The portfolio of student resources offered by universities continues to grow, but a new report finds some resources and their delivery mechanisms may not be helping first-generation college students reach their academic goals.
The report by the Office of Enrollment Management, titled “Knowledge to Succeed: How First-Generation College Students Learn and Utilize Campus Resources at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor,” examines why traditional resource delivery channels may not work as effectively for first-generation students and suggests alternatives.
It follows recommendations from the Student Success Task Force, which sought to understand how students were referred to resources and why they chose to trust some resources over others.
Through a series of focus groups, researchers examined the challenges that first-generation students face on campus.
They found first-generation students learn about campus resources from multiple sources including pre-college programs and academic transition programs that share common characteristics of targeted support, community introduction, peer mentorship and adviser interaction.
In terms of resource navigation, first-generation students opt for informal peer networks and trusted advisers. Despite being encouraged to employ independence and agency, many first-generation students have difficulty finding accurate and efficient information.
“This report is a fantastic example of our approach to research in the Office of Enrollment Management,” said Steve Lonn, OEM director of data, analytics and research. “We use mixed methodologies to investigate key issues at U-M that can practically and iteratively improve educational outcomes for all students.”
The report lays out two new approaches for more effective delivery of resources to first-generation students.
The first strategy, the Model of Advisor Trustworthiness, identifies what characteristics first-generation students seek out among campus staff who assist students. The second approach, the Matrix of Student Success Information, illuminates how relationships and information-finding behaviors shape the ways students learn and utilize essential information to be successful.
“As a first-generation student myself studying campus organizational behavior, I still have trouble navigating bureaucracies and resources at the university,” said Jeffrey Grim, one of the report’s authors and a doctoral candidate in the School of Education. “I hope this work can help offices that are integral to student success, like financial aid and academic advising, to be useful in improving their practice.”
“Understanding how different types of students are successful is a critical part of the work we do in the Office of Enrollment Management,” said Paul Robinson, interim vice provost for enrollment management and university registrar. “These new findings will be invaluable in helping to shape university efforts and initiatives in the coming years.”
Read and learn more about challenges and strategies related to supporting first-gen college students, as well as guiding questions and points of consideration for student service leaders at enrollment.umich.edu/data/first-gen-student-success-report-2021.
This article originally appeared in the August 18, 2021 edition of The University Record
The University of Michigan has committed to continually increasing its enrollment of low-income students and taking steps to ensure they graduate at the same rate as their more affluent peers.
The pledge is part of the university’s recommitment to the American Talent Initiative, a national effort that brings together 125 colleges and universities under the shared goal of increasing enrollment for low- and moderate-income students.
As part of its goal to enroll more students eligible for federal Pell grants and shrink a 5-point gap in graduation rates between Pell and non-Pell students, U-M will allocate greater funding to promote the Go Blue Guarantee — a full-tuition scholarship for high-achieving, lower-income students in Michigan — and continue to support institutional grants that close the financial aid gap for out-of-state students from lower-income backgrounds.
The university also will establish a process to reach out to students who are not registered for subsequent terms, better communicate with them about how to return if they leave, and evaluate and align readmission processes among U-M’s schools and colleges.
“As we emerge from a global pandemic that we know has disproportionately affected those from lower-income backgrounds, it’s more important than ever that higher education is accessible and supports student success,” said Paul Robinson, associate vice provost, university registrar and interim vice provost for enrollment management.
U-M was one of 30 founding members the American Talent Initiative that joined forces in December 2016 with the goal of increasing by 50,000 the number of low- and moderate-income students enrolled nationwide by 2025.
Since that time, the percentage of U-M students who are Pell-eligible has grown from 16.3 to 19.3 percent last fall. In the years since the Go Blue Guarantee launched in January 2018, the number of enrolled in-state Pell-eligible students has increased by more than 600.
The initiative, which was launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies, has since grown to 125 institutions.
