We finished a thorough assessment of the program with the goal of "right-sizing" it to fit the current levels of facilities, staffing, and funding.  With the current infrastructure and resource difficulties, we concluded that we have two realistic options: a) reduce the size of the program to fit what we currently have and refocus more appropriately, or b) again request the infrastructure and support needed to recruit, accommodate and retain larger numbers of students.  Last year was our first real attempt to do the latter and we have expanded upon this. 

With the addition of data for the 2017-18 year in terms of declining enrollment (for the first time ever in the program), decreasing retention, worsening facilities, increasing problems of other various sorts (including not meeting the needs of students in Newburgh), etc., we find ourselves in the same position: knowing that we are not meeting the needs of the students as well as we could or should.  We also understand this goes well beyond the scope of the program: many of the issues are College-wide.   We are very grateful to the Foundation for providing funds for classroom furniture and continuing to provide some scholarship and conference funding.  We are thankful to departments and the College in general for continuing to provide honors courses and some resources.  We recognize that much of what follows is rolled over from last year (and, in some cases, from years prior to that), but many of the needs remain the same or have grown. Additionally, some of these resulted from suggestions from our AVP.  We would welcome additional thoughts on our planning.