Dear Colleagues:
TBR has awarded a $40,000 Student Engagement, Retention and Success grant to Dr. Shannon Blanton, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Programs & Professor of Political Science, to implement “Academic Coaching for Students on Academic Warning.” The team of UM researchers who will implement and complete the project also include Dr. Colton Cockrum, Assistant Director of CARES, Cecilia Olivares, Director of CARES, Bob Baker, Director of the Center for Athletic Academic Services, and Dr. Karen Weddle-West, Director of Diversity Initiatives & Dean of the Graduate School.
Dr. Blanton explains, “The primary purpose of the project is to pair students who have been placed on Academic Warning with an academic coach for individual meetings throughout the semester. Graduate students specializing in counseling-related fields will serve as coaches, and will meet one-on-one with freshmen students to help them develop a clear vision of their own goals and career path. While both lower and upper division students go on academic warning in any given semester, the largest proportion of students are continuing freshmen, so this initial pilot project will focus on students in that category.”
The study seeks to explicitly incorporate use of the Degree Compass tool in the coaching program. This software uses an algorithm based on an individual student’s transcript and academic performance, as well as data from thousands of other students, to generate individualized course suggestions. “Analysis has shown that students who selected courses in this manner had a much higher success rate than students who selected courses on their own,” Dr. Blanton continues. The grant will permit the University to afford the use of this software while the pilot project advances.
Academic Coaching is the topic of University of Memphis’ Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) required of our SACS accreditation process, and a featured part of the University’s Access to Success plan to reduce the success gap for underrepresented minorities and Pell-recipient students.
Congratulations to Dr. Blanton and her team for advancing student success initiatives. In addition to the recognition from TBR, her successful grant application deserves our enthusiastic applause.
Go Tigers!
M. David Rudd, Provost