At Purdue University, the pursuit of excellence at scale is a collective endeavor that relies heavily on the efforts of its dedicated and talented staff. From supporting faculty in their groundbreaking research to fostering student success to ensuring the seamless operation of the university's many functions, staff members play a pivotal role across campus.
Purdue Today is recognizing these efforts with a new “Staff Excellence” series, which continues with the following feature on Winter Session and its inaugural manager, John Race.
This year, Purdue welcomed John Race as the Winter Session manager for the university’s inaugural winter semester. He previously worked with student transitional and leadership programs at other higher education institutions and is now excited to take on this new and innovative program geared toward helping Purdue students earn their degrees sooner by taking classes at different times of the year.
Embedded in Purdue's Office of Summer and Winter Sessions, the new Winter Session program aims to build upon the educational pathways created by expanded summer enrollment opportunities. Purdue's undergraduate enrollment has more than doubled since "Year-Round University" launched as part of Purdue Moves. Thanks in part to these programs, many students' time to degree is now fewer than four years, with 12% of students graduating early. Last summer, more than 23,000 students, including more than 14,000 undergraduates, took at least one summer course.
According to Purdue Provost Patrick Wolfe, Winter Session is one of many examples of how Purdue is innovating to serve today's students.
“The way faculty and staff have come together to rapidly expand high-impact, year-round enrollment opportunities to support more than 23,000 students over the summer exemplifies excellence at scale,” Wolfe shared. “We're excited to further expand individualized student success pathways via the new Winter Session.”
Wolfe adds that achieving excellence at scale requires a shared effort across Purdue.
“The summer and winter course opportunities would not be possible without the collaboration and coordination of countless individuals — including course instructors, academic advisors, human resources and physical facilities staff, among many others," Wolfe said. "We are thankful for the hard work of colleagues across campus who work together to move Purdue forward.”
With nearly 40,000 undergraduates at Purdue, Race’s main goal this year was to raise awareness about the Winter Session and the chance for all students to make degree progress. As of Nov. 20, nearly all of the 550 seats had been filled, with some of the courses expanding to serve more students.
“We’ve done a lot of outreach to students and our campus partners to promote the opportunity,” Race said. “We’ve filled nearly all the course space, but students can still enroll in any remaining seats throughout open registration.”
Since the start of this fall semester, there have been several emails sent to students advertising Winter Session classes. Race notes that his experience in student outreach and marketing has taught him that creating a communication network is crucial to the success and promotion of a newly implemented program. Beyond the email campaigns, Race is also promoting winter classes on social media and around campus through various communication channels.
Pictured: Winter Session Manager John Race stands outside the Purdue Arch near the Purdue Memorial Union
For students, signing up for Winter Session entails taking a course over the university’s three-week break — which spans from Monday, Dec. 18 to Friday, Jan. 5 this year. In prior years, Purdue has offered only graduate-level or study abroad programs for students who wanted to take an extra class during winter break. This year, 10 undergraduate classes are being offered. Race and his team are also working with colleges and departments to offer more courses over future winter breaks.
Race says student success is at the root of Winter Session’s mission. Ultimately, the program enables students to acquire more course credit, making each term count. For students, staff and faculty interested in learning more about Winter Session, courses offered and financial aid opportunities, please visit the Winter Session FAQ page or follow the Office of Summer and Winter Sessions on Instagram @purduesummerwintersessions.
Elle Hall
Student Communication Assistant, Student Success Programs, hall645@purdue.edu