Graduate
Experience
Student Engagement & Resource Optimization Analytics
Led an end-of-year analysis of the 2025-26 Graduate Student Engagement Programming to evaluate resource optimization and attendance trends.
CHALLENGE
Determining how to maximize a $6,000 total budget across three campuses while maintaining a high sense of belonging.
SOLUTION
Developed an interactive dashboard to visualize 872 total attendees and identify high-impact event characteristics.
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
Maintained an average cost of only $6.45 per student while achieving high satisfaction scores.
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
HIGH-IMPACT PROGRAMMING
Identified Breakzone Takeover! (118 attendees) and Plants & Pots (100 attendees) as the highest-impact sessions of the year.
COST EFFICIENCY BY CATEGORY:
High ROI: Social ($2.08/student) and Chillfield ($3.84/student)yielded the lowest overhead.
High Investment: Educational programming reached the highest cost-per-student at $37.25.
STRATEGIC BUDGET VARIANCE:
Successfully managed real-time spending against each event's target budget, justifying higher investments for "Anchor Events"(e.g., Plants & Pots) that resulted in the largest audience segments.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION:
Leveraged Blacksburg’s high-density capacity to reach a total of 872 attendees across the Graduate Student Experience series.
Cross
Campus
Comparison
OVERALL SATISFACTION
Students reported a high level of enjoyment with an average rating of 4.67/5, with 17 out of 24 respondents giving the maximum score of 5.
SENSE OF BELONGING
The program's goal of creating a community was highly successful, earning a 4.83/5 average for students feeling "welcomed and included".
TOP INTERESTS
Quantitative survey data confirmed Arts & Crafts as the most enjoyed event type (24 votes), aligning with the high attendance numbers seen on the dashboard.
BARRIERS TO ATTENDANCE
While Time/Schedule conflicts (16) were the primary reason for skipping events, 11 students noted they "didn't hear about it in time," identifying a clear opportunity for improved marketing.
STUDENT VOICE
2026-27
Strategic Roadmap
STANDARDIZE HIGH-IMPACT FLAGSHIPS
ACTION: Establish "Plants and Pots" and "Breakzone Takeover" as annual traditions.
GOAL: Secure high ROI and guaranteed student turnout for the largest audience segments.
OPTIMIZE MARKETING OUTREACH
ACTION: Transition from text-heavy notifications to visual graphics in graduate newsletters.
GOAL: Address the 45% of non-attendees who cited "lack of awareness" as their primary barrier to entry.
DATA-BACKED DECISION MAKING
By integrating Tableau for resource tracking and Microsoft Forms for opinion analysis, SECL can now prioritize student belonging while keeping up with strict budget optimization.