Artwork by
Dennis Murphy

For the students, by the students

CAFNR Recruitment Looking to Broaden Students Horizons
Adam Buckallew, Corner Post Staff

February 22, 2004 - CAFNR has recently unveiled its new recruitment slogan, "Explore the sciences of life." The goal of the new slogan is to reach a broader range of students and to educate prospective students on how they might "chart their course for success" in the many career paths in which the college could lead them.

Cecelia Leslie, CAFNR's director of recruitment, said that some students find it difficult to look beyond the word agriculture in the college's name.

"Lots of people when they think of agriculture think of big belt buckles and such things," Leslie said. "We want to let people know that we have degrees in meteorology, tourism, biochemistry, and hotel and restaurant management and many other majors, too."

CAFNR currently has a minority enrollment of seven and a half percent, while the rest of the university has a minority enrollment of eleven percent.

Marvin Burns and Kandise Ingram have been working with Leslie to educate students looking to attend the university. Burns and Ingram serve as minority recruiters, but they also work to recruit for CAFNR with non-minority students as well. They send hand-written letters to prospective students, visit high schools to promote the university, and are involved in nearly all recruitment activities on campus. Burns said he often works closely with the office of admissions to plan activities and events.

One such event was hosted on campus at the Black Culture Center, Feb. 20. Ninth grade students from Metro Classical Academy listened to representatives from some of the various schools and colleges within the university. Burns and Ingram were among the representatives on hand to speak with the students and answer questions.

"It is a good opportunity for students to see what we have to offer," Burns said. "When I'm working with students I try to keep the recruitment as personal as possible. We call a lot of students and we are also working on a newsletter to send out right now."

Chuck May, assistant director of admissions for the university, said that the university invites one or two high schools to campus a week.

"We are going to be hitting our peak season very soon," May said. "Late February and early March is a busy time for us. We are working on conversion from admissions to enrollment with seniors, and we are also helping juniors with college planning."

Leslie said that with the help of Burns and Ingram she is working to increase minority enrollment in CAFNR.

"We need to do a lot of things differently, like host more events for unrepresented students," Leslie said. "We need to show them that CAFNR is a comfortable college. We need to reach out to students in high school located in high minority areas."

Leslie said that minority students are held to the same admission standards as all other students, and there are no special scholarships for minorities.

"Mizzou is public and published and is open to all students and we are heading in the right direction," said Leslie. "The biggest thing is to get students on campus. Once students are here we want to let them know CAFNR is number one in retention rate, graduation rate, and student scholarship money. We are also number one in research money now, too."

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