In its second year, the ACE-NASH Leadership Academy
this month brought together leaders from a wide swath of institutions
from Alaska to Maine to discuss one of the highest priorities facing
U.S. systems and campuses: improving student success.
The Academy, held January 17-18 in
Washington, DC, is designed to support systems in the development of
high-performing teams that facilitate large-scale change, enhance campus
and system performance, and scale best practices across multiple
campuses. Participants worked as system-based teams and focused on
leading change efforts that are known to enhance student success through
a multilateral approach, considering relationships between system and
campus leaders as well as among the campuses themselves.
“Public university systems are critical
social and economic drivers that educate approximately three-quarters of
the nation’s bachelor degree seeking students,” said Rebecca Martin,
executive director at the National Association of System Heads
(NASH), which held the Academy jointly with ACE. “As such, leaders are
needed to harness the collective resources of the campuses to improve
student success, address local and global challenges, and improve
operational efficiencies.”
Some key takeaways from the Academy are:
- The collective impact of work done by systems can be
significant, but it requires sharing of ideas and innovative practices
at both the intra- and inter-campus levels.
- Engaging students is critical to understanding their goals and
needs. Their insights allow institutions to design culturally sensitive
and relevant strategies for support.
- Data is vital to student success, but it has to be analyzed at both
the system and campus level in order for it to be relevant and
actionable.
- Surveys alone are not enough. Campuses and systems have to ask for
the “why” behind certain findings in order to understand students’ needs
and develop a corresponding plan to address them.
Speakers at the Academy shared insights and
strategies with participants. Tristan Denley, executive vice chancellor
for Academic Affairs at the University System of Georgia, spoke to the
impact of integrating multiple strategies to achieve a comprehensive
approach to student success. Building on his prior work at the Tennessee
Board of Regents, he demonstrated the power of aggregating data at the
system level to reduce some of the “noise” found in institutional-level
data around barrier courses. His current research on creating a
productive academic mindset across a diverse set of campuses provided
another example of the collective impact of a system approach to student
success.
Aaron Thompson, executive vice president of
the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, spoke to reaching
diversity, inclusion, and equity goals. He suggested that participants
leverage the tools and information available through their systems in
order to create systematic change. Reaching quantitative goals—like
increasing graduation rates for students of color—could be achieved with
qualitative changes, such as recruiting more faculty of color;
providing training focused on instructor competencies rather than just
subject-matter expertise; or adding diversity goals into strategic plan
language.
Participants also discussed the importance of
leadership diversity at the system level as crucial to campus success.
There is a need for system heads to show a full commitment to diversity
and inclusion in order for institutions to really invest in it, and the
commitment must be both in word and in action.
The Academy comprises a two-day intensive
workshop, with a follow-up meeting in April. System teams will develop
action plans around a project of choice designed to significantly boost
student success and will report on three-month accomplishments at the
meeting in April.
With any questions about the ACE-NASH Leadership Academy, please email ACELeadership@acenet.edu.