• Supporting Students Experiencing Temporary Financial Hardship
  • Institutional support for students facing temporary financial crises, aiming to address barriers to academic success and persistence amidst unplanned financial hardship during their journey.
  • Participants:
    • Melissa Heinrich, Assistant Vice President, Student Services, Financial Aid and Scholarship Services (ASU)
    • Missy Pizzo, Associate Vice President, Academic Enterprise Enrollment, Financial Aid and Scholarship Services (ASU)
    • Maureen McCoy, Pitchfork Pantry Faculty Advisor (ASU)
    • Josh Maher, Associate Vice President, Community Relations (NAU)
    • Brant Ziemba, Manager, Financial Aid (NAU)
    • Shannon Clark, Director, Lumberjack CARE Center and Assistant Dean of Students (NAU)
    • Art Young, Assistant Vice President, Enrollment Management and Executive Director, Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid (UArizona)
    • Bridgette Riebe, Assistant Director, Basic Needs Center and Services (UArizona)
    • Analía Powell, Assistant Dean of Students, Student Assistance (UArizona)
• Increasing Retention and Success Among Men of Color
  • Address widening college gender gap, particularly among men of color by identifying and mitigating barriers that impact persistence and completion.
  • Participants:
    • Amalia Pallares,Vice Provost, Inclusive Excellence (ASU)
    • Catalina Monsalve, Project Manager, Office of Inclusive Excellence (ASU)
    • Cassandra Aska, Deputy Vice President and Dean of Students Tempe (ASU)
    • Jeffrey Wilson, Associate Dean of Research and Inclusive Excellence and Professor (ASU)
    • Roger Fisher, Director of Career Pathways for Access (ASU)
    • Justin Mallett, Vice President for Inclusive Excellence (NAU)
    • Hilda Ladner, Associate Vice President, Student Affairs (NAU)
    • Bernadine Lewis, Program Director, The W.A. Franke College of Business (NAU)
    • Christine Salvesen, Chief Retention Officer and Associate Vice Provost, Student Success and Retention Innovation (UArizona)
    • Michelle McKelvey, Senior Director, Thrive Center (UArizona)
    • Waun Smith, Senior Coordinator, Men of Color Initiatives and Senior Coordinator, Outreach & Advocacy (UArizona)
• Scaling Work-Integrated Learning Opportunities
  • Share best practices in scaling work-integrated learning opportunities, aiming to provide diverse students with enhanced pathways, foster goal achievement and lead to higher career satisfaction.
  • Participants:
    • Brandee Popaden-Smith, Director, Work+Learn (ASU)
    • Amanda Butkiewicz, Program Director, Experiential Learning (ASU)
    • Sarah Peronne Lascoula, Director, Career & Professional Development Services (ASU)
    • John Gartin, Director, Student life Experience, NAU Career Development (NAU)
    • Marjaneh Gilpatrick, Associate Vice President, Statewide Initiatives & Alliances (NAU)
    • Yimin Wang, Vice Provost for Global Affairs (NAU)
    • Kimberly Frick, Director, Business and Educational Partnerships, Internships and Placements (NAU)
    • Abra McAndrew, Assistant Vice President, Access, Engagement & Opportunity (UArizona)
    • Annie Kurtin, Senior Associate Director, Integrated Learning Partnerships (UArizona)
    • Emily McCarthy, Senior Director, Career Development (UA)

Note that titles and affiliations reflect participants’ positions at the time of their engagement with that Learning Studio

