Kevin Butler
Equinox Staff
Keene State College continues to get national recognition as it is ranked among the top regional colleges.
KSC was honored as being ranked as the 91 top university in the north and as the 25 top public school in the north by usnews.com. The north region consists of the six New England states as well as New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. According to usnews.com 1,378 ranked colleges were surveyed, and more were left unranked.
Keene State College President Helen Giles-Gee is very proud of the accomplishment and said, “I’m very pleased that Keene State College was considered again among one of the top institutions of its kind by U.S. News.” Giles-Gee said this is the third time KSC has been ranked and that it really says a lot about the quality of the college.
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The ranking system is based upon a number of factors, including student retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, graduation rate, undergraduate academic reputation, and administrative assessment. Each category is given a weight that is then incorporated into the overall score, leading to the rankings. Undergraduate academic reputation receives the most weight at 22.5%.
KSC Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Emile Netzhammer doesn’t think these numbers should all be taken at face value.
“I get concerned when anyone tries to reduce the sum total of an institution with a single number,” Netzhammer said. “You have to take in these numbers with a healthy dose of skepticism.” Although, Netzhammer added, “The components used to get that number are pretty solid pieces of data; all those things are appropriate indicators of what is happening at our institution.” Netzhammer also said, “Academic things directly involved with student learning and success is not really captured and it is something that reduces you to a series of numbers.”
Even more specifically, each category is broken down again into multiple parts that again have a different weight. For example, student selectivity, which is given a 15 percent overall weight, is broken up into categories of SAT/ACT scores (weighted at 50 percent), acceptance rate at 10 percent, and the last 10 percent is based on the number of students who were in the top 10 percent of their high school class.
Another factor, retention rate, is weighted at 20 percent, to which KSC ranked 87 among other schools. This is a topic the president has been following since her arrival at KSC in 2005.
“Our retention rate in the first few years after I entered had increased by five percent to around 80 percent, and that was significant.” Giles-Gee accredited that increase to student services, academic programs, and the faculty and staff.
“I would like to see our four-year and first-year retention rates continue to improve,” said Netzhammer.
Giles-Gee, who expressed concern for the retention rate, said, “One of the factors that impacts retention is student’s ability to stay in college and pay for it. So as funds available for students continue to diminish, I’m concerned about student’s ability to stay in college.”
She added the college has been working increasingly to raise money and add scholarships to increase students’ ability to come to KSC and be able to stay here. The president also pointed to the diminishing of state aide and state appropriations as impacting the retention rate.
Continuing on the topic of finances, financial resources factor in with a 10% weight, to which Netzhammer said it is important to consider.
“I think it’s fine for parents and potential students to look at the financial investments the college is making,” Netzhammer said, “It’s certainly a legitimate factor if you’re trying to make a full picture of an institution.”
KSC’s growth as a college can be accredited to many factors and, as pointed out by Netzhammer, stressing academics has been a main goal.
“When President Giles-Gee started here in her opening address she talked a lot about reasserting the importance of academics,” Netzhammer said.
She said in recent years the college has had an increase in full-time faculty, additions and new buildings, and more technology, which all have led to more growth and success as an institution.
Giles-Gee said, “The college has been deliberate in increasing the number of tenured-track faculty to assure that this faculty contribute to the development and strength of our academic curriculum.”
As the college gains more attention through rankings such as these, more applications arrive every fall from high school seniors.
“I’m very pleased to say that every year we’ve seen growth in applications to this college,” Giles-Gee said. “The college has increased the number of academic programs available.” Giles-Gee cited nursing, the newest major to KSC this year, as well as the Integrated Studies Program, which was designed to help students find out what they want to study.
KSC was not the only N.H. college to make the list; Franklin Pierce, Plymouth State, New England College and Southern New Hampshire University were all considered by US News as well. However, KSC placed ahead of each of these schools on both regional lists. Athletic rival Plymouth State ranked behind KSC as 41 on the top regional colleges and 125 in the top regional universities category.
Reflecting on the rating and college as a whole, Giles-Gee said, “This is an extraordinary college that continues to show its excellence.”
Kevin Butler can be contacted at kbutler1@ksc.mailcruiser.com.
عزل خزانات
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