From the Executive Director
On Wednesday, March 8, from 1:00-2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the USU/APLU and the AAC&U will hold a webinar on tracking student access to high-impact practices in STEM. We know that certain “High-Impact Practices,” such as internships, undergraduate research, capstone courses, and learning communities, help undergraduate students persist and succeed. These practices have a disproportionately positive impact on students from underrepresented backgrounds. This webinar will briefly summarize the evidence for High-Impact Practices and share innovative efforts from California State University, Northridge and the University of South Carolina to track and analyze underrepresented student participation in High-Impact Practices in STEM. The webinar will close with action items to study these practices further for STEM students and convene a learning collaborative to develop better data collection systems. Click here to register.

And remember to save the date for the USU Summer Meeting on July 20 - 21, 2017. This year we will be in Atlanta, GA co-hosted by Georgia State University. More details will be coming soon. We look forward to seeing you there for the exciting new agenda!

USU in the News
In a reply to the New York Times article "America’s Great Working-Class Colleges" , Dr. Garmise offered her perspective on how low-income students can be helped to finish college in "College Success, for All"

Cleveland State University and the Ohio State University along with other Ohio colleges vow to protect students, scholars affected by recent immigration order.

USU, APLU and Temple University have announced a new effort to help universities improve & grow small-dollar completion grants aimed at turning would-be dropouts into college graduates. The program has also been highlighted in a Washington Post article. 

The University of Cincinnati launched a smartphone app specifically designed to help students from two-year colleges navigate the transition process to obtain a four-year degree. 

Georgia State University reviews its success with predictive analytics to catch students in danger of dropping out.

Congratulations 
Dr. Neville G. Pinto was recently appointed the 30th President of the University of Cincinnati.

CSU, Fullerton recently received the 2017 Promising Practices Award given by the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education for its Student Success Teams.

Resources