Kansas State University

K-State Summer School requests proposals for new program offerings for summer 2020

Submitted by Grant Guggisberg

K-State Summer School requests proposals for the development and scheduling of new and innovative programs for summer 2020 with a focus of helping students "finish in four" years — or five for some programs — and to add value to students' degrees.

K-State Summer School will also provide assistance for programs that encourage new students to come to campus during the summer in a supportive, engaging environment prior to their first fall semester. Programs may be designed to assist incoming freshmen or transfer students who want to get a jump-start on their college degrees or improve their transitional success.

Faculty, departments, colleges or other units that offer academic programs may submit proposals. The goal of this request is to provide incentives for faculty and departments to take advantage of the opportunity to develop new programs over and above their existing K-State Summer School offerings.

Two program concepts that colleges and departments are encouraged to consider developing are based on successful models at K-State.

• Creating a bridge program similar to the K-State First CAT Community designed for first-year students who will be entering as freshmen (less than 30 credit hours of previous coursework).
• Offering a "Jump Start" to transfer students with a focus on improving student retention and graduation. These students will have completed more than 30 credit hours that have been or will be accepted for transfer toward their planned degree at K-State. The College of Business Administration successfully implemented a transfer-onboarding program called "Jump Start" in 2017.

The department head and dean must approve all proposals prior to submission.

The priority submission deadline is Feb. 15 for programs to be offered in summer 2020. Departments will be notified of funded programs by mid-March.

Proposals should be submitted electronically using the online form. The completed and signed cover letter is to be attached at the bottom of the form.

Criteria to evaluate the proposed programs include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Designed with a purpose of student retention and degree completion.
• Designed to attract new students to K-State.
• Integration of the program into the traditional curriculum (helping students move past bottlenecks in their progress toward degree completion in an accelerated summer format).
• Anticipated number of participating students.
• Anticipated impact of the proposal to meet strategic enrollment efforts of the department, college and university.
• Impact, if any, on interdisciplinary or collaborative programs across departments or colleges.

Summer School will provide marketing and logistical assistance in the implementation of the new programs. Applications must also include a document which addresses:

• Program objectives.
• Relationship of project to program, college or university strategic goals.
• Anticipated impact on enrollment and/or retention.
• Benchmarks for measuring success of the program.
• Market potential of the program (a general sense of the scope of program benefit/interest).
• Enrollment caps (if any) and frequency of offering the program.
• Plan for sustainability.
• Approval signatures: department head, dean, principal investigator(s).

For more information, please contact Jo Maseberg-Tomlinson, summer school coordinator, at 785-532-2570 or jam4545@k-state.edu.