Length: 26:41

Description:
"I want people to know the facts," says Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard about SIUC's enrollment problem. "I want them to own the problem because until we say, 'we've got a problem', you can’t solve it. And we're going to solve it." Poshard convened a campus-wide summit earlier this month to address the enrollment issue and is the featured guest in this program-length WSIU InFocus interview. "We got some great news lately that our new freshmen are up measurably, as well as our transfer students," Poshard tells WSIU producer Jak Tichenor. "I think this is the result of a lot of hard work by our people, but we've got some classes that are still in the pipeline that are way down on the retention end." Poshard says the economic impacts of the problem echo far from the campus boundaries. "For every 100 students we lose, it costs us over one million dollars to the University alone. That buying and spending power could have doubled or tripled in the local economy, so we can't afford to lose 500 kids over five years like we've been doing. We've got to turn this thing around." In addition to discussing new recruitment and retention strategies, Poshard shares how the University's new marketing and image campaigns will help to raise awareness about the SIU brand. He also emphasized the importance of reaching out to area community colleges, labor unions, and businesses to help create new opportunities to increase enrollment and improve the regional economy. Poshard is also calling upon area leaders and residents to do their part to help SIU stay strong. "I'm asking people to see the total impact of this University to southern Illinois – service-wise, economically, and culturally - and find a way to say, 'hey, let's find a way to get behind this University and support it because we are all inextricably linked together here with SIU."

Host: Jak Tichenor
Guest(s): Glenn Poshard
Topic keywords: enrollment, retention, plan for the future
Link To video segment:
http://www3.wsiu.org/television/infocusarchive/detailinfo.php?record=1 Episode: 228