• Academic Student Success Centers: Service Design and Delivery
  • Each institution shared their respective suite of academic support and supplemental instruction services, both in-person and online, to meet the needs of students throughout their academic journey. The Learning Studio focused on engaging a group of practitioners from each institution to share operational and programmatic strategies for maximizing student service delivery.
  • Participants:
    • Lisa Cahill, Director, University Academic Support Services (ASU)
    • Aaron Garriss, Director, Student Success Innovation (ASU)
    • Nancy Cervasio, Deputy Chief Officer for Student Coaching Services, EdPlus (ASU)
    • Nicolette Miller, Senior Director of Student Success Initiatives, EdPlus (ASU)
    • Helen Hemmer, Assistant Director, Academic Support (NAU)
    • Marjaneh Gilpatrick, Interim Associate Vice Provost, Online and Innovative Educational Initiatives (NAU)
    • Carmin Chan, Senior Director, Online Student Success Initiatives (UArizona)
    • Marco Ortiz, Director, UArizona Think Tank (UArizona)
• Instructional Design: Distance and Blended Learning
  • The Learning Studio engaged instructional design team leads to share promising operational and programmatic strategies for supporting and coaching faculty and trainers in the development of engaging, effective, and high-quality distance and blended learning experiences.
  • Participants:
    • Renee Pilbeam, Director, EdPlus (ASU)
    • Peter Van Leusen, Director, FSE Learning and Teaching Hub (ASU)
    • Justin Harding, Executive Director, EdPlus (ASU)
    • Scot Raab, Associate Dean (NAU)
    • Samantha Clifford, Interim Assistant Vice Provost, NAU Online (NAU)
    • Rachel Hardman, Instructional Designer, Senior (NAU)
    • Matthew Romanoski, Associate Director of Instructional Design for Digital Learning (UArizona)
    • Adam Davi, Senior Instructional Designer for Digital Learning (UArizona)
    • Laura Smith, Senior Instructional Designer, Global Course (UArizona)
    • Stephanie Tammen, Senior Instructional Designer for Digital Learning (UArizona)
• Leveraging Predictive Analytic Systems and Interventions for Undergraduate Retention
  • The Learning Studio engaged practitioners in institutional analysis and/or leads focused on retention research through systems-level analytics and technologies. Participants explored the various ways the universities collect and leverage institutional data to design and evaluate strategies for undergraduate retention.
  • Participants:
    • Jennifer Wilken, Associate Vice Provost, Office of University Provost (ASU)
    • Phil Arcuria, Senior Director, Office of University Provost (ASU)
    • Hamid Ghasemi, Data Scientist Principal (ASU)
    • Margot Saltonstall, Vice President of Student Affairs (NAU)
    • Chad Stiller, Associate Vice President, Information Technology (NAU)
    • T Noecker, Strategic Planning Director (NAU)
    • April Cook, Director, Student Affairs Strategic Initiatives (NAU)
    • Kendra Thompson-Dyck, Manager, Office of Assessment & Research (UArizona)
    • Marla Rodriguez, Manager of Student Online Data, Outreach, and Decision Support (UArizona)
    • Trevor Kvaran, Data Scientist (UArizona)
    • Mark Ray, Academic Data Architect (UArizona)
• Indigenous and Native American Student Support Services
  • The Learning Studio engaged primary institutional affiliates who provide direct student support services to Indigenous and Native American students to celebrate their cultural identities, ensure an inclusive campus culture, and support their academic and career aspirations.
  • Participants:
    • Jim Larney, Director, American Indian Student Support Services (ASU)
    • Annabell Bowen, Director, American Indian Initiatives (ASU)
    • Sharon Doctor, Director, Office of Indigenous Student Success (NAU)
    • Ora Marek-Martinez, Associate Vice President, Office of Native American Initiatives (NAU)
    • Karen Francis-Begay, Assistant Vice Provost, Native American Initiatives (UArizona)
    • Monty Begaye, Director, Native American Student Affairs (UArizona)
• University New Student Undergraduate Orientation
  • The Learning Studio engaged practitioners responsible for the implementation of new student orientation for both in-person and online students. Participants learned and explored how our institutions support incoming undergraduates to successfully transition to college life, complete necessary incoming student tasks, and provide information on institutional resources and services to maximize student success.
  • Participants:
    • Amy Ahlstromer, Director, New Student Programs (ASU)
    • Brianne Frazier, Director of Student Engagement and Success, EdPus (ASU)
    • Maria Balderas, Specialist Senior, EdPlus (ASU)
    • Moses Hollis, Assistant Director, New Student and Family Programs (ASU)
    • Terri Hayes, Director, Academic Support (NAU)
    • Helen Hemmer, Assistant Director, Academic Support (NAU)
    • Yvanna Corella, Assistant Director, Enrollment Management, Admissions (NAU)
    • Logan Adams, Director, Orientation and New Student Services (UArizona)
    • Grace Hurd, Associate Director, Online Student Success (UArizona)

Initiative to centralize data on student success indicators across multiple databases at NAU

• Project Leads: Margot Saltonstall, Laurie Dickson, and Chad Stiller
• $99,620
• Category: Scaling What Works
• NAU and ASU

Summary

Aligned with NAU’s vision to be the nation’s preeminent engine of opportunity, vehicle of economic mobility and driver of social impact by delivering equitable postsecondary value in Arizona and beyond, NAU’s Data Infrastructure Project will lay the foundation for data science explorations aimed at increasing student success. Through these efforts, NAU will better understand the combination of factors that add value and contribute to students thriving, persisting, and graduating.

