website.
• Attendance for incoming freshmen at firstSTEP sessions increased slightly (1% over last year), but parent and family numbers took a big jump (9%). Through eight orientation sessions, we welcomed 1,542 first-year students and 2,134 parents/family members. Our July pilot for a mid-summer transfer session welcomed 183 students; 233 registered for the Sept. transfer session. Students and family members will continue to “go digital” for Welcome Week 2016, using our Guidebook app to access a detailed calendar of events on their mobile devices, create a customized schedule, view the campus map for real time directions, access parking instructions, and more. EWU Convocation, our annual event welcoming new students into the Eagle community of scholars, was held Sept. 19 at 9:00 a.m. in Reese Court, followed by the always invigorating Pass Through the Pillars.
• CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) will implement a new service for students this fall called “TAO Connect,” offering a series of online modules and resources to address the treatment of mild to moderate anxiety and depression. Brief weekly appointments (or videoconferencing for distance-learning students) with a CAPS counselor rounds out the treatment intervention. This will be especially helpful for our students who are attending at our satellite campuses.
• HWPS (Health, Wellness and Prevention Services) launched the third year of “Think About It,” an online course for new students regarding healthy relationships, high-risk drinking, sexual assault prevention, and campus resources.  All new students, Greek students, student government leaders, and student-athletes receive notification that they are required to participate in this program.
• Due to an increase interest in women-only intramural sports offerings, women’s basketball and volleyball has been added to IM Sports for fall.
• Last year, Student Activities, Involvement and Leadership (SAIL) helped to create a new tradition in our EWU Senior Send Off. A bookend program to Pass through the Pillars, this capstone event for seniors allows students, faculty and staff to celebrate our graduates’ success and welcome them into the EWU alumni community, as students pass back through the pillars in recognition of their graduation from the university. More than 350 students, faculty, staff and alumni participated in this inaugural annual program.
• The start of AY2016-17 will feature an array of programs that reinforce our commitment to diversity and inclusion, leadership development, and the Eagle community: ASEWU, Eagle Entertainment, Eagle Sound Productions and members of the Greek councils had a two-week student leadership training in September, in which students engaged in goal setting, leadership workshops and developed cultural competencies.
• As a part of its mission to enhance the campus climate in terms of diversity and inclusion, for the university’s annual Coming Out Day on October 10 the Pride Center will host T.J. Jourian, a national transgender speaker. On Oct 25, the Center hosts a theatrical performance that highlights homelessness and other LGBTQ+ youth’s struggles, by the nationally-recognized Youth Empowerment Performance Project (YEPP).
• Our annual Homecoming and Parent/Family Weekend celebration kicks off October 7-9. It will feature campus traditions including the football game pep rally, bonfire and bed races, Fall Family Festival, and Family Sunday Brunch. The university community will be challenged to find various ways show their Eagle Spirit through a week-long series of fun and engaging activities. For more information, visit https://www.ewu.edu/hpfw

Enrollment Services

• As of the submission date for this update, we have approximately 1,700 new freshmen and 1,200 new transfers. A more precise number will be provided at the Board meeting.
• Admissions has been working this summer to help yield our freshmen and transfer class by reaching out to those students who have been admitted but have not enrolled for fall quarter. The summer also saw the Admissions team out in force at events: Unity in the Community in downtown Spokane, Multiple booths for summer camps on campus (free popsicles!), and the Summer Send-off in the Seattle area.  In addition to the regular recruiting calendar, the fall will be filled with exciting events such as Neighborhood Meetings throughout the State, Fall Information Nights throughout the State and Portland, OR, Eagle Previews on campus, Embrace Your Diversity Student Conference, Fall Open House, Fall Application Night, and High School Counselors Day.
• Our first recruiting trips began in early September. By the end of November, our Admissions Advisors will staff college fairs, visit high schools, and present to parents at evening panels in 15 different states, as well as six Latin American countries.
• Admissions is also in the final stages of a major upgrade to the application and our Constituent Relationship Management system (CRM). The new system combines the application with the communication CRM functionality that will greatly enhance our ability to enroll new students.
• In addition to the summer aid processing, academic year awarding, and fiscal year-end closing and reconciliations, the major summer projects for financial aid included the following: Enhancement of communication to students around the NetID process and the inclusion of the NetID on the missing information and award notices generated by the Financial Aid Office.  A new process, called “authorization of aid”, was implemented in August, in time for the fall quarter bills.  This process, delivered within the Banner system, allows students and parents to view the types and amounts of aid that are in place at the time of billing and provides them an idea of the out-of-pocket cost they will incur or refund they will receive for the fall term, thus allowing them more time to plan and arrange their finances.
• Records and Registration concentrated efforts on the 2016/2017 online catalog. The new version is live, and completely searchable. PDF versions are available that allow users to download the entire catalog, or only the portion(s) needed. Records also played a large part in the 25 Live Implementation – an upgrade to classroom scheduling system. The Registrar will be working closely with Student Services in Spokane to extend hours of operation, primarily on the weekend to further assist our Spokane campus students.