Student Success Heroes Podcast

We believe higher education and student service professionals help to bring academic achievement and success to all students. We created this podcast to highlight them and their stories. In this series, we’ll talk to leaders in higher education and researchers of student success and assessment to learn how they do what they do and what keeps them going. We’ll hear inspiring stories and learn from one another.
Please join us as we celebrate our Student Success Heroes!
This podcast is available here as well as any of these players

 

 

We want to hear your story!

Leave us a voicemail telling us about one of your center's current goals or initiatives. How are you achieving it or what challenges have you uncovered? We may just play your message in an upcoming episode so that others can learn from your experience.

 

EPISODES

Bringing Learning Centers Together with Keigh-Cee Bell, Episode 2 of 2

In episode 2 of a two-part interview with Keigh-Cee Bell, Coordinator for the Carole A. Tate Teaching and Learning Center at Southwest Michigan College and founder of the Learning Center Professionals Discord server, we discuss how she took action to bring learning center professionals together to navigate the challenges and questions brought about by the pandemic. Keigh-Cee shares the techniques, tools, and technology she implemented to bring academic center managers together in tough times. Thanks to these efforts, a wonderful community has formed and members continue to learn from and support each other.

See the show notes here

Bringing Staff, Students, and Faculty Together with Keigh-Cee Bell, Episode 1 of 2

For episode 1 of a two-part interview with Keigh-Cee Bell, Coordinator for the Carole A. Tate Teaching and Learning Center at Southwest Michigan College and founder of the Learning Center Professionals Discord server, we discuss how her center operates and the impact of the pandemic on her staff and students. She shares the techniques, tools, and technology she implemented to bring her staff, students, and faculty together in tough times. Thanks to these efforts, she is seeing the number of students seeking help from her learning center grow by leaps and bounds.

See the show notes here

 

The 5 Pillars of Learning Centers with Penny Turrentine:
#5. Data Collection for Continuous Improvement

In the final part of a short series of podcast episodes, we conclude a discussion with Penny Turrentine, Ph. D., Adjunct Faculty and Program Coordinator at Pima Community College, about another foundational pillar upon which to successfully build your college or university Learning Center. Her book, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Learning Centers (and then some…), inspired these discussions and focuses on the fundamentals for learning center directors, including seeking feedback from those you serve. Penny points out that data collection is important for demonstrating to your administrators and others the importance of your mission.

See the show notes here

The 5 Pillars of Learning Centers with Penny Turrentine:
#4. Establish Rapport with Your Students

In part four of a short series of podcast episodes, we speak with Penny Turrentine, Ph. D., Adjunct Faculty and Program Coordinator at Pima Community College, regarding another foundational pillar on which to build a successful Learning Center at your college or university. Her recent publication, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Learning Centers (and then some…)presents fundamentals for learning center directors, such as welcoming each student and going above and beyond to show that you care. Penny gives examples of building rapport through playfulness, attending student games as a team, and training her staff for interactions with students.

See the show notes here

The 5 Pillars of Learning Centers with Penny Turrentine:
#3. Resourcefulness

In part three of a short series of podcast episodes, we continue our discussion with Penny Turrentine, Ph. D., Adjunct Faculty and Program Coordinator at Pima Community College, regarding another foundational pillar on which to build a successful Learning Center at your college or university. Inspired by her most recent publication, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Learning Centers (and then some…), we delve into essentials for learning center directors, including the need for 'making something from nothing' when faced with insufficient funding. We discuss several instances where Penny was able to use resourcefulness to propel her center forward and engage more students in the process.

See the show notes here

 

The 5 Pillars of Learning Centers with Penny Turrentine:
#2. Support from Faculty and Administrators

In part two of a short series of podcast episodes, we speak with Penny Turrentine, Ph. D., Adjunct Faculty and Program Coordinator at Pima Community College, about another foundational pillar on which to build a successful Learning Center at your college or university. Inspired by her most recent publication, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Learning Centers (and then some…), we delve into essentials for learning center directors, including soliciting and gaining the support of faculty and administrators. 

See the show notes here

The 5 Pillars of Learning Centers with Penny Turrentine:
#1. Professional Development

In part one of a short series of podcast episodes, we sit down with Penny Turrentine, Ph. D., Adjunct Faculty and Program Coordinator at Pima Community College, to discuss some of the foundational pillars on which to build a successful Learning Center at your college or university. Inspired by her most recent publication, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Learning Centers (and then some…)we delve into these essentials for learning center directors, the first being the need for professional development for learning center staff.

