Admissions Recruiter: With the demand to increase enrollment, The Office of Admissions would like to request funding for a full-time  admissions recruiter position. This person would recruit at local community events and would act as a community liaison between SUNY Orange, Admissions & the local community. Currently admissions has three professional staff members that recruit in multiple counties throughout the fall and spring semester. Having another staff member would allow us to be more strategic in terms of what type of student population we would like to increase (i.e. adult population). Our focal point would be on recruiting adult and veterans along with specialty programs such as the honors program. It should be noted that the size of the Admissions staff has not significantly changed in the past decade despite operating in an significantly more competitive admissions and recruitment landscape.

Revive the Student Ambassador Program:  In previous years the Student Ambassador Program has been funded by the SUNY Orange Foundation.  Ambassadors are the first people prospective students have interactions with and can lead to very meaningful conversations and experiences for our applicants. Offering a paid Student Ambassador Program would give the Office of Admissions a more diverse number of ambassadors while also enabling us to reach prospective students on a more personalized method.

Upgrade Accessibility Services 10 hr/week position to a half-time position.  To better support/ assist the professional staff with both adaptive technology and administrative work. If not allowed to increase the hours as well as elevate the position requirements, the office will not be able to proctor exams (burden will be placed on the faculty to proctor the exams) due to the fact that the hours required to cover our office will go beyond what the 520 category allows.

Moreover, this is a multi-faceted office and the Office of Student Support Initiatives (SSI) is also housed there. This individual also serves as the administrative assistant for both OAS and SSI.

Upgrade Accessibility Services Coordinator Position: The OAS Office has no Director. Currently, there are two Disabilities Specialists who report to the AVP.  Priority V from the 2010-2015 SUNY Orange Strategic Plan was to “Expand and enhance programs, services and operations to ensure the College is accessible to all members of an increasingly diverse community. “ Therefore, by having a Director for OAS, we will fulfill this Strategic Priority.    These institutional goals are also apparent in the 2016-2020 Academic Master plan under the themes of the Student Experience and Preparation and Success. As the student population of Accessibility Services and Student Support Initiatives may be considered “at risk” (1st generation, developmental, low-performance in high school), focusing on enhanced support for this population is essential for facilitating access and success.

Note that the staffing of the department would not change - but we would look to promote a current staff member into the Director position.  The growing populations of students enrolled at the College and needing the resources of this office necessitate the request.