Early Bird

Meet the Transfer Process Task Force

Faculty and staff from across campus are teaming up to make MSU Denver a model for transfer articulation.

By Matt Watson

September 3, 2019

With transfer students consistently representing more than 50% of new students at Metropolitan State University of Denver, it makes sense that the University would prioritize making transfer processes as smooth as possible. In fact, President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., has set an ambitious goal of making MSU Denver the No. 1 university in the country for transfer students. Now there’s a task force working on just that.

As first announced at the August President’s Cabinet meeting, School of Education Dean Elizabeth Hinde, Ph.D., is leading a team of faculty and staff that will help address the time it takes to evaluate transcripts for students who want to transfer to MSU Denver, among other concerns.

Hinde addressed the need to collaboratively build on previous efforts described as “quick fixes” for a long-term systemic answer.

The stated goals of the initiative include 90% of transcripts to be reviewed within one week, with a target start date of next June; other elements of the initiative are anticipated to be completed sooner. Currently, the processing wait time is 6-plus weeks.

“It’s time for us to take a hard look at the way we do transfers. It truly is a symbiotic relationship between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs because it touches on every aspect of who we are as an institution,” Hinde said. “We are going to be the national model for transfer-articulation systems.”

The Transfer Process Task Force consists of:

• Kim Barron, director of Academic Effectiveness
• Sarah Buller, process-transformation specialist
• Greg Clifton, associate professor and chair of Accounting
• Vicki Golich, provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs
• Gabrielle Katz, associate professor of geography
• Karen Meyer, Academic Affairs project manager
• Larry Sampler, vice president for Administration and Finance/COO
• Connie Sanders, interim registrar
• Megan Scherzberg, director of Orientation, Transition and Retention, Roadways
• Keah Schuenemann, associate professor of meteorology
• Will Simpkins, vice president for Student Affairs
• Thad Spaulding, interim associate vice president of Enrollment Management

The task force kicked off in late August with a retreat and will meet regularly throughout the year before concluding its work in June 2020. The group will take a deep dive into a variety of matters including staffing, technology, academic requirements and articulation agreements with community colleges. Hinde wants the team to identify pain points as well as areas of campus that have had the most success regarding transfers.

“We’re going to take a step back and talk about the bigger picture and why this is important for existential reasons as much as these technical and mechanical reasons,” Hinde said. “We’re a grown-up institution. We’re big, and sometimes we’re still trying to do things like a small college. The people who have been doing this work can’t do it alone.”