SUNY Buffalo State is in the middle of implementing a series of retention initiatives with the support of SUNY Improvement Funds: supplemental instruction, peer mentoring program, and a summer bridge program for general admission first-year students. These retention initiatives have been designed to resource students with academic and non-academic supports to help them navigate their higher education paths and persist in college.

Buffalo State has been successful in implementing supplemental instruction, peer mentoring, and summer bridge programs during the 2018-2019 academic year. During the 2018-2019 academic year over 1,100 students were impacted by the retention initiatives supported through Buffalo State's SUNY Improvement Fund award. The early success of the programs has called for an expansion of the programs for the 2019-2020 academic year. With only one full-time staff member running these programs, Buffalo State has developed a creative way to manage the programs’ student and staff size.

The presenters will discuss how Buffalo State has created undergraduate Senior Peer Mentor and Senior Supplemental Instruction Leader positions to assist with the management of the 50+ undergraduate Peer Mentors and Supplemental Instruction Leaders who run the programs. The presenters will share observation, evaluation, management, session planning, staff meeting, and communication plans that have been developed for each program to facilitate full support for each undergraduate employee working to implement the programs. Participants will be provided with time to ask questions, share their experiences managing groups of undergraduate students, and create a plan for expanding their programs by creating student leadership positions.