2024 Award Recipients
Furman University - The Furman Advantage: Four-Year Pathway
A student’s four-year pathway begins with the Pathways Program®, which is an advising program supporting first- and second-year students that is a graduation requirement for all students at Furman University. The program was designed with the goal of providing all students with a foundation that would promote their wellbeing and success, ensure awareness of available resources, and allow all students to achieve the promise of the Furman Advantage. The program consists of a set of four 1-credit, letter-graded courses completed across the first four semesters. The class meets once per week for 50 minutes and is facilitated by an academic advisor and, in the first year, co-facilitated with an undergraduate peer mentor. Incoming transfer students complete a year-long version of the program covering topics most relevant to transfer students who enter as sophomores or juniors. The second component of the four-year pathway at Furman is our Purposeful Pathways program, where each academic department develops programming within their major for juniors and seniors to provide students with exposure to career possibilities, create connections to alumni, and to help students articulate the skills that are developed within the major. Together, these programs ensure a seamless transition from the early years of a student’s college experience in which they are exploring their options as undeclared students, to their later years in which they delve deeply into their majors and other areas of interest.
University of Las Vegas, Nevada - Rebels R.I.S.E.
The Rebels R.I.S.E. team works with faculty and staff, within and outside of academic advising, across the university to intentionally link the first-year experience to the second-year experience, providing a structured network by which students can progress into a successful second year and beyond. Over the years, this program has evolved to ensure that the ever-changing needs of the students are addressed. This initiative has aimed to support UNLV’s specific needs as an HSI-, MSI-, and AANAPISI-serving institution also serving high percentages of first-generation students. The program offers a creative and encouraging space for students to connect with each other and the university, as well as learn important life skills, such as goal setting, financial literacy, and career readiness.
Clemson University - Bridge to Clemson Program
The Bridge to Clemson Program (BtC) is an equal partnership between Clemson University and Tri-County Technical College– enrollment management, student affairs, academic support, and advising teams work hand-in-glove to provide students with robust support. The BtC program increases access to Clemson University, supporting the mission as a land grant institution. The BtC program ensures that students transitioning to Clemson have access to a wide variety of resources, from an orientation designed especially for transfer students, to mentorship programs, to staff dedicated to providing support specifically to this student population, optimizing success.
Past Recipients
Kent State University - Career Navigation Course
Navigating career and life planning can be complex. The course is designed to equip students with self-awareness, knowledge and skills useful in deciding how to use opportunities to build meaningful futures, as well as how to maintain flexibility and adaptability in the work environment. Students learn how to balance planning with uncertainty and navigate a lifetime of meaningful occupational realities. Through experiential activities, discussions and reflective exercises, students gain self-understanding and connect academic opportunities to careers and specializations in career fields. Designed for students who have not yet declared a major, or are unsure of their current major, but are interested in finding personal meaning and mattering in occupational and their present and future life decisions.
University of Texas at San Antonio
As part of the Texas Transfer Alliance work in late 2019, UTSA and Alamo Colleges District identified three operational models: data sharing, academic/curriculum alignment, and the student experience. It was determined that these operational models could be enhanced to make things more seamless for the Alamo On-TRAC, Alamo Runners students as well as students starting at one of the Alamo Colleges District campuses who intended to transfer to UTSA. This drove the work of the T2S3 unit and the beginnings of the Transfer Partnership Strategy group. The group looked at their data and realized that over 50% of UTSA’s transfer students are from one of the Alamo Colleges. The data also showed that retention and graduation rates were higher for UTSA transfer students from the Alamo Colleges District campuses compared to transfer students from other institutions. The institutions have built a partnership that has many cross-collaborative pieces across multiple areas, which resulted in a Dual Admission and Enrollment Agreement (Agreement) between the Alamo Colleges District five campuses and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
University of Central Florida
Since 2006, the Curriculum Alignment (CA) initiative target transfer student transition
from lower-level, freshman/sophomore courses completed at a partner-college transfer
institution into a major and upper-level, junior/senior courses at the University
of Central Florida. These lower-level courses are primarily prerequisite, or gateway
courses required by a student’s desired major. The CA initiative focuses on transfer
student junior readiness by ensuring seamless academic transition from these lower-level
courses at the two-year institution and the upper-level courses at the university
by ensuring that the courses fulfill the same learning outcomes. This is achieved
by bringing together teams of faculty and advisors from the state colleges and UCF
through the DirectConnect to UCF® (DC) program to engage in course alignment discussions
that are focused on student transition and success.
Purdue University
Summer Start is a direct-admit program created in 2015 to expand access to Purdue
education, especially among lower-income, first-generation, and minority students
who fell just short in the regular admission process. This holistic, four-year program
supports students through various transitional issues as they progress toward degree
completion.
University of Illinois, Chicago
The Flames Leadership Network (FLN) aims to support students beginning the summer
before their first term, all the way through to graduation. This allows students to
maintain contact with their coach and foster a positive working relationship. Students
participating in the program receive holistic and targeted services tailored to each
stage of their college career. Students are identified through a predictive analytic
model to support those who are in most need of intensive, proactive coaching.
