花季传媒 aligns university-wide student success, experience, achievement efforts in the Office of Student Success and Academic Innovation

The Academic Achievement Center, Experiential Learning, Learning Communities and Signature Academic Programs, and Advising, Retention, and Graduation Initiatives are joining to form the new Office of Student Success and Academic Innovation, led by Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Sarah Poggione with support from Associate Provost for Student Success Technology Strategy Deb Benton.

The Office of Student Success and Academic Innovation unites student-focused initiatives to strengthen retention, enhance academic achievement, and expand curricular innovation across all OHIO colleges and campuses.  

Building on momentum from last year鈥檚 record-setting gains, including a 20-year high first-year retention rate of 84.7% on the Athens campus and continued improvement across regional campuses, the new structure is designed to align resources, accelerate collaboration, and support student success both inside and outside the classroom. This effort also advances the University鈥檚 Dynamic Strategy by supporting the Learn Pillar priorities of improving retention and graduation outcomes, expanding experiential learning, enhancing the student experience, and strengthening evidence-based decision making. The office will work closely with partners from all colleges, as well as Enrollment Management, Student Affairs, Athletics, and other administrative units, to sustain and expand these efforts.

鈥溁敬� has a long-standing commitment to helping every student reach their full potential,鈥� said Executive Vice President and Provost Don Leo. 鈥淏y bringing these units together, we are building on that commitment and creating new opportunities to align curricular innovation, advising, and experiential learning so that we can further improve retention, persistence, and graduation outcomes.鈥�

Student Success and Academic Innovation units

Academic Achievement Center (AAC)

The Academic Achievement Center (AAC) provides free, high-impact academic support services to all 花季传媒 students.

Peer tutoring is available through the STEM Academy, the Learning Commons, and the Writing Commons, offering students individualized small-group assistance in a wide range of subjects. Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) complements these services by providing large-group, collaborative study sessions for historically challenging courses. Together, these programs are designed to help students strengthen content knowledge, refine study strategies, and build confidence as learners.

The Academic Achievement Center and the College of Arts and Sciences collaborated to create the STEM Academy, located in Morton Hall, Room 415. Through this partnership, the AAC now provides targeted academic support for students in high-enrollment and general education STEM courses, giving them timely opportunities to engage with peers, apply course concepts, and access the resources they need to succeed.

Experiential Learning

Experiential Learning collaborates with faculty, staff, community, and alumni to expand and promote innovative, hands-on, applied learning opportunities for all OHIO students via internships, research placements, creative activity, study away/study abroad, leadership, and community engagement.

Experiential Learning is also integrated into the OHIO Bricks general education program. The partnership with the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment to offer faculty training in Place-based, Community-Engaged Experiential Learning Pedagogy is one example of how Experiential Learning works to expand these opportunities.

To make these high- impact experiences more affordable for students, Experiential Learning also offers funding to OHIO undergraduates pursuing Experiential Learning opportunities.  

As part of Experiential Learning, the Office of Global Opportunities (OGO) inspires the 花季传媒 community to engage globally and connect across cultures as global citizens. The academic, cultural, and professional skills OHIO students develop through Experiential Learning and Global Opportunities contribute directly to OHIO students鈥� career readiness, ensuring that they are professionals ready to serve and engage in their communities.  

Advising, Retention, and Graduation Initiatives

Focused on holistic advising and student success pathways, this unit coordinates retention and graduation initiatives to support students from entry through graduation. The Advising, Retention, and Graduation Initiatives unit includes leadership of University Advising and the Allen Center. University Advising partners with academic leadership and the Success Advisor community to facilitate high-quality and consistent advising practices across the University, in addition to designing intervention strategies to enhance persistence, retention, and graduation.

Student services that are coordinated in the Allen Center include Academic Advocacy, Academic Coaching, Major Exploration, Degree Completion Help, and support for re-enrolling students. These services meet the needs of students transitioning between colleges and campuses, experiencing complex barriers to success, or who benefit from supplemental academic support.

Collaboration across the University has already produced meaningful results. University Advising and the Office of the Provost partnered with the Office of Information Technology (OIT), the Office of the Registrar, OHIO Online, and Enrollment Management to launch a new instance of Slate dedicated to student success. The platform supports critical initiatives such as Academic Alerts, the Mid-Term Progress Survey, and the New Student Success Survey, while also giving Success Advisors greater visibility into their students鈥� experiences, including the ability to view communications sent to them. By integrating technology with academic support and proactive advising, this collaboration ensures students receive timely, targeted interventions that help them stay on track toward graduation.

Learning Communities and Signature Academic Experience Programs

Learning Communities (LCs) support 98% of first-year Athens campus students as they transition through their fall semester, that is 244 sections of the UC 1900 seminar class. There are three elements to LCs: peer leader in- and out-of-class support, clustered classes that students take together, and a seminar class taught by an instructor from the academic program.

In the 2024 fall student evaluation, 95% of students reported their seminar class experience helped them transition to OHIO. To help first year students continue their successful transition, Spring Connections, the first-year spring communities developed in collaboration with Alumni Relations and academic colleges, will be offered to continuing first year students this spring.

Signature Academic Experiences supports continuing student engagement with their academic and career fields. A number of new collaborative initiatives are planned for the upcoming year including advancing the NACE Career Readiness module called Building Bobcat Success: Competencies for Career Development, which launched to all undergraduate student employees in September. This effort is in collaboration with Career Services, Student Affairs, Human Resources, Business Academic Advising and Career Services, and Office of Instructional Technology.

Building a Second Year Experience is also a focus, which includes programs launched from the office as well as spotlighting campus initiatives that colleges and other areas are providing. Sophomore September just wrapped! It was an effort to welcome back second year students to campus.

Ongoing programs that support second year students include Meal With A Mentor in collaboration with Alumni Relations, and Next Adventures, in concert with Outdoor Pursuits. The Second Year Experience workgroup will be launched to use the data from last spring and continue collaborative efforts for our students in support of their continued success.

鈥淭his new collaborative unit allows us to align resources better, scale curricular and co-curricular initiatives, and strengthen partnerships across the University,鈥� said Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Sarah Poggione. 鈥淭he integration of these units will help us sustain and grow the progress we are making in promoting student success. I am excited to work even more closely with these committed student success professionals and our partners across OHIO campuses to enhance belonging, achievement, and success for all students.鈥�

The Office of Student Success and Academic Innovation represents 花季传媒鈥檚 next step in creating a seamless, collaborative, and data-informed approach to student achievement. This work directly supports the University鈥檚 Dynamic Strategy, specifically by improving student success outcomes, assessing and expanding experiential learning opportunities, and achieving the industry鈥檚 highest standards in both teaching and research. By uniting advising, experiential learning, learning communities, and other academic experiences with academic support and success technology, OHIO is positioning itself not only to meet but to exceed its retention and graduation goals.