Transforming the OSU Student Experience

GOAL 2

Create an accessible, systemwide Oklahoma State University student experience that develops servant-leaders and builds belonging, resilience, well-being, career readiness and drives professional growth.

Being a Cowboy isn’t just about earning a degree. It’s about becoming someone. It’s about being forged into something greater — a servant-leader, a community builder, a person who carries the Cowboy Code long after graduation day.

At Oklahoma State University, the student experience is designed from the ground up with that transformation in mind, meeting students where they are, building them into who they are meant to become and sending them forward as contributors to something larger than themselves.

Every OSU graduate carries a common credential beyond their diploma. They embody a shared set of core competencies, professional preparedness, engaged citizenship, ethical leadership, personal responsibility and emerging technology fluency, that define what it means to be a Cowboy in the modern world. These competencies ensure every student, regardless of major or pathway, leaves ready to compete, lead and contribute at the highest level.

Oklahoma and the world need Cowboys. OSU's commitment to student experience, success and graduation is the engine that produces them.

OBJECTIVE 1

Launch a cohesive, systemwide onboarding experience that builds belonging and connects every incoming student to OSU’s mission, resources and community from day one.

Key Performance Indicators

• Conduct a review of OSU System onboarding programs to enhance the student experience
• Increase new student onboarding program participation rate
• Increase the first-year student sense of belonging score
• Increase first-year student retention rate

OBJECTIVE 2

Deploy a coordinated retention and persistence framework that aligns advising, early intervention, wellness support and career development to close service gaps and improve graduation rates for all student populations.

Key Performance Indicators and Tasks

• Increase the four-year and six-year graduation rates by 5% for full-time students on the Stillwater campus.
  
• Increase systemwide retention and graduation rates
• Identify barriers to persistence; address and report annually
• Decrease the average time to credential or degree

OBJECTIVE 3

Prepare every OSU student to demonstrate the five core competencies — professional preparedness, engaged citizenship, ethical leadership, personal responsibility and emerging technology fluency — through curricular, co-curricular and experiential learning opportunities and programs to make a global impact.

Key Performance Indicators

• Develop curriculum to help students achieve the core competencies while meeting programmatic outcomes
• Increase career-readiness programming and microcredential completion rate by 10%

OBJECTIVE 4

Enrich the OSU student experience through transformative opportunities — including the arts, study abroad, residential life, fraternity and sorority communities, student organizations, OSU Athletics and more — that prepare every Cowboy to lead with purpose in their careers and communities beyond graduation.

Key Performance Indicators

• Increase the co-curricular and experiential learning participation rate
• Establish and measure student engagement with mentors
• Measure student satisfaction with transformative opportunities