Come To Believe: The Podcast

In celebration of Women's History Month, listen in to the first part of a two-part series about the importance of empowerment for women-identified folks within higher education. In this episode, we talk with Zughey Flores, an alumna of Arrupe College and a current graduate student at Northwestern University. We discuss Zughey's unique pathway to pursuing graduate education, how Arrupe cont...

Listen in to our conversation about supporting academic achievement in the college classroom with DFC faculty member, Professor Sarah McCann. We discuss Sarah's unique pathway to becoming a faculty member at DFC, the importance of evidence-based instructional practices, common misconceptions about academic rigor, and the importance of enthusiasm as a teaching tool. We left our conversation wit...

Listen in to our conversation about belonging in the classroom and on campus with DFC faculty member, Professor Amir Mohamed. We discuss how his personal background led him to higher education, the importance of belonging to academic success, and the importance of other institutions nurturing students' sense of belonging after they leave DFC. We learned a lot from the conversation, and we hope you...

In this episode, we talked to Arrupe College Class of 2020 Alum and founder of the Black Student Union, Egypt Watson, and Arrupe College Clinical Associate Professor of Political Science, Dr. Lavar Pope, who was the BSU's first faculty sponsor. Together, they discuss the origin story of the first Black Student Union at Arrupe College and the importance of belonging to college success.

Listen in to CTB's latest panel discussion on the landscape of mental health at two-year colleges in the United States. The panel will begin with a research presentation by Dr. Sarah Ketchen Lipson on the landscape of mental health at community colleges in the United States, based on findings from the Healthy Minds Study. Then, panelists from Arrupe College will join Dr. Lipson to discuss the impo...

Listen in to a session at CTB's latest virtual retreat on wrap-around supports: a conversation with best-selling author Paul Tough. Paul is the author, most recently, of The Inequality Machine: How College Divides Us (previously The Years That Matter Most ), published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. His three previous books include the best-selling How Children Succeed , Helping Children Succee...

Listen in to a conversation between Steve Katsouros SJ, President/CEO  of Come to Believe, and Eric Immel, SJ, Vocations Promoter for the  Midwest Jesuits and former Associate Dean for Student Success at Arrupe College. Steve and Eric discuss Fr. Immel's earliest memories of Arrupe College, the role of Cura Personalis at Arrupe, the importance of  orientations and retreats to Arrupe...

An excerpt from an interview with Don Graham of the Dream. US, part of our ongoing Design Grant program. The Design Grant provides colleges and  universities with an inside look at the CTB model as they consider replication on their campuses.

Today's episode focuses on credit accumulation—how the rate at which students earn college credits can make a big difference on their trajectories and ultimate success. We were joined by two higher ed experts with recent research in this area. Dr. Taylor Odle is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Odle recently co-autho...

Students all over the country count on state grants to afford the cost of post-secondary education, but the form and generosity of these programs vary widely from state to state. CTB's latest panel, held on September 8th, 2022, began with a research presentation on the impact of grant aid by Dr. Brent Evans of Vanderbilt University, and then dove into the landscape of state aid to provide greater...

Our latest panel featured Dr. Lisette Nieves presenting her research on the importance of employment to students' academic and personal development during college. Then, Steve Katsouros, SJ facilitated a round table discussion with special guests from Dougherty Family College, Arrupe College, and CTB about internships, employer relations, and more!  Finally, we had time for audience Q&A.&...

Check out CTB’s third virtual panel discussion "The Cost of Aid: The Burdens of Affordability in Higher Ed" was held on April 4th, 2022 at 5:00 PM EDT. The panel began a research presentation on the challenges of navigating the postsecondary financial aid system by Bridgette Davis of the UChicago Crown School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Next, CTB President/CEO Steve Katsouros, SJ facilit...

Check out our conversation with Bridgette Davis, a doctoral candidate at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago, about the burdens associated with the financial aid system in the United States. Bridgette is a two-time Point Foundation Scholar and Institute of Education Sciences Predoctoral Fellow. Her fields of interest include anti-poverty policy...

Perhaps the most critical aspect of the Come To Believe model is the sense of belonging cultivated at each campus. Simply put, belonging is in CTB's DNA. We dive into a discussion focusing on belonging and inclusion within the field of higher education. With presentation from Assistant Professor at UCLA and Director of the Culture and Contact Lab, Dr. Tiffany Brannon.

Check out our conversation with Dr. Tiffany N. Brannon, Assistant Professor of Social Psychology at UCLA and the Director of the Culture and Contact Lab. Her research examines socio-cultural identities in negatively stereotyped groups such as African-Americans and Latino/a/x-Americans; and she investigates the potential for these identities to serve as a psychological resource— one that can facili...

A conversation with Dr. Sullivan on the founding of Dougherty Family College, the second CTB model college in the country.

We hope you enjoy our very first panel discussion Hosted by Steven Katsourous, SJ, CEO of Come to Believe. Along with special guests Chief External Affairs Officer, KIPP NYC, Jane Martinez Dowling, Co-Founder and National Board Chair, OneGoal Jeff Nelson, Deputy Director, UChicago Consortium on School Research Jenny Nagaoka.   The panelists discuss what has changed and what still needs to be...