ASCEND Podcast

It is important to remember that Generation Z students are much closer with their families and rely heavily on their parents or guardians in their decision-making process (Hundrieser, 2015). As a result, it is very important for colleges and universities to partner with parents in their students success. In this episode we talk about creating a Parent and Family Services office to serve as the sin...

Dr. Paul Dosal, Senior Vice President for Student Success at the University of Central Florida, 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. Paul Dosal joined the University of Central Florida as the inaugural Senior Vice President for Student Success in July 2022.   In this po...

As we have consulted with institutions across the nation, we have found that regardless of the academic reputation or extracurricular experience an institution might have, if students are unable to afford to attend, these students will leave. In this episode, we talk about a number of considerations for increasing the number of student jobs on campus.

Dr. Dale Whittaker, Senior Advisor for Postsecondary Success and Pathways at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 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. Dale Whittaker has worked for over three decades on the frontlines of public higher education in roles ranging from...

Each semester, during the 2nd week of classes, we work with faculty to report on the attendance status of each student. From this exercise we are able to: (1) clean up enrollment records; and (2) collect the names of students who have not been attending classes. We know from research that class attendance is an extremely powerful predictor of student persistence. Students who regularly attend all...

Dr. Tim Renick, Executive Director of the National Institute for Student Success and Professor of Religious Studies at Georgia State University, 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! Timothy Renick is the founding Executive Director of the National Institute for Student Succ...

In our quest to increase persistence and retention, we often spend all our efforts on the “murky middle” (Venit, 2015) or those that we know have a higher propensity to leave. Consequently, we neglect our “high fliers.” This can bite us if we are not careful. Make sure that with everything you do, you take time to praise the positive and recognize those students who do not require a lot of attenti...

Dr. Melinda Karp, Founder of Phase Two Advisory, joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Melinda Karp is the founder of Phase Two Advisory, a small consultancy that works with broad access colleges and universities to apply the research on what works for student success to the...

Generally speaking, campus events cater to extroverted students. They are activities that often revolve around large crowds, high intensity activities, loud music, and/or require a lot of interaction. Knowing that it is important for our introverted students to also engage,  we implemented smaller, more intimate and quiet events to make sure they also feel connected to campus and develop a sense o...

Dr. Bernie Savarese, Acting Vice President for Academic Affairs, Research, and Student Success at the University of Tennessee System, 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. Bernie Savarese joined the University of Tennessee System in 2021 as the associate vice president f...

One of the cultural aspects we believe has had a large impact on increasing the retention and completion rates of our students is getting to know them individually, and ideally by name. We know that students are much more likely to persist and retain when they feel a sense of connection to campus, and one of the easiest ways to help them feel connected is getting to know them.

Dr. Karen McGregor, Executive Director of Student Success at Purdue Global, joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Karen McGregor, Ph. D., serves as Purdue Global’s Executive Director of Student Success. With over 15 years of experience in higher education, McGregor has provi...

Many campuses allow students to withdraw from their institution by simply filling out an online form. Historically this has been our institutional practice as well. We never talked to the withdrawing student or attempted to see what, if anything, we could do to help them stay. We immediately saw that this needed to change.  The first thing we did to improve our process was to hire a staff member w...

Dr. Blake Nemelka, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Clinical Operations at HCA Healthcare's Mountain Division, joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Blake has not been able to get enough education in his life- attending Utah State, Vanderbilt, and Purdue universit...

It is very common for colleges and universities to place holds on students’ accounts as a way to ensure that a student complies with a particular requirement or pays a fee or fine. On our own campus, as well as those that we consult with, we are always perplexed by the large number of holds (financial, registration, etc.) that numerous departments and offices across campus place on students’ accou...

Dr. Jennifer Latino, Senior Director on EAB’s Strategic Advisory Services team, joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Dr. Jennifer Latino is a senior director on EAB’s Strategic Advisory Services team. She spent the first 17 years of her career in higher education in a varie...

The 3rd week of each semester, we administer a survey to all new incoming students. The purpose of this survey is to check in with students to see how they are doing now that orientation is over, classes have begun, and the “honeymoon phase” has started to wear off.  In this episode you will find a list of topics that we seek answers to from our new students. The data we capture from our students...

Carolina Recchi,  the co-founder and co-CEO of EdSights, joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Carolina is the co-founder and co-CEO of EdSights, a company that utilizes artificial intelligence and behavioral science to help students persist. EdSights serves 100+ institution...

Course registration seasons are the time of year where the rubber meets the road. This is when you find out if any of your initiatives to increase persistence and retention efforts have actually worked. Despite the importance of re-registering students, far too many campuses do not treat it with the seriousness that it deserves. Is registration on your campus a primary focus or an afterthought? Do...

Dr. Neil Burton from Clemson University 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. Neil Burton is the Executive Director of the Center for Career and Professional Development at Clemson University.  His educational background includes a B.A. in Journalism from the University...

A simple way to engage students is to create a homegrown bucket list of items each student should do before they graduate. This list provides students with activities to do with others or on their own, both of which help connect the student to your institution. 

Dr. Leslie Webb joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts! Dr. Leslie Webb brings an equity mindset and a high level of cultural consciousness to her work. Leslie is a relational leader and a steward of place and the student and staff experience. She focuses on helping units evol...

One of the more effective strategies for influencing the culture of an organization is for the leader to create a motto, approach, or concept that the team can rally around. This gives everyone something to think about, ponder on, and be a part of. In the end, it becomes a rallying cry that all desire to be associated with. A perfect example of this concept would be The Disney Way, where every cas...

Peer mentoring programs have become all the rage in higher education. It seems like every campus has implemented a peer mentoring program as the research has shown that peer mentors are one of the best, most cost-efficient things campuses can do to move the needle on retention and completion. However, from our experience working with other campuses, we have found that not all peer mentoring progra...

Dr. Rick Sluder 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. Sluder serves as Vice Provost for Student Success and Dean of University College at Middle Tennessee State University.  He leads MTSU’s Quest for Student Success 2025 , which includes enhancing faculty development, cl...