Our Strategic Plan: Six Years of Increasing Student Success

One feature of the program is our innovative Leadership Certificate Program, which offers more than 40 workshops each year on topics from personal branding to the role of social justice in leadership to professional etiquette. Close to 750 students have participated in the program.

Our Willumstad Winning Edge program prepares business majors to move right into their career upon graduation. A four-year program designed to help students begin preparing for their career as soon as they arrive on campus, it begins by planning meetings with the Edge adviser and specialists from the career center. Students learn business skills, earn tech credentials, attend conferences and build connections, and gain work experience through internships and job shadowing at industry leaders like IBM, Morgan Stanley, and EY.

The Women’s Leadership Conference, launched in 2017, brings successful alumnae and friends to campus for a day of leadership training, professional development and networking. An annual event drawing more than 200 members of the Adelphi community, the conference offers workshops and inspiring presentations, all directed at empowering students to achieve career success and strive for leadership roles. As part of the Leadership Certificate Program through 2019, the conference awarded women’s leadership certificates to participants; 92 students received certificates in the final year. Our powerful keynote headliners have included Carol A. Ammon, MBA ’79, ’10 (Hon.), retired chief executive officer of Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Donna Orender ’07 (Hon.), former president of the Women’s National Basketball Association; Dottie Herman, chief executive officer of Douglas Elliman Real Estate;  Carolyn Quinn ’87, RN, NEA-BC, executive director of the Cohen Children’s Medical Center; and, most recently, actor and activist Sophia Bush. Their discussions focused on resilience, navigating office politics and strengthening communication skills.

We increased financial assistance for students

Since 2015, Adelphi’s generous donors have helped us establish as many as 77 new scholarship funds supporting student success. We also increased our financial literacy outreach to families of prospective students, introducing programs in nine additional school districts, and added to our number of Financial Aid 101 information sessions. Many were offered in Spanish, and financial literacy materials in Spanish were available at all program sessions.

Launched in 2017, President’s Student Success scholarships help juniors and seniors who face sudden financial reversals. These scholarships keep students in school and on the path to graduation if they hit money problems late in their college career. The scholarships have a $561,000 endowment, a 300 percent increase from the $189,000 the program launched with just three years ago.

We created four multicultural scholarships in 2017 to support students of color. The scholarships support undergraduates majoring in math and science, nursing, and African, Black and Caribbean studies, as well as an incoming student each year who has overcome a significant personal challenge.

John J. Gutleber Memorial Scholarships help students with physical disabilities. Created in 2019 with a $900,000 donation in the memory of the late Adelphi   and member of the board of trustees, the scholarships are awarded to graduates of the Henry Viscardi School in Albertson, New York, which provides a traditional education setting for students with severe physical disabilities. The Adelphi University Board of Trustees will match the annual payout of the endowment in perpetuity, doubling the impact of the scholarship program.

Undergraduate Financial Aid Awarded

Source: IPEDS Student Financial Aid (SFA)

We became leaders in mentoring and community outreach

Adelphi’s Mentoring Program pairs students with trained faculty or staff mentors who provide support and advice to help them navigate the challenges of college life. In the years since its inception in 2014, the program has grown from 10 students and an equal number of mentors to 84 pairs of students and mentors. Created to improve retention of students of color, the program has expanded during the Momentum period to include LGBQTIA+ students, veterans and students who are the first in their family to attend college.

The Mentoring Program has helped increase the graduation rate of Black students by 18 percent. Today, the GPA of students in the program is higher than the University average and the program has a 100 percent graduation rate. In 2019, Adelphi’s Mentoring Program received a prestigious Eduventures Innovation Award.

Introduced in 2019, the Hispanic Community Partnership Program is a free college-readiness program for rising high school seniors from nearby communities. Held each summer, it offers workshops on writing skills, the college application process, time management and overcoming adversity, as well as a financial literacy event for both students and parents, presented in English and Spanish. Attendance has tripled since its launch.

We strengthened support for students during crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges for our community. Adelphi responded with meaningful mental health support for our entire community and financial support for students. Through three rounds of federal funding, we distributed a total of $12.6 million to 5,494 students most significantly affected by the pandemic.

Four extensive wellness programs added to our support measures, including virtual mental health counseling, online wellness chats and extending our no-cost Employee Assistance Program to all employees, regardless of coverage. A number of our international students who were prevented from returning home due to COVID-19 travel restrictions had continuous safe haven and support at Adelphi. At the height of the pandemic, a national outcry about racism was deeply felt by our diverse community. In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, Adelphi hosted 12 online forums for community members and launched important anti-racism initiatives with the feedback we received.

We improved the student dining and housing experience

We renovated and reopened our Ruth S. Harley University Center (UC), doubling the amount of space for dining with new and improved choices, added student lounges and meeting spaces, and expanded and modernized our art gallery. The new UC is now a light-filled, state-of-the-art hub for student life at Adelphi. In addition, we developed powerful new living-learning communities. We began with one First-Year Leadership Living-Learning Community in 2017–2018 and have since expanded to offer six diverse residential experiences. These include a living-learning community focused on service learning, an expanded Honors Residential Program and themed housing for students based on their interest in the arts, desire for gender-inclusive housing, or membership in Greek organizations and social fellowships.

We supported success in the classroom and on the field

Sports and recreation play a significant role in student life at Adelphi. More than 350 student-athletes participate in our 23 NCAA Division II sports programs while also excelling in the classroom with the support of athletic department programs helping them manage their coursework. Panthers have led the NE10 in academics in eight of the past 11 semesters by placing the highest percentage of student-athletes on the conference’s Academic Honor Roll. Three have been named Woman of the Year in the past four years, with 2019 winner Chelsea Abreau ’19 also named a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. Last year, 83 percent of our student-athletes earned at least a 3.0 GPA.

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