Outreach Programs to Boost Reputation and Enrollment

Colleges are often represented through their athletic department. However another way to represent the College is through a solid "outreach program" in the arts, sciences and humanities. This type of program targets high schools and/or other colleges as a tool for recruitment.

Examples

An outreach can take many forms and it can be organized departmentally or through a division. For example, the Dance Department went to Berkeley High, the Crowden School, Santa Rosa University and Hayward College and presented a "lecture demonstration," which is basically a mini concert with a presentation done by one Faculty member. It can include a discussion about artistic processes, a period of questions and answers, presentation of the curriculum and sometimes have activities that will involve students’ participation.

Science departments could develop a small repertoire of "road shows" that would be of interest to high schools in the Bay Area (or beyond). Social science departments, likewise, could offer talks and demonstrations. In both cases, some research would be necessary to determine just what topics and genres would work for different audiences and would play on the strengths of our faculty and students.

The Leverage

The Admission office also goes to various conferences and presentations and makes school visits, but sending faculty and students directly to schools and showing the actual work we do in person with some of our students can establish strong connections and enrich the visited school even as it benefits us visibility. Even if the students in these various schools do not end up applying to Mills, they might attend an event on campus, talk about Mills with parents or friends or simply take with them a positive Mills experience.

To make these “outreach programs” truly beneficial for the College, they would probably need to be organized in an "officially" with a vision behind them.  For example, they might be grouped by theme or by division. They would also need to be coordinated with the Admission Office; if the event takes place in high schools, someone from the undergraduate program should participate. If it’s another college, someone from the graduate admission should accompany the group etc.

What It Would Take

Transportation should also be considered as a part of the infrastructure necessary to make something like this work.  The PE department is able to go "on the road" because it does have its own vans.  A program like this would probably need to have a similar resource on hand to make it work.  And we would have to figure out how to fit this into our already busy schedules; no small thing, but do-able.

Having someone with vision and some modest resources in charge of such an “outreach program” could produce something that is a great recruitment tool as well as helping to spread the education and culture that Mills has to offer.

See Also: "Capitalize on Public Performance/Lecture Spaces"

Examples at Other Schools

"Fruitville Elementary Joins New College Archaeology Day"
Faculty and students host a Saturday event to introduce K12 students to "public archaeology" on the New College of Florida campus.