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Increased Enrollments, Unbeatable Retention

The College of Public Affairs and Community Service has had another outstanding year for the record books.

Goodrich Scholarship Program orientation

Omaha – The 2018-2019 academic year for the UNO College of Public Affairs and Community Service (CPACS) has been one for the record books. From increased enrollments and unbeatable retention rates to national recognition and awards, there is much to be proud of in the College this year.

INCREASED ENROLLMENT

The Aviation Institute, along with the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, both experienced significant enrollment increases.

Aviation Institute

The UNO Aviation Institute has experienced significant growth in its undergraduate flight training program. Demand for professional pilots is outstripping supply as the airlines face a wave of retirements. UNO is working with a variety of airline and air service partners, including Southwest Airlines and Jet Linx Aviation, to provide accelerated opportunities for students seeking flying careers. Regional airlines are also partnering with UNO to provide incentives for students to complete their degrees and their flight training.

UNO’s professional flight program offers an important advantage over many other flight training programs. Students who complete their undergraduate degrees and their flight ratings and certificates are able to become first officers for regional airlines with only 1,000 hours of flight time. The requirement for students coming out of other programs is typically 1,500 hours. The savings in time and money are substantial. The reasonable tuition rates at UNO and the relatively low cost of flight training in the Omaha area make UNO’s Aviation Institute a smart choice for anyone seeking to become a professional pilot.

Criminal Justice

The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (SCCJ) continues to see impressive enrollment increases. In the 2018-2019 academic year alone, the SCCJ had over 1,100 students actively pursuing degrees in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. At the undergraduate level, the SCCJ experienced an increase in enrollment of over 28% from the fall of 2018 to 2019. Interest in the field continues to grow.

Emergency Management

The Emergency Management and Disaster Science Program continues to grow at rapid rates in the College of Public Affairs and Community Service. Just since the fall of 2015, the program has seen significant growth, with enrollments up by over 75%. The field of emergency management continues to grow rapidly.

Social Work

The bachelor’s degree in the Grace Abbott School of Social Work is another program that has seen substantial growth in the last five years. From 2015 to 2019, enrollment in the bachelor’s degree is up by 32%.

UNBEATABLE RETENTION

The Goodrich Scholarship Program also had unbeatable retention rates for the past couple of years. The retention rate for the 2017 Goodrich Program cohort was 100%. The year after, the 2018 cohort experienced a retention rate of 98.33%. Much of this tremendous retention of students can be linked to the immediate and in-person responsiveness of the staff to students’ concerns. Faculty expressing proactive, innovative, and dynamic pedagogies, and the Goodrich student body organization’s adaptive programming are also crucial elements aiding in these significant retention rates. In the words of the Chair of the Goodrich Program, Dr. Imafedia Okhamafe says, "in short, the Goodrich Scholarship Program is creatively adaptive."

NOTABLE AWARDS 2018-2019

Christine Reed, ASPA Nebraska Chapter Lifetime Achievement Award, April 2019

BJ Reed, ASPA Nebraska Chapter Lifetime Achievement Award, April 2019

Sam Walker, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Division of Policing of the American Society of Criminology, November 2018

Lyn Holley, Fellow in the Academy for Gerontology of Higher Education, November 2019

Gaylene Armstrong, Distinguished Scholar Award from the Division on Corrections and Sentencing, American Society of Criminology, 2018

Carol Ebdon, Inaugural Recipient for the Paul Posner Pracademic Award, Association Budgeting and Financial Management, 2018