Ithaca College leadership presented updates on academic affairs, finances, enrollment strategies and marketing and communications during the State of the College gathering Oct. 26. About 300 people — mostly staff and faculty — filed into Emerson Suites during the noon hour. 

President’s welcome

After a centering exercise, President La Jerne Cornish led a moment of silence for those in Lewiston, Maine, suffering in the wake of a mass shooting. Authorities have reported the perpetrator killed 18 people and wounded 13. As of Oct. 27, law enforcement is still searching for the man responsible. 

Cornish then reminded everyone to complete the Campus Climate Survey, which will aid in identifying strengths and opportunities for improvement at the college. The survey will close Nov. 14.

Academic Affairs

Melanie Stein, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, said that in Spring 2023, a group of faculty and administrators led discussions about shared governance on campus and created a shared governance values statement and grid of roles and responsibilities. The college hosted three listening sessions to hear feedback and promote transparency. The iterations of the value statement and the full grid are now on the college’s website.

The listening sessions also informed how the college can better support collaboration, interdisciplinarity and curricular flexibility. From those sessions, Stein said five major themes appeared: making the college more distinctive by promoting interdisciplinary work, highlighting community engagement, fostering connections and community, creating institutional time and space for experiential learning and facilitating interdisciplinary exploration specifically through certificate programs.

“These conversations really served as the beginning of what I like to think of as a bridge from our last strategic plan to our next one,” Stein said. “Our last one was a five-year plan and in various ways, it was both interrupted and a bit delayed by the pandemic.”

Stein said that as the college embarks on the three-year-long reaccreditation process with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the campus community can assess progress and begin to shape future goals and initiatives. Every eight years, the college is required to submit a Self-Study Report and the MSCHE board of examiners visits campus.

The Steering Committee for the reaccreditation process is comprised of the Middles States Self Study and Executive Team as well as three ex-officio members and seven working groups. The Middles States Self Study and Executive Team is made up of co-chairs Te-Wen Lo, associate professor in the Department of Biology, and John Fracchia, career engagement and technology specialist in the Center for Career Exploration and Development. 

“We’ve been through a lot and we’ve achieved a lot in the service of our students over the last several years,” Fracchia said. “It’s also an opportunity to take an honest look at what challenges us … and how might we want to grow and iterate as an institution.”

Finance and Administration

Tim Downs, chief financial officer and vice president for finance and administration, gave updates on several areas of the college’s finances but said more in-depth explanations will be given at the next Dollars and Sense presentation Nov. 8. 

The Ithaca College Board of Trustees approved the increase of tuition, room and board costs earlier in October. Downs said the college looks at comparators — schools that are similar to Ithaca College — to see how the college compares on factors like enrollment, retention and cost of attendance. Downs said Ithaca College’s enrollment dropped 23.8% over the last six years, whereas its comparators’ enrollment dropped 1.9% over the same period. 

Downs said the college’s competitors are schools that students are choosing to go to when they apply but do not enroll at Ithaca College. He said many students are choosing to go to the competitor schools because the cost of attendance is much less. Five of the competitors are New York state schools with tuition under $10,000. Tuition for Fall 2024 enrollment at Ithaca College is set at $53,540, room is $9,250 and board is $6,940.

“That’s where our value and our stories are so important here at Ithaca College and why it’s worth the tuition to come here,” Downs said. “The first thing that got approved [by trustees] is a four-year cap and I think this is a differentiator for us because we tell families, ‘We will not raise your cost of education more than a set amount.’”

Downs said the total cost of attendance for incoming students in Fall 2024 has increased from the past year by 4.79%. He said the college has increased the cost of attendance less than any other competitor schools in the past six years. 

Enrollment strategies 

Shana Gore, interim associate vice president for enrollment and student success, said the original goal for Fall 2023 was to have between 1,380 and 1,420 new students. The census reports there were 1,280 new students. She said that in May, the college reset the enrollment target to 4,239 full-time undergraduate students and reset budget projections to match the new target. The census reports 4,279 full-time undergraduate students. Gore said the college is keeping its goal of 1,380 to 1,420 new students in Fall 2024.

Gore briefed the audience on major retention efforts that have been in motion since May. The Center for Student Success and Retention hired new staff, helped implement the pre-registration process, relocated CSSR to 106 Muller Faculty Center, launched the Academic Concerns 2.0 system, used the fall check-in survey to connect with students who gave low ratings, assigned first-year students at risk of leaving to a success coach, used Power BI to give analytics to staff and faculty, improved inter-office communication through Slate Interactions, and launched the new leave of absence and withdrawal process. 

In 2023, the college had 495 off-campus events like high school visits and fairs. For 2024, the college has scheduled 703 off-campus events so far. Gore said some recruitment efforts are territory-focused and about relationship building. 

“Our admissions team is doing a lot of work on building and rebuilding relationships with our high school counselors and independent college counselors,” Gore said. “We know that those are people who are very influential in students’ decisions on where they attend college. And so building relationships with the counselors is just as important as those with students and families.”

Gore also said the college is restructuring scholarships to territories in New York where the college is seeing declining enrollment like Finger Lakes, Rochester and Monroe Counties, Westchester, Albany, Schenectady and Troy. 

Ithaca College has joined the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities. With CICU, the college is working on partnering with community colleges in New York to create transfer pathways. The transfer pathways will give a clear four-year plan for a student who wants to complete two years at a community college and transfer to Ithaca College to complete their degree.

Marketing and communications

Mark Eyerly, vice president for marketing and communications, said marketing is about promoting buying or selling while communications is about exchanging ideas and thoughts. He said the current structure has three departments: communications, marketing and creative groups. He said his focus is on having more collaboration among the three to promote the central goal of storytelling. 

“Marketing then becomes our primary content generator,” Eyerly said. “I think we have spent a lot of time as an institution talking about how we can talk about ourselves and not enough time just talking about ourselves.”

Eyerly said the new structure has one focus: tell stories through different channels. Marketing will be more focused on curating content instead of generating content ideas.

“We’re going to have a richer body of work from which [departments] can select to decide what it is they want to be saying in any given time to prospective students, to alumni and to people on campus,” Eyerly said. 

President’s closing remarks

Cornish announced that Kira Franchize, chief human resources officer, will report to her from now on instead of Downs. Cornish also said Chief of Staff Odalys Diaz Piñeiro is leaving the college Oct. 27 to take another position in the mid-Atlantic region. 

“Since her last day on campus is tomorrow, please join me in thanking her for three years of service to the college and congratulating her on her new role,” Cornish said.

Cornish congratulated the campus community for its high rankings in the U.S. News & World Report, including #1 for Best Undergraduate Teaching, #2 for Most Innovative Schools, #13 for Best Regional Institution and #16 for Best Value College.

“As I’m always saying folks, the best is yet to come,” Cornish said. “Keep hanging in there with us. My sincere thanks to all of you for joining us at this important meeting. Know that we thank you for all you do for our students and this institution every day. You really are appreciated.”