See the show notes here

Making a Home Away From Home for Students with Julie Ashley, MCCNEB

About Episode 6: We love our higher education professionals and all that they are doing to take care of and encourage their students along their academic journey. We spoke to Julie Ashley, Director of Tutoring and Academic Support for Metropolitan Community College, about the way they create a "homey space" for students and create meaningful connections. We also discuss the impact of the pandemic and her team's quick response to ensure students continue to have support.

See the show notes here

Listening to Students and Making It Fun with Tricia Seifert, MSU

About Episode 5: Students have a lot to tell us about how we can help them be successful and listening is essential. They also appreciate it when we take the time to make learning fun. We interviewed Tricia Seifert, Ph. D., Associate Professor of Adult and Higher Education for Montana State University, Researcher and Author of the Supporting Student Success Blog, and CEO of Success Prints, LLC. We discuss her research and the importance of students being involved in the process as well as how their feedback has led to the creation of a fun board game that helps students transition from K-12 to college.

See the show notes here

Data-informed Center Initiatives for Student Success with Melissa Sprock, IWU

About Episode 4: We are highlighting and celebrating the stories of our higher education professionals whose priority is student success. We spoke to Melissa Sprock, Director of the Learning Center and Foundations Program for Indiana Wesleyan University, regarding their Advisory Board's use of AccuTrack data to inform their Learning Center's initiatives to help students thrive. We also touched on their team's response to the recent pandemic. 

Using Data to Make Operational Decisions with Michael Osadchuk, Cal Baptist

About Episode 3: We're highlighting and celebrating the stories of our higher education professionals whose passion is making a difference in the lives of their students. We’ve been impressed by our student services professionals and their response to the COVID-19 pandemic and today’s interview is no different. A couple of weeks ago we spoke to Michael Osadchuk, Director of the University Tutoring Center for California Baptist University, regarding their response to the pandemic and lessons learned. You’ll hear how they're using data insights and innovative ideas to keep their services available and keep the communication going with students.

Read the transcript here

Going Virtual and Staying Connected with Jason Johnson, USML

About Episode 2: Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, institutions in higher education have been forced to close their campuses and move to remote operations. Here at Engineerica, we’ve taken steps to help educators as they move to support students virtually by releasing some additional features quickly in our Accudemia platform that enables virtual appointment scheduling and remote sign-in options. We also extended complimentary accounts through the end of the summer for those who need such a solution. We speak to Jason Johnson, University Tutoring Center Manager for the University of Missouri-St. Louis, about the impact the pandemic has had on their services. What follows is an uplifting conversation about how the University Tutoring Center's team is rising to the challenge and adjusting its operations to continue to meet the needs of its students.

Read the transcript here

Preparing Students for a Complex and Changing World with Lisa Costa, UTexas

About Episode 1: With the recent pandemic of COVID-19, many colleges and universities have had to close their campuses and move to an online-only operation. Through this experience, we have been greatly impressed by our Student Success Heroes' resilience. We want to share their stories because we know educators continue to look to each other to learn and grow. For this episode, we spoke to Lisa Costa, Academic, and Community Education Coordinator for the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Nursing, about how her team is addressing the challenges and adjusting to virtual operations to continue to meet the needs of students.

Read the transcript here

Preview Episode

About Preview Episode: The preview episode for Student Success Heroes, a podcast by Engineerica Systems. At Engineerica, we believe higher education and student services professionals strive to bring academic achievement and success to all students. Through a variety of ingenious programs, initiatives, and just everyday service, these professionals help save failing or struggling students and lift them toward their goals. They help students build an arsenal of life skills and teach them how to set and achieve goals. They direct students to pathways of academic and lifetime success. Because we too believe in the ultimate goal of helping each student succeed, we strive to provide the best possible products and services to our clients, those student success heroes found in colleges and universities across the globe. We wanted to create this podcast to highlight them and their stories. In this series, we’ll talk to leaders in higher education and researchers of student success and assessment to learn how they do what they do and what keeps them going. We’ll hear inspiring stories and learn from one another. Please join us as we celebrate our Student Success Heroes!