Dine with a professor, stay in college

DURHAM -- If Jennifer McLamb's computer ever breaks, the N.C. Central University student can take the problem right to the top.

See, she now knows Greg Marrow, the university's chief information officer. The two were linked up this semester through NCCU's new "Take a Freshman to Dinner" program, designed to ease new students' transition to college.

The idea is to connect a new student with a faculty or staff member outside the classroom, send them to dinner and allow them to get to know each other in hopes of making the university seem just a little bit smaller.

McLamb is a transfer student with an associate's degree from Wake Technical Community College, and she volunteered for the program because she's new to NCCU and didn't really know anyone outside the elementary education department, where she is studying.

"This is my first time in a four-year institution, and I'm learning it's different," said McLamb, who is from Garner. "I did find it helpful. It was nice just to meet someone who was faculty and get to know them outside the university setting."

McLamb said she wouldn't hesitate to call Marrow if she needed advice or direction. That's just what NCCU officials want to hear, since the program's intent is to create relationships that last longer than the time it takes to eat a plate of lasagna.

"We want to make sure students have a supportive network," said Janelle Simmons, NCCU's director of orientation and first-year experience. "We want them to have a home away from home."

Many NCCU students are the first college students in their family, and for many, the college setting can seem foreign or intimidating.

Simmons said the program, new this semester, appears to have resonated with young students. In fact, it did a little too well. The 235 students who expressed interest far outnumbered the 50 to 75 faculty and staff members who volunteered, so some of the mentors took more than one student out at a time.

"Clearly, it's a way to connect with our students," said Marrow, a graduate of N.C. A&T State University and the first in his family to go to college. "Very seldom am I inside the classroom or interacting with students, so it was a great chance to share my experiences."

A recent study of 400 NCCU freshmen found that, as high school seniors, more than 40 percent spent less than an hour a week talking to their teachers outside the classroom. Thus, many students arrive on campus not expecting much face time with their professors.

Complicating matters, many students work as much as 20 hours a week, so their time is limited, Simmons said.

Helping retention

Simmons hopes that pairing new students with a faculty or staff member will make college seem a bit less intimidating -- and perhaps bolster NCCU's lagging retention rates. In 2006, about 30 percent of NCCU freshmen didn't return for their sophomore year. That's close to the national average but a bit worse than the average for the 16-campus UNC system.

The problem isn't confined to NCCU, and educators are noticing. Last fall, UNC system President Erskine Bowles sounded an alarm on the matter, demanding that all public universities retain more students and improve graduation rates.

UNC system campuses measure graduation rates over six-year spans. At NCCU, just 44.9 percent of students who enrolled in 1999 graduated within six years; the system average was 59.1 percent. At N.C. State University, 70.5 percent of students graduated within six years; at UNC-Chapel Hill, 83.7 percent did so.

NCCU is a historically black institution that ballooned to 8,600 students over the past five years under a growth mandate from the UNC system. While enrollment grew, the average SAT score of incoming freshmen stayed essentially level. And the retention rate -- the percentage of freshmen who return as sophomores -- dipped from about 75 percent in 2005 to 70.8 percent last year.

The dinner program will return next fall, and Simmons expects the high demand to continue.

"What it tells me is that students really want to get to know faculty and staff," she said.