Slumping retention and graduation rates, declining state appropriations, increasing service costs and demand and a new budget model could all be obstacles and challenges facing Iowa State’s new dean of students.

“We need to keep students enrolled here and get them graduated,” said Pete Englin, dean of students from 2000-05 and current director of the Department of Residence.

Englin said the new dean will need to assess the office’s role in academic support services on student achievement.

“The dean of students will need to look at which programs contribute most to student graduation and the factors affecting those graduation rates,” he said.

From 2000-04, first-year retention rates for full-time freshmen were between 84 and 86 percent. A 2005 ISU survey indicated that only 31.8 percent of all ISU students who entered the 2001 class graduated in four years, an increase from 1991’s 20.6 percent four-year graduation rate.

Another obstacle will be maintaining the quality of programs through uncertain financial futures.

“We’re holding steady with funding, but we’re seeing a decrease with our buying power,” said Sharon McGuire, interim dean of students.

Demand for services has also increased.

From 2003 to 2005 the Dean of Students Office went from handling 40 cases of academic dishonesty to 200.

“We’re not seeing an increase in cheating, but in reporting of academic dishonesty,” McGuire said.

From 2001 to 2005, the number of students utilizing tutoring also increased from 2,200 to 3,125, but the office is still using just two graduate students to handle the flow.

“We’re also seeing increased demand in our Psychology 131 class and usage of supplemental instruction,” McGuire said.

A new dean of students will also have to get acclimated to a new university budget model.