The Council on Academic Affairs and the Enrollment Management Committee want to know how to attract students to Eastern and keep them at the university until graduation.

People on the entire campus are welcome to share their thoughts on recruitment and retention at today’s Fall Forum, which will feature separate sessions on attracting students, retaining students and supporting a learning environment on campus.

The program, titled Fall Forum: Focus on Students, will include five sections: an introduction and welcome, a panel discussion, three breakout sessions, a general discussion and a session where those attending will form an action plan for enrollment at Eastern.

Provost Blair Lord will open the afternoon with an introduction and welcome. After Lord’s introduction, Steven Laribee, professor of accounting and finance, will give a powerpoint presentation on the trends of enrollment at Eastern as compared to other universities.

Following Laribee’s presentation, a panel including Kimberlie Moock, director of orientation; Stacia Carrell, graphic designer; Mary Herrington-Perry, assistant vice president for academic affairs; Johnetta Jones, director of minority affairs; Audrey Bachelder, academic advisor; and John Best, professor of psychology, will speak on a conference they attended this past summer dealing with getting and keeping students at Eastern.

After the presentation, three breakout sessions will discuss admission, learning environment and retention. Immediately following the breakout sessions, a general discussion on those topics will be held.

At the conclusion of the forum, Kathleen Shank, professor of special education, will lead the audience in creating an enrollment action plan.

Although today’s forum is the only one scheduled for the year, Frank Hohengarten, dean of enrollment management, said there is always a possibility of more forums being scheduled as the year moves on.

Steven Laribee said he believes more forums will be held to discuss the enrollment issue, but today’s forum will be the last to be handled by the Enrollment Management Committee.

Today’s forum, sponsored by the CAA and the Enrollment Management Committee, runs from 2 to 4:30 p.m.

Laribee hopes the forum will help bring in many ideas and thoughts from various people and areas of the university.