Students, University officials, faculty and others interested in N.C. State’s future gathered in the Talley Student Center ballroom Tuesday to participate in a student success forum.

Student body President Kelly Hook and Chancellor Randy Woodson hosted the event.

The forum was another part of the University’s strategic planning process, which will lay out the University’s plans for N.C. State’s future. Student success is one of the nine elements of identified in the Strategic Plan for the University.

The Strategic Plan is the University’s vision for the next five to 15 years, according to Hook. Undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral elements are addressed separately in the plan.

Students filed into the ballroom, most with pizza in hand, before the forum began. The pizza was provided by the University at a cost of $150, according to Hook.

Nidhi Gandhi, a sophomore in biological chemistry, attended the event to earn credit for the scholars program. Scholars students must attend 12 events per semester in order to remain in the program.

“They are going to talk about you can do well as an undergrad,” Gandhi said of the forum presenters.

After introductions by Woodson and Hook, student leader Marycobb Randall began the forum by presenting recommendations from the Undergraduate Student Success task force. Randall is the co-chair for the USS task force and a senior in business administration.

Attendees were encouraged to ask questions following Randall’s presentation. Students asked a range of questions, and topics of discussion were not limited to those covered in Randall’s presentation.

Dustin Nelson, a senior in chemical engineering, said he had concerns regarding student involvement. He said he felt student involvement on campus is a key to student success.

“N.C. State does a good job of getting students involved initially, but there is no follow-up process,” Nelson said. “The University experiences losses [in student retention] due to students not getting involved.”

Woodson agreed with Nelson’s point.

“Students who get involved are more likely to be successful,” he said.

Nelson, also a student in the scholars program, attended the forum with three of his fraternity brothers from Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Oksana Samarskiy, a senior in biological chemistry, said she felt there is a discrepancy between support for incoming freshmen and incoming transfer students. She entered N.C. State as a junior after earning an associate’s degree in community college.

Samarskiy said incoming freshmen have more opportunities to acclimate to college life than incoming transfers. Students who transfer to the University with some college credit are thrown into the college experience without as much assistance, according toSamarskiy.

Faculty members, Woodson, Hook and other student leaders took questions for an hour. Woodson, who sat in the front row, stood several times during session to answer questions. When he was not standing, he would spin around in his seat to face those who posed questions.

A total of 13 students rose to ask questions during the question-and-answer session.

After a presentation from the N.C. State Task Force on Graduate and Postdoctoral Program Development, graduate students attending the forum asked several questions.

Jackie Smith, a junior in political science and Student Senate member, said the Senate will definitely bring up issues discussed at the forum.

 ”We [the Student Senate] are aware of the issues. Marycobb [Randall] with the task force has been working very hard on them,” Smith said. “It was really nice to see that students had an input.”