April 9th, 2024

Hello, Bobcat parent and family members of first-year students,

In Bozeman, the weather has finally taken a turn towards spring. It's been a mild winter, but long, nonetheless. I'm certainly ready for the promise of warmer days, and I know our faculty, staff and students feel the same. The end of the semester is in sight.

As a wrap-up to the student retention theme of this series, I want to talk about feedback. We all recognize how hard it can be to give quality input, whether as a friend, employer, spouse or parent. However challenging, when comments are delivered thoughtfully without judgment and from a neutral place they are often appreciated. After all, feedback lets us see ourselves, our actions, and behaviors from another's point of view.

In the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship (Jabs), our students' input is invaluable to us. Your student will have multiple opportunities to provide comments in the next month. They will be asked to evaluate the instructor and the course content and design for each course.

I recognize that our students may experience some survey fatigue around this time of the semester, but if you would help us with one more thing -- please encourage your student to give us their honest opinion.

When students share their experiences -- the good, the bad and the ugly -- it helps us discern how we can become more effective educators. We've learned that if we want our students to return to MSU year after year, we need to address the bumps in the road and make the whole experience better. That's our goal -- continuous improvement.

I'll close with three final things:

• Your student will be registering for Fall 2024 (and possibly summer) classes soon. Most first-year students register this week. Please talk with them about concerns or hesitations they may have and encourage them to be in touch with me or their advisor.
• With about five weeks left of the semester, your student may be stressed out. Remind them that our Office of Student Services is here to help and that there will be de-stress events around campus -- now through the final week of classes.
• In the spirit of this message, I'd appreciate hearing your feedback on this email series via this3-question survey to help me make improvements to content, delivery, etc.

It has been my privilege to connect with you over the last year. Please keep my email address, [email protected], handy and reach out to me if I can be of assistance to your student.

Sincerely,

Brenda Truman
Assistant Dean of Student Services & Retention

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