on November 19
th
, the eastern Campus hosted its annual Multicultural anksgiving
Celebration, compliments of the office of Campus Activities and Student Leadership
Development and featuring food prepared by staff, as well as food contributed by
eight area restaurants. i joined campus administrators to serve over 600 students a free
hot lunch, in advance of the upcoming anksgiving holiday.
Scholarship News
To honor and acknowledge the 2015 recipients of Stay on Long island initiative
(SoLii) scholarships, the College hosted a special luncheon in May. i was deeply
touched when each scholar presented me with a personalized thank you note sharing
how much the receipt of the scholarship would impact upon their life and their
individual academic journey. i launched the Stay on Long island Scholarship initiative
during my inauguration in 2010, as a way to ensure that Suffolk’s most talented
graduating students would be able to remain on Long island to complete their
education at one of the fifteen partnering colleges or universities that are located close
to home. Since its inception, the program has awarded 147 scholarships, totaling over
$3.7 million to Suffolk’s best and brightest.
e deadline for new student scholarship submissions was March 13
th
. anks to a
new communications strategy that included email blasts to the high school guidance
community, the College received its highest number of new student scholarship
applications in its history.
is year, the College purchased a new scholarship management software program.
By next year, we hope to have completed the implementation of the software. All
pertinent information for every scholarship currently offered by the College’s
foundation has been entered into the software database known as Academicworks.
e committee is ahead of schedule for implementation and the software will be
accessible through the College’s website starting this September.
Twenty-nine new top-ranked students have been selected as 2015 Get ere from
Here Scholars. Based upon their applications and interviews, these students are
outstanding and i am confident they will make many meaningful contributions to the
College. ey join the 27 continuing scholars whose tuition and fees are fully covered
through this award.
Enhanced Institutional Image
is spring, as part of its planning and assessment activities, the office of institutional
Advancement launched an opinion survey to measure the awareness and impact the
College’s marketing and communications have upon the general public, as
well as among targeted populations (i.e., guidance counselors, high school
administrators, high school students, and parents of high school students).
e opinion survey generated close to 450 responses and, with assistance
from the office of Planning and institutional effectiveness, a report was
created that summarizes the overwhelmingly positive findings. e survey
findings include that over 90% of all respondents rated as “effective” or
“very effective” how the College is:
• Communicating the quality of Suffolk’s programs
• Meeting the educational needs of Long islanders
• Providing information about the quality of classes and services
in addition, almost 60% of respondents said that their opinion of Suffolk
County Community College has “…changed for the positive” over the
past few years. of note, 91% indicated that they were familiar with Suffolk’s Tv
2014-2015 Review of Accomplishments
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