In this episode, Dr. John Rindy covers a lot of ground when discussing proactive academic support. Dr. Rindy is the Assistant Vice President for Career and Academic Progress at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and has changed their strategies to be data informed action.

Dr. Rindy shares Slippery Rock’s initiatives on how to help all students succeed with increasing student need and shrinking resources. You’ll also learn how to use data analytics to tailor student success programs and initiatives to create capacity for proactive support and improve student outcomes as well as how to build a coalition and facilitate change management between faculty and student success support staff to ensure that institutions are delivering the most effective student success initiatives and strategies possible. Slippery Rock promises a lot and through the work of Dr. Rindy and his colleagues and the five pillars they focus on throughout a student’s higher education journey, they are able to deliver on the promise of student success.

[2:27] - Dr. Rindy shares his background in the corporate world and current role in higher education.

[3:35] - At Slippery Rock, enrollment is a big focus.

[5:22] - One part of the strategic plan is the promise that students will be successful and how they make sure they can be.

[6:46] - If it moves, they measure it and then use the measurements in daily decisions.

[8:02] - John gives an example of how they measured ending GPA and were able to identify students proactively who needed support.

[9:47] - One idea was to have first year students write a letter to themselves that is then sent back to them at the end of the year.

[11:41] - What predictors in data analytics can be used to tailor student success programs?

[13:42] - With strong participation in student success programs at Slippery Rock, the data can show the impact.

[16:07] - At many institutions, student success initiatives fall in the hands of academic advisors, but at Slippery Rock, it’s a little different.

[17:52] - Conveying information isn’t the goal. It’s provoking action.

[20:40] - Change management can be a struggle. John shares the work behind change management at Slippery Rock.

[22:00] - People are interested in retention but they truly don’t understand what their role is in regards to retention.

[24:17] - Retention is important but there are pieces of data that we can look at that can have a surprising impact on it.

[26:06] - What differences do they see at Slippery Rock since taking a data informed approach to student success?

[27:21] - Advocacy amplifies identity.

[29:02] - How do you move the needle once you hit these higher goals?

[30:58] - There are five pillars Slippery Rock focuses on from the beginning of admissions all the way through: goals, relationships, values, acting on values, and mindset.

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