The Department of Speech Communication was the recipient of the college’s Recruitment and Retention Award on May 5 at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion.

Given by the College of Social Sciences and Communication, the award recognizes a department’s innovations in student recruitment and retention efforts within the major.

The Department of Speech Communication has seen an almost 50 percent increase in its bachelor degree program from December 2014 to December 2015, a result of the recruitment strategies put into place over the past two years.

“We were honored to receive this award from the College of Social Sciences and Communication, recognizing the hard work we have done the past few years to reach out to students and mentor them,” said April Chatham-Carpenter, department chair of the speech communication department.

Strategies shown to increase student recruitment and retention are the active involvement of all members of the department in recruiting students. Members also participate in marketing efforts, online teaching, creative course scheduling, advising and mentoring of students.

Additionally, Speech Communication set up two departmental committees this past year for the key functions of recruitment and retention.

Half of the faculty members serve on the Building Bridges with the Community  Committee, specializing in recruitment and marketing. The other half serve on the Student Success Committee, specializing in building and assessing high-impact practices in the curriculum and improving advising for students.

“The programs we offer provide many options for students who are wanting to go either full or part time and might not be able to come to campus to take classes,” said Chatham-Carpenter. “We believe that our mission of co-creating social worlds through positive communication is truly making a difference in students’ lives.”