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TAAP Chair
Conference |
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In late October, over
30 TAAP chairs came to campus for the TAAP Leadership Conference.
Even a torrential rain storm on Saturday did not dampen the
enthusiasm of the group. Those who attended were able to learn more
about the Task Force on Student Life, hear from our new Provost and
talk with fellow TAAP chairs about the ins and outs of running a
committee.
While every committee is busy at this time of year striving to
complete those interviews assigned to them, one of the most crucial
times of the admissions process is approaching in the month of
April. This is a time when all of us engaged in this process will
work with admitted students, talking with them about the merits of a
Tufts education. The Many Roles of the TAAP Committee covered this
and the other ways a TAAP committee can be involved in the
recruitment of students. The McClearys of Hartford went all out for
their discussion of the value of college nights - it was complete
with banners and role playing! The conversation which followed
provided some ways of engaging students in conversation during a
college night so that they would fill out a card and not just walk
away with our material. Al Potvin of Houston has used this tactic
very successfully in the many college nights he and his Texas troops
do each year.
Many of us in the admissions office have spent time at some point or
another talking with a TAAP Chair about their committee. Directly
related to the success of a committee in completing interviews is
their strength and size. June Tow of Rhode Island, Richard Blaser of
Westchester County in New York and Chuck Benson of the Boston
suburbs all had some great ideas in the session Recruiting and
Retaining Committee Members. June has had great success with her
committee as she takes the time to meet each new member and create a
sense of pride in the accomplishments of the committee (they
typically complete all of the interviews assigned to them every
year). Chuck has had success by directly contacting alumni in his
locale via mail. Other suggestions included contacting Tufts seniors
and asking them to join and trying some recruiting at events like
Homecoming.
The Interview Process provided suggestions for both TAAP Chairs and
members as presented by three veteran chairs. Patricia Workman from
Philadelphia makes an effort to get to know her committee members so
that she can try to match them with students with similar interests.
Susan Eisenhauer and Peter Colarusso,
both
from suburban Boston, encourage their committee members to put
candidates at ease and remind them that they are the face of the
university. All follow up with members if interviews are not being
completed in a timely way and also remind committee members that
they are not "recommending" students for admission, but rather
reporting on the conversation had with the student.
Other sessions included a refresher on the TAAP website and a look
at Tufts and where the university is headed in the future. The
weekend allowed time for socializing as well - the reception at the
President's House was lovely and included a performance of sQ!, the
newest a cappella group at Tufts. Provost Jamshed Bharucha spoke to
the group and provided his thoughts on a variety of issues including
the rankings published in US News and World Report, the need for a
more concise definition of what the Tufts undergraduate experience
is all about, and the importance of faculty in their role as teacher
and scholar. Professor Gilbert Metcalf of the Economics department
is chairing the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience and
reported on the progress of this initiative. The Task Force has been
charged with looking at both academic and residential/co-curricular
life, how they mesh, what the intellectual/social environment is on
campus, and how to continue to improve the undergraduate experience.
The progress of this important venture is available on the web at
http://ugtaskforce.tufts.edu.
When not in sessions, members of the admissions staff and those TAAP
chairs who attended the conference had an opportunity for informal
conversation and idea exchange. For those chairs who were unable to
attend, we hope you are able to do so next time around. We are due
to have a member conference soon and encourage all who are a part of
the TAAP network to join us.
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