strong program

General Information

Mission Statement

The Successful Teaching Related to Overcoming Negative Generalities (STRONG Program) promotes retention and academic success for African-American male students at Saint Xavier University. The STRONG Program is committed to providing relevant experiences and some financial assistance that will help African-American males succeed academically, professionally and socially through development in the following areas: education/retention, leadership, social, community involvement and cultural/spiritual awareness.

Vision

The STRONG Program is to create model projects throughout the university that are intended to provide additional academic and social support for populations that are severely underrepresented in higher education, particularly African-American/Black males. It is expected that the program activities will be institutionalized and absorbed into academic departments and student affairs offices throughout the University for the benefit of, not only students from students from underrepresented populations, but for all students at SXU.

Goals

Two of the STRONG Program's goals are to expand efforts to recruit African-American males (AAM) as undergraduates and to increase first-to-second year retention and six-year graduation rates of that student population. SXU is striving to attain these goals by creating an environment that meets the academic, professional and cultural needs of African-American males. The last goal of the initiative will be to provide one year of post-graduate support in an effort to help STRONG participants extend their success at the undergraduate level to the post-graduate realm. Ultimately, the STRONG program is intended to increase the enrollment, retention and graduation rates of AAMs to the point that they are on par with those for the University as a whole.