Coppin State again targeted for transformation

Coppin State University Physical Education Complex (256,000 S.F.)
Completed January 2010
 Construction Cost: $95.1 Million 

Coppin State graduates 60 percent of its student-athletes in four-years; transfer students at 40 percent in four-years; and new freshmen at 15 percent over four years.

BALTIMORE, Maryland  --  When Tasha Wilkie helped out in the math department as an undergrad at Coppin State University, she dealt with some students who came in without basic skills. They didn't know their multiplication tables or how to work with fractions.

"We have students who've taken courses like three times" before they passed, said Wilkie, who graduated in 2011 and is now working toward a doctorate in biology at Ohio State University. There, she realized she also was ill-equipped for some classes by her studies at Coppin.

But this commencement season, Wilkie and others remain Coppin boosters. Even though Coppin boasts one of the worst graduation rates in the nation — only 15 percent of first-time, full-time freshmen graduate within six years — they say Coppin is a much-needed institution that could be turned around.

"It's kind of like a diamond in the rough," said Egypt Buie, who graduated with a bachelor of science degree in interdisciplinary studies. The New York-native said the campus was more nurturing than others she experienced.

Over the past dozen years, the university, known for producing much-needed nurses and teachers for the city's workforce, has received additional funds to make up for decades of under-funding at historically black colleges. It has added 20 new academic degrees, overhauled its facilities in Northwest Baltimore and increased the faculty by nearly half.

SOARING LIKE AN EAGLE:  Report of the Coppin State University Special Review Committee (.pdf)

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