Note: This fictionalized anecdote provides a representative sample of actions that departments we interviewed have taken to respond to particular, case-specific metrics, and does not represent any actual departments.

The physics department at a private four-year college was under threat of closure due to the small number of majors it graduated. The department had been graduating zero or one physics major per year for many years, and had six faculty members. Through conversations with the dean, the chair set a target of graduating five majors per year and got the dean’s buy-in for a plan to reach that target, with no increased spending.

Department members read the SPIN-UP report and started with things they could manage. They established a student lounge and an open-door policy, and launched a low-cost seminar series including talks on post-graduation employment paths. Students loved the lounge and the personalized attention from faculty made them reconsider switching into a large major like chemistry or math.

Over two years, department members used the Phys21 report to reconfigure the major and add tracks in applied physics and engineering physics to appeal to more students. They publicized the great jobs physics graduates get; some students started adding physics as a second major because they saw it was feasible and might help them get a job. The chair showed the dean that enrollments in the sophomore-level courses were rising.

Over the next five years, two faculty members retired and the department hired new faculty with undergraduate-focused research programs. Students loved getting research experience and the chair always sent the dean notices when students, alumni, and faculty received awards or grants. Now, the department has 7 to 10 majors graduating every year, and the dean holds it up as a model for other departments.