Recruitment and Retention at the Department-Level: What Measures Can Departments Implement to Positively Impact Student Enrollment?

The issue of declining undergraduate enrollments has received considerable national attention over the past decade. The pandemic has exacerbated these concerns as year-on-year enrollments in several states have been severely affected by the pandemic. While this period has been unique, these trends have been a feature of political science enrollments and degrees conferred for decades. The issue facing political science departments (and all academic departments) is whether there are measures that can be taken to ameliorate these national and disciplinary trends. This article catalogs various measures that a department could enact to impact enrollments and major count actively and positively. The list presented is neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive; rather, these measures can be used singularly or in tandem. The proposed measures are far-reaching, and some measures would take considerable effort on the part of a faculty and a department to implement; however, this effort should not stop departments from starting significant and meaningful conversations on enrollment.