Deon Howard

Memo

Date: To: From: Subject:

October 15, 2012 Dr. Steven Edmond, Dean of the School of Business and Technology Deon Howard, Business Student Proposal for Recruiting Business Students

Purpose The purpose of this proposal is to request permission to conduct research on current student recruitment processes for business students in order to identify opportunities for enrolling a greater pool of quality students. Summary Huston-Tillotson University (HTU) is dedicated to offering a variety of degrees in various subjects to interested students from all parts of the world. The School of Business in general is the most popular field to study at the university. An article from college ranking and reviews reported that 19% of students that graduated from this institution in 2011 graduated with a business degree; students who pursued other fields only had a 9% graduation rate. Although the majority of incoming students chose the business career path, the quality of business students at the university is relatively low based on the experiences of various students and faculty. Due to this growing concern, I would like to propose to research recruitment processes and the selection criteria of business students. Introduction For the past two semesters, faculty and students have casually voiced their concerns of the conduct that many business students engage in. These concerns include factors such as disrupting the classroom and learning process of other students; disrespecting professors; high absenteeism and tardiness; and academic dishonesty. These growing concerns are decreasing student and faculty morale and making learning uncomfortable and ineffective. Therefore, I am seeking approval to conduct research on the current practices of recruitment at HTU and if implementing new strategies would increase the overall quality of business students that are selected. Although the business student population is increasing, the quality of students is decreasing. Last semester, a business management professor who served HTU for over 8 years resigned due to the disrespect and behavior of students. This fad of behavior has spilled over into the current academic semester with various class room disruptions and many business students are becoming very discouraged and unmotivated. I would like to study options for improving the quality of students that are inducted into the school of business. My research would reveal what type of actions we should or shouldnt take in effort of structuring a solid recruitment process. The upcoming sections of this memo will include proposed tasks, a schedule, the proposed budget, my qualifications, and the references.

Deon Howard

Proposed Tasks With your consent, I would conduct the following tasks in an effort to determine the optimum solution for proposing research on student recruitment. 1. Observe the current procedures of new student recruitment. I would visit admissions and observe the current step-by-step process for new student recruitment. What criteria/standards are currently in place and who is involved in the selection process are two of the primary questions that I would attempt to answer within this task. This data will educate me on the current processes used at this institution in order to move forward in the research process and seek external information. 2. Identify best practices of other institutions. I would conduct phone interviews with the admission departments of other institutions similar to HTU (i.e. St. Edwards, Paul Quinn College) to get insight and answers on their best practices for student recruitment. These interviews would allow me to ask open ended questions in effort of obtaining adequate information on how the quality of students inducted in our business school can possibly be resolved. 3. Conduct secondary research I would conduct secondary research on effective student recruitment and research current practices that institutions should or should not use. This would then allow me to compare my research with the observations from our institution to highlight any current gaps and to effectively weight our current procedures. My primary sources for this research will be from scholarly journals and books on student recruitment. 4. Student surveys/evaluations I would conduct student surveys among the school of business to get their opinions of the quality of students that this institution possesses and their experiences thus far. Students would be able to rate various questions such as on their classroom experience based on a scale from 1 to 10. This task would help me to answer questions on how this concern on the quality of students is impacting the learning processes of others and how the school of business image is affected. 5. Faculty interviews I would conduct interviews with our professional business faculty. Through these interviews I would be able to identify reoccurring trends in student behavior from semester to semester and rate the overall faculty experience with students in and out of the classroom. This task would help me gain insight from the faculty members eye on how learning processes are disturbed and the impact it has on the school of business. 6. Completion report Finally, a completion report would be prepared to identify why this is a problem, along with my research from the tasks listed above. The report would include the current state of student recruitment, and the recommendations made from research, students, and faculty members.

Deon Howard

Schedule The following is a schedule of the tasks for this research project.
22-Oct 1-Nov 11-Nov21-Nov 1-Dec 11-Dec Observations of Current Best Practices of Other Secondary Research Student Surveys Faculty Interviews Completion Report

Budget In lieu of a traditional budget, Im requesting three elective credit hours towards my business degree after successful completion of this project. Qualifications and Experience I bring over four years of research experience from my educational background as a HustonTilloston University student. Most of this research was for various essays in composition and communication classes. In addition, my recent research for Wal-Mart, Inc. on reducing employee turnover has helped me gain experience to perform adequate research for business operations. References US News Education Colleges. Retrieved October 14, 2012, from http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/huston-tillotson-3577