As part of Ball State's goal to focus on current sophomore students as they transition to junior year, the university created the first Sophomore Engagement Initiative.
Ball State received a grant to create the initiative, attempting to improve graduation rates across the state.
The university hosted its first Sophomore Resource Fair Tuesday, as part of the initiative. At the event, 17 academic units and 11 student support services offices were present to discuss their resources and opportunities. The university will monitor the impact of the initiative for the three years it is in place.
Gloria Pavlik, the Retention and Graduation Specialist, said Indiana and Ball State have graduation rates above the national level. She said she hopes to maintain this with a successful initiative.
In 2011 the retention rate of Ball State students from second to third year was 69.84 percent. It increased the following year to 71.12 percent for 2012, Pavlik said.
The current sophomore class is up three percent from fall to spring as compared to last year's group of students.
“I would say Ball State has seen significant improvement ever since we launched this key career program,” said assistant director of Student Affairs and career coach Craig Wilkinson.
Wilkinson said the lower retention rate between sophomore and junior year is due to students still being in their exploratory phase. Students may not be interested in their chosen path anymore or find significant challenges through their coursework. They may also lack motivation.
For several sophomore students, they cannot return for their junior year due to academic purposes. In order to prevent that, academic units and advisers try to help students who are on probation, Pavlik said.
“We don’t want the experience to be as structured as their first year,” Wilkinson said. “We are hoping to break them away from the structure and become more self-driven.”
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