Universities Receive National Awards After Retention Increases as Large as 4.7% and 8.3%

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Three universities were selected from more than 120 nationwide to receive 2014 Student Success Collaborative Awards, the Education Advisory Board (EAB), a division of The Advisory Board Company, announced today.  The Awards recognize institutions and leaders who are improving student outcomes by using data and analytics to predict which students are more likely to drop out and proactively intervening with students at risk. 

These institutions achieved impressive results, including first-year retention increases as large as 4.7% and 8.3%, while the national retention rate for first-year college students has remained nearly constant since 2009 according to the National Student Clearinghouse. 

Purdue University Calumet, California State University Long Beach, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale are among 120 colleges and universities nationwide that participate in EAB's Student Success Collaborative™— a membership that leverages best practice research, predictive analytics, and consulting to help colleges and universities improve retention and increase graduation rates. 

Award details are as follows:

• Purdue University Calumet (PUC) received the Data-Driven Impact Award.  Over the past two years, PUC enhanced data deployment to better serve students.  Academic advisors now use data to optimally allocate tutors, outline specifically which classes students need to take to graduate in four years, and trigger mandatory advising for students on probation.  Advisors within various colleges also identify, track, and proactively reach out to at-risk students.  These data-driven practices contributed to a first-year, full-time retention increase of 4.7 percentage points.

• California State University (CSU) Long Beach Associate Vice President of Enrollment Services Thomas Enders was recognized with the Visionary Leadership Award.  Enders worked closely with senior administrators and academic advisors to ensure advising staff received technology that enabled them to easily identify which students were struggling academically and to orchestrate informed interventions with at-risk students.  Enders successfully managed and sustained change on his campus, transforming the use of data in academic advising at CSU Long Beach.  Enders' Leadership builds on a long history of student success improvement at CSU Long Beach; in the past five years, first-time freshman six-year graduation rates increased by more than 20%.

• Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU) received the Collaborative Citizenship Award, honoring its commitment to sharing best practices with other members of the Student Success Collaborative.  One such practice was SIU Carbondale's targeted outreach to students with similar risk characteristics, which improved advisor interactions by matching campus resources and advice to student needs and specific risk factors.  SIU Carbondale's academic advising best practices contributed to an 8.3 percentage point improvement in the retention of first-year, full-time students from Fall 2013 to Fall 2014.

"These institutions have shown national leadership in strategically supporting students through the use of data.  Academic advisors at these schools are helping students stay on a path to success by intervening before there's a problem – and getting students the resources they need to graduate," said Scott Schirmeier, Executive Vice President at EAB.  "Students and schools both win when institutions get access to data that elevate the art of advising."

Georgia State University Vice Provost and Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success Timothy Renick received the inaugural Student Success Collaborative Award in 2013 on behalf of the university.  In this video he shares how SSC helped Georgia State translate data into strategies that significantly narrowed the achievement gap.

About Purdue University Calumet
Part of the internationally respected Purdue University system, Purdue University Calumet is a comprehensive, regional institution of some 9,500 students.  It is located in the northwest Indiana city of Hammond, 20 miles southeast of Chicago.  Graduates of Purdue Calumet earn Purdue University bachelor's and master's degrees in any of 50 programs of study.  Those programs include traditional Purdue strengths of engineering; technologies; the sciences; liberal arts; and professional fields of nursing, business, education and hospitality.  Distinctive to the Purdue education, Purdue University Calumet offers structured experiential learning – the integration of traditional and applied learning in a real world environment.  Strategically, Purdue Calumet is committed to academic excellence, learning through engagement and discovery, inclusivity, and development of community and business partnerships.  For more information, visit www.purduecal.edu.

About California State University Long Beach
California State University Long Beach (CSULB) serves more than 36,000 students and employs nearly 2,000 faculty and 1,600 staff.  Currently, 40 percent of the student body are the first in their families to attend college.  The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) recently honored the university with a national Excellence and Innovation Award for its Highly Valued Degree Initiative.  U.S. News & World Report ranked CSULB fifth among the best regional public universities in the West and second in lowest student debt among regional public universities in the West in its 2014 edition of "America's Best Colleges Guide."  Founded in 1949, CSULB has 300,000 alumni.  For more information, visit www.csulb.edu.

About Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale is ranked by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university (high research), placing SIU in the top 5 percent of public U.S. institutions for research.  The university offers a total of 227 degree and certificate programs representing every major academic disciplinary area.  With 11 colleges and schools, SIU is home to more than 13,500 undergraduate students and nearly 4,500 graduate and professional students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries.  For more information, visit www.siu.edu.

About The Education Advisory Board 
Since its launch in 2007, the Education Advisory Board (EAB), a division of The Advisory Board Company, has become one of the largest providers of research, technology, and consulting services to colleges and universities nationwide.  Through our innovative membership model, we currently partner with academic and administrative leaders at more than 700 institutions, helping them solve their most pressing problems.  For more information, visit www.eab.com.

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SOURCE The Advisory Board Company