George Mason University
ADVANCE is a next-generation partnership between George Mason University (Mason) and
Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) that is redefining the transfer experience
for students seeking a bachelor’s degree by creating seamless pathways that set them
on a path toward success. Launched in the fall of 2018, the program has not only seen
tremendous success, but has radically transformed the internal practices at Mason
and the way they collaborate with colleagues at NOVA.
Valencia College
DirectConnect to UCF is a regional partnership in central Florida to ensure local
community college completion of a bachelor’s degree through a shared system involving six
community/state colleges and the University of Central Florida. It guarantees admission
to students who complete their associate degree and includes streamlined admissions
processes, advising, and curriculum alignment to ensure bachelor’s degree completion.
Since 2006, 62,000 DirectConnect transfer students have enrolled and 46,137 bachelor’s
degrees have been awarded—a 74.4% graduation rate.
University of Central Florida
In 2014, the University of Central Florida launched Foundations of Excellence (FoE),
a multi-year, multi-phase process with the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence
in Undergraduate Education. The goal of this transfer initiative was to raise awareness
of transfer student issues, shape the university culture to better accommodate our
transfer students, and focus on transfer students’ transition points. To date, FoE,
now reestablished as Transfer Alliance, has redesigned transfer orientation and the
first-year transition process, created a campuswide Transfer Philosophy Statement,
increased faculty and staff engagement in transfer success initiatives, and developed
new concepts around the transfer credit evaluation process.
Kent State University
Summer Advantage is a program is designed to assist students who are first in their
families to go to college and/or from underrepresented and limited-income backgrounds
to graduate in four years. The program prioritizes first-year students transitioning
into their second year and juniors transitioning into their senior year focusing on
degree completion. Summer Advantage assists Kent State students to envision a path
for the future by building a support network of peers and professionals.
San Jose State University
The SJSU Braven Accelerator experience targets sophomores or first-semester transfer
students, with a particular focus on those who are first in their family to attend
college, are Pell grant-eligible, or who identify as an underrepresented minority
(URM; Black or African American, Hispanic/Latino, or Native American).
Ohio State University
A partnership between the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of Student Life,
the Second-Year Transformational Experience Program (STEP) was created as an extension
of Ohio State's commitment to the student experience and provides an opportunity for
education beyond the classroom. STEP is focused on helping students find ways to have
transformational experiences during their second year in college.
Clark University
The LEEP Center Advising Model targets seniors’ transition from college to the world
of work, as this group historically has had difficulty connecting their academics
to their first professional placement. Through surveys and focus groups, Clark found
that students’ lack of knowledge about industries, employers, and career trajectories;
understanding of and ability to network; and ability to identify and prepare for relevant
paraprofessional experience to be significant obstacles that seniors experience in
their transition to post-graduate life. The LEEP Center Advising Model helps students
discover a path, explore ways to gain experience that make sense for that path, and
plan and prepare for their lives after Clark.
Goodwin College
Goodwin College’s Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP), Men of Vision in Education
(MOVE), and Women Invested in Securing an Education (WISE) provide specialized supports
to at-risk and underserved populations from the greater Hartford, Connecticut, area.
EOP identifies and recruits recent high school graduates who face barriers to accessing
post-secondary education. Through a combination of remediation, summer bridge programming,
and financial supports, EOP seeks to successfully transition these students from high
school into a collegiate setting.
Kent State University
In 2012, Kent State University’s University College implemented the Exploration Plan,
designed to enrich the first-year experience for undecided students and expedite a
shift into a degree-granting program within the first three semesters. The Exploration
Plan has six components. Students become engaged in the plan at the point of admission
as Exploratory, when they are required to select one of 13 university-wide concentration
areas to explore first. Linked courses based on that concentration, in addition to
a career exploration focus in the First Year Experience Course, the use of the Career
Maturity Inventory, and a newly developed career navigation course series, are all
components of the Plan. Multiple required advising sessions add to the Plan's intrusive,
high-touch nature.
Arizona State University
The Guided Pathways to Success (GPS) program targets Arizona community college students
who aspire to transfer to and complete a bachelor's degree at Arizona State University
(ASU). ASU has signed agreements with every public community college in Arizona to
create a "culture of transfer." Over the course of five years, the program has led
to significant process improvements, developed innovative tools, and improved communication
to students, parents, advisors, faculty, and others who support students wishing to
transfer.
Governors State University
The Dual Degree Program (DDP) supports the college completion agenda through partnerships
between Governors State University and 17 Chicagoland community colleges. Collaborating
with community college partners, GSU provides full-time community college students
with an excellent pathway to earn quality and affordable bachelor's degrees. The DDP
philosophy supports completion through the provision of proactive advising, peer mentors,
policies that promote completion, and financial incentives to encourage success and
completion.
University of North Carolina Wilmington
The University College (UC) Students in Transition (SiT) program provides academic
advising, courses, and programs that support students at various points of transition
into majors. These include incoming transfer students who have not yet met certain
prerequisites, current students changing majors, and transfer and military students
as they transition into UNCW. The SiT program provides structured, proactive, and
dedicated support to transfer students during their transition to UNCW and to students
into their majors.