Baldwin-Wallace College Receives Prestigious CENTSS Award for Student Care and Support

Nov. 8, 2010 - PRLog -- FAIRFAX, Va. –  The Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) has presented Baldwin-Wallace College (Berea, Ohio) with its Innovation Award in the Academic Services Suite category for the College’s best-practice use of Datatel Colleague Student Retention Alert™.  Baldwin-Wallace used Datatel Retention Alert to create an alert system called “Because We Care” to quickly identify students at risk and intervene appropriately to ensure their academic success.

Datatel Retention Alert gathers disparate information about any one student from across the campus into a single repository to create a holistic view of that student. Using data and input from faculty and staff, Datatel Retention Alert watches for irregularities and patterns that might indicate that a student is having difficulty, and then automatically notifies the correct office for possible action.

Baldwin-Wallace allows faculty and staff to enter concerns about a student into the “Because We Care” system, which then is triaged in the Student Affairs Office for case assignment to the appropriate support personnel. At the same time, emails are sent to the student and his/her advisor notifying them about those concerns, which might include such issues as low midterm grades, non-registration for the coming semester, no FAFSA filed, and unpaid balances of more than $1,000. The case is recorded and maintained in Datatel Retention Alert and can be viewed by appropriate stakeholders.      

“Prior to Datatel Retention Alert, we might have had a file in the Academic Affairs Office about a student’s failing grades, another file about the same student in the Student Conduct Office concerning behavior problems in the dorm, and another file in the Bursar’s Office about unpaid tuition,” said Janet Stocks, associate academic dean at Baldwin-Wallace College. “But because each office was unaware of the others’ information, a complete picture of the student was not available to help me design the appropriate intervention. Datatel Retention Alert solved this challenge by gathering all of these pieces of information into one place to allow a community response to the student at risk.

“For example, the College had put a new midterm grade warning policy in place, but I had no way of knowing whether students actually were seeing their midterm warnings, even though we told them they were available using their Web portal. And we had no way of knowing whether advisors were following up with students or suggesting appropriate actions. With Datatel Retention Alert, I am now much more confident that the information is being seen and correctly acted upon.”

“Because We Care,” built on Datatel Retention Alert, helped Baldwin-Wallace to increase its first-to-second-year retention rate from 82 to 85 percent one year ahead of schedule. We also are encouraging other offices on campus to come to us with their creative ideas and are evaluating whether using Retention Alert is appropriate for them,” said Stocks. “And now we’re looking at other ways to increase our four-year graduation rate, so we’re really just getting started.”

“It’s no secret that the cost for colleges and universities to recruit students is much higher than it is to retain them,” said John Speer, Datatel’s president and CEO. “By using Datatel Retention Alert, Baldwin-Wallace has taken the proactive steps to ensure their students’ success and their institutional effectiveness. We congratulate Baldwin-Wallace College on this well-earned honor and are very proud to be associated with such a progressive institution.”

About Datatel, Inc.
Datatel is a provider of innovative technology products, services, and insight to higher education.      
Colleges, universities, and technical schools across North America partner with Datatel to build Strategic Academic Enterprises dedicated to achieving student success. The company has focused on higher education since 1979. For more information, visit www.datatel.com.

About CENTSS
The Center for Transforming Student Services (CENTSS) provides educational institutions with the tools and training they need to develop and deliver high-quality student services online. Effectively implemented student services are a critical component of student retention, engagement, and satisfaction. Through CENTSS, institutions are able to blend the power of technology with the personal attention of traditional support services. For more information, visit www.centss.org.

©2010 Datatel, Inc. All rights reserved. Datatel and Datatel Colleague Retention Alert are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Datatel, Inc. All other names, products, and services mentioned are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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Datatel is a provider of innovative technology products, services, and insight to higher education. Colleges and universities across North America partner with Datatel to build Strategic Academic Enterprises dedicated to achieving student success.