This project is focused on creating a centralized, integrated, and dynamic data set reflective of the student experience both in and out of the classroom. With the funding for data architect and data engineer positions, NAU will source and create a comprehensive data set reflective of the student experience: catalog, gather, and centralize five years of historical curricular and co-curricular data that are currently stored in disparate applications: develop and implement a process to add new data each term: and document the process and define the data elements that comprise the data set.

Creation of a comprehensive, longitudinal data set will increase NAU’s ability to holistically evaluate and understand the student experience and what contributes to student success overall and for diverse student subpopulations. NAU will then leverage comprehensive predictive analytics to drive data-informed institutional actions and improve student success.

View a recording of the awardee presentation from the 2024 UA-AIA Student Success Conference

Pilot the use of the InScribe community platform for advising at NAU

• Project Leads: Terri Hayes and Helen Hemmer
• $100,000
• Category: Scaling What Works
• NAU and ASU

Summary

NAU seeks to modernize and scale its virtual presence with incoming students. The AIA facilitated an opportunity for NAU to learn from its sister institutions regarding how to maximize the use of technology to reach a larger audience while retaining the personalized approach to student service for which NAU is known. Through the AIA New Student Orientation Learning Studio, academic advising leaders were exposed to various technologies that support effective and efficient student outreach. The InScribe platform, utilized by ASU, offers flexibility in supporting tutoring, community building, and information sharing.

The pilot program, launching in fall 2024, seeks to use technology (InScribe) to support new students in real time throughout their incoming summer and first fall term. Serving more students online, during off hours and virtually is essential. The tool supports a personalized approach by providing a place to seek answers to questions and build community with advisors and one another while providing more immediate, time-sensitive responses. Currently, NAU delivers information via email, webinar and individual appointments. NAU's ability to utilize the community engagement features of InScribe will support scale without losing personalization.

Once launched, NAU will create an online University Advising community, and begin a channel for incoming first-year students, guiding students through their advising and enrollment experience for their first semester. Students will be able to post questions, use the chat function, or engage in discussions with other students, academic advisors and advising staff.

View a recording of the awardee presentation from the 2024 UA-AIA Student Success Conference

Generative AI + AI tools symposium for tutoring and supplemental instruction

• Prodject Leads: Lisa Cahill, Rhonda Rumble, Tristen Rebe
• $21,270
• Category: Student Success and Support
• ASU, NAU, UArizona

Summary

With the arrival of ChatGPT, large language models, and generative AI, the university landscape is quickly changing, particularly in terms of learning and student support initiatives. As a result, there is a great need for student support units to determine the implications of emerging technologies for students they employ, students they serve, programs they manage, and future directions for innovation and collaboration.

It is imperative to create opportunities for practitioners across the tri-university system to come together, pause and collaboratively think through implications, benefits, ethics, and challenges of using generative AI. ASU student support staff will host a symposium with their NAU and UArizona counterparts focused on exploring generative AI in terms of learning processes and student support with attention to implications for programming for in-person and distance/online learners. This symposium would help explore issues of digital literacy and student access. Invited representatives will then share their findings with their institutional colleagues for further discussion.

View a recording of the awardee presentation from the 2024 UA-AIA Student Success Conference

AIA Data Collaborative: Investigating Student Transfer Pathways

• Project leads: Dr. Kendra Thompson-Dyck (UArizona) and Dr. Carmin Chan (NAU)
• $40,000
• Category: Student Success and Support
• ASU, NAU, UArizona

Summary

NAU, UArizona and ASU will engage in a data collaborative aimed at studying and improving intra-state student movements through postsecondary institutions, which will help more Arizonans complete their educational aspirations. Leaders and practitioners from each institution will engage in a specific, scoped data-driven project over three semesters. The project will engage an expert Advisory Council of institutional transfer and student success administrators from each university, as well as AZ Transfer and the Helios Education Foundation to inform the research focus and resulting recommendations.

The outcome of the project will be a coordinated joint report and virtual statewide data summit to support educational attainment across Arizona. A collaborative approach to data-informed decision-making will serve to strengthen ties between the three institutions and address the timely, critical topic of transfer student degree attainment.

View a recording of the awardee presentation from the 2024 UA-AIA Student Success Conference

View this webpage to learn more details about this project