Luguri to Direct First-Year Programs, Retention Efforts at SUNY Plattsburgh

In this new role, Luguri will be responsible for ensuring that the College's efforts for first-year programs and retention are characterized by collaboration, cooperation and communication. He will chair the new First-Year Council, as well as the Academic Support Services Council, and will be responsible for the Whiteface Initiative for Student Engagement (WISE), among other projects.

"I'm excited about my new role, which will consist of many new challenges," said Luguri, who holds two degrees from SUNY Plattsburgh and previously served 17 years as the College's athletic director.

Luguri will be reporting jointly to Dr. Robert Golden, provost and vice president for academic affairs, and William Laundry, interim vice president for student affairs, for these new responsibilities. 

Kathy McClellan, currently the director of lifelong learning, will work with Luguri for the coming year as the associate director of first-year programs and retention.

"I very much look forward to working with Peter and Kathy on our first-year programs, retention efforts, and working to improve the quality of undergraduate life at SUNY Plattsburgh," said President John Ettling.

During the past academic year, Luguri led a college-wide task force that examined the quality of undergraduate life at SUNY Plattsburgh.

"The College formed the task force not because we believed the quality of undergraduate life was in a state of crisis. Indeed, there are several areas where we clearly outperform most of our SUNY and national comparators on opinion surveys or other assessments," said Golden. "There is always room for improvement. As we move to implement a new strategic plan and to strengthen student recruitment, it is appropriate that we ensure that the campus as a whole is poised to move forward together."

The Task Force on the Study of the Quality of Undergraduate Life at SUNY Plattsburgh was comprised of administrators, faculty, staff and students who reviewed existing data and conducted campus-wide open forums. The members of the task force studied many areas of student life including retention, graduation rates, student academic support services and the overall campus climate.

"I look forward to working on projects that will improve the quality of life of our students and implement specific recommendations of the task force," said Luguri.

Luguri will be responsible for implementing several initiatives on retention including the WISE project and the relocation of academic support services to improve the quality of services and student access.

Beginning in the fall, 240 freshmen students will be housed in Whiteface Residence Hall and will participate in the WISE project. The project includes specially selected and trained residence hall staff, peer and faculty mentoring, special programming and academic advising.

"Several colleges and universities have a program like WISE in place," said Luguri. "This will be a new approach for us, and we feel that we have all the ingredients for it to be successful. Our goal is to make the first college year experience for our students even better."

-- 30 --