ASCEND Podcast

Students often get the runaround, being bounced from office to office and center to center until they find what they actually need. To stop this nightmare, we created a one-stop shop on campus to better serve our students. This center (The Nest) does not have representatives from all the offices housed within. Instead, it is staffed by peer mentors who know campus inside and out. These peer mentor...

Dr. Steven Girardot from Georgia Institute of Technology joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share his deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Dr. Steven P. Girardot is the vice provost for undergraduate education at Georgia Tech and has over twenty years of higher education experience and is a proud Tech alumnus, ha...

A key to creating a campus culture around student success, retention, and completion is making sure that everyone knows these are priorities for campus. From experience we have learned that organizations fund those things they value most. Therefore, it is important that we also measure those things we want to fund.  Within higher education, faculty know why they exist. However, student affairs uni...

Dr. Jim Spain from the University of Missouri-Columbia joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share his deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Dr. Jim Spain earned a BS in Animal Sciences from North Carolina State University and completed his Master of Science and Doctorate in Dairy Science with an emphasis in dairy ca...

There are two broad groups of individuals that can often serve as the ‘canaries in the coal mine’ when it comes to a student’s well-being: faculty and community members (parents, alumni, religious leaders, etc.). In this episode we talk about how it is important to involve these two groups in the retention efforts. Two simple ways to have them help are through early alerts and a Report a Student C...

For this expert session co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby sat down with leaders from National University to capture their knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! In this episode you'll hear from Dr. Mark Milliron (President & CEO), Dr. Angela Baldasare (Deputy Chief of Staff and VP for Strategic Institutional Research &...

Students often struggle getting along with their roommates, which sometimes leads to a desire to return back home.  To increase the likelihood of roommates getting along and ultimately retaining, try pairing them with students who have similar interests, live similar schedules, and enjoy similar living arrangements.  Many campuses already do this via expensive 3rd party software programs.  But, it...

Happy thanksgiving to all our ASCEND Podcast friends and listeners!

A fun way to include faculty in creating a culture of care and concern is to involve them in our retention efforts from the very beginning of the semester. Each year, during our Fall Welcome Week, we split up all our new incoming students into small groups based on similar interests and hobbies. We then carve out some time during our welcome week for these groups of students to enjoy their interes...

Dr. Ed Cabellon from Curry College joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share his deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! With over 26 years in Higher Education, Dr. Ed Cabellon (pronounced "kah-bell-en") currently serves as Vice President of Enrollment Management at Curry College in Milton, MA. Known for hi...

We eliminated our old mandatory on-campus orientation and shifted to online modules and a voluntary system where any student who wants can come to campus to perform a Personalized Visit. Here is how it works. The student visits our Personalized Visit homepage and chooses from numerous options to hand pick exactly what he or she would like to accomplish while on campus (i.e. campus tour, visiting y...

Dr. Kal Srinivas from Syracuse University joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! As part of Syracuse University’s larger commitment to creating an inclusive student body, Dr. Kal Srinivas works with all schools, colleges and divisions to further the ideals of supporting...

Many students face unforeseen financial challenges such as a car repair, medical procedure, job loss, family issues, etc. Such surprises can prevent a student from having enough money to cover their rent, buy books, purchase food for a few weeks, pay for utilities, and so on. These expenses can lead to students withdrawing from the university. To combat this, we set some funds aside for these emer...

In this special episode, we sat down with conference attendees at the National Symposium for Student Retention (NSSR) which is hosted by the Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange at the University of Oklahoma. In this episode you'll hear from: University of Wyoming - Nycole Courtney & Abby Markley Berklee College of Music - Kristina Sharra Shenandoah University - Marshell Edney G...

We have found over the years that it is important for staff to know exactly which students they are responsible for retaining. Otherwise, if they feel responsible for ALL students, they struggle finding a way to focus their time and energy in a productive manner. We highly recommend that campuses create a series of dashboards for each individual on campus that has a responsibility to retain a part...

Dr. Michelle Ashcraft from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Dr. Michelle Ashcraft is the inaugural Senior Associate Commissioner and Chief Program Officer at the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. Michelle leads the...

When dealing with today’s generation of students, we cannot expect them to approach us when they have questions. Instead, we believe that we need to get in the habit of going to them. During the first few weeks of each semester, our peer mentors and key staff members will be seen carrying signs around campus. At any given time during these weeks, we will have a dozen or more student leaders wander...

Dr. KayDee Perry from The University of Olivet joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Dr. KayDee Perry currently serves as the Associate Provost for Student Development at The University of Olivet. Olivet is a small, private, primarily residential institution located in...

Every campus handles the course registration of new students very differently. The most common practices are either that campuses allow students to register themselves without much guidance or require students to attend a summer orientation and meet with an academic advisor. We have tried both, and from these experiences, we know that this generation of students needs significantly more support as...

In this episode, Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby sit down with the Southern Utah University Student Success Team to talk about the ASCEND model. Featured in this episode are: Kelly Lid Stephens - Executive Director of Completion and Student Success Ashleigh Zimmerman - Executive Director of Belonging and Engagement Heather Garcia - Director of Student Involvement & Leadership Brandon Street - Dir...

Too often we wish students would reach out to us for help. However, we know that this is rarely the case, especially during their first year. So we have two options: wait in vain for them to come to us or take key and timely information to them. More importantly, when dealing with Generation Z students, it is crucial to understand that we need to “go to them [and] don’t beg them to come to you” (H...

Dr. Bridget Burns joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Named one of the “Most Innovative People in Higher Education” by Washington Monthly magazine, Dr. Bridget Burns is the founding CEO of the award winning University Innovation Alliance (UIA), an national multi-campu...

In recent years there seems to be an increase in food insecurity among college students.  And even if students do have access to an adequate amount of food, on the whole they still seem to always be hungry.  To address this need, your institution might consider creating a ‘Free Food’ app. In many instances, campus activity boards, clubs, and organizations are always looking for increased attendanc...

Dr. James Winfield joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share his knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Dr. James K. Winfield serves as the associate dean for first-year experience, general education, and retention strategies at Southern New Hampshire University’s Global Campus. Winfield is a proud first-gen graduate wit...

It is important for college campuses to study their students, collect data on them so they better understand their unique qualities, and then determine how to best serve them. A common challenge that many campuses face is making sure that campus practices, policies, approach, and culture match the students that they serve. The students on our campuses change over time and it is important that we a...