The American Talent Initiative’s third annual progress report released late last month included enrollment data from the 2019-20 academic year and Fall 2020, and outlined four key findings:
Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, ATI member schools collectively increased Pell enrollment by 10,417 students. U-M alone accounted for 14 percent of that growth, enrolling an additional 1,401 Pell-eligible students.
In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative’s progress leveled off and began to reverse, due in part to “substantial declines” at some member schools that enroll high shares of Pell students.
Fall 2020 enrollment data showed a one-year drop of more than 7,000 Pell students caused by declines in first-time and transfer Pell student enrollment at public institutions, and decreased retention at private institutions. Declines in the COVID-19 era have nearly erased all progress made since the initiative launched.
U-M’s plans were highlighted as part of ATI’s “Accelerating Opportunity” campaign in which member institutions adopt public, aspirational goals in an effort to reverse the recent enrollment trends. The university’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiative includes recruiting, retaining and developing a diverse university community as a key priority.
“The University of Michigan is dedicated to enrolling lower-income students, a commitment we are reaffirming by participating in the Accelerating Opportunity campaign,” Robinson said. “As a public institution, it’s important we do all that we can to ensure a high-quality education is available to all, no matter a student or family’s financial means.”
This article originally appeared in the July 2, 2021 edition of The University Record
Oluwaferanmi Okanlami has been named director of Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services. His appointment was effective July 1.
In this role, Okanlami will oversee three key resources: Services for Students with Disabilities, the U-M Adaptive Sports & Fitness Program, and the existing Testing and Accommodation Centers.
The goal is to move beyond simply providing educational accommodations to students with disabilities toward a more holistic approach of supporting students that simultaneously increases the focus on accessibility and inclusion.
Okanlami has served as SSD interim director since July 1, 2020, and has also served as director of the Adaptive Sports and Fitness Program — a program housed within Student Life in collaborative partnership with Michigan Medicine — since 2020.
Often referred to as “Dr. O,” Okanlami will champion advocacy-related efforts across the institution.
“Every student and every community on our campus should have equitable access to the resources they need to have an amazing University of Michigan experience,” Okanlami said. “This centralization of services is unique among campus communities and marks a significant leap forward in U-M’s ability to provide increased access to and support for our disabled student community.”
Under Okanlami’s leadership in the past year, SSD began addressing identified opportunities to enhance its existing suite of services and better meet the needs of students with disabilities.
Leveraging information gathered by a needs assessment done by Rackham and recommendations made by the Student IDEA Board, the SSD team has reduced barriers that previously made the process of connecting with the office and receiving accommodations feel unnecessarily burdensome to students. Another area of focus for Okanlami has been elevating the disabled community’s visibility, both across the university and nationally.
Okanlami, assistant professor of family medicine, physical medicine & rehabilitation, and urology at the Medical School, is uniquely positioned to lead these efforts. In 2013, while in his third year of orthopaedic surgery residency at Yale University, he suffered a spinal cord injury in a diving accident, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down with limited use of his upper extremities.
After several years of rehabilitation, he has seen first-hand the difference that access to appropriate accommodations can make in a learner’s life. He was able to earn a master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in engineering, science and technology entrepreneurship, and completed a family medicine residency in South Bend, Indiana.
While he identifies as a proud wheelchair user, he has also regained some ability to walk using assistive devices, some of which he worked with a rehabilitation engineer to design and create. Suddenly experiencing life “from the other side of the stethoscope,” as he calls it, Okanlami says he is dedicated to “focusing on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion broadly, but now as an individual living at the intersection of disability and race.”
“I am delighted that Dr. Okanlami has agreed to lead SSD on a permanent basis, along with this broader focus on advocacy and increased accessibility to support services and fitness activities,” said Robert D. Ernst, associate vice president of student life for health and wellness and executive director of the University Health Service. “The passion and knowledge that Dr. Okanlami brings to this space will allow us to continue building on the foundations he helped lay as SSD’s interim director.”
“We’re absolutely thrilled,” said U-M Vice President for Student Life Martino Harmon. “Dr. Okanlami’s work across the University of Michigan has been critical to the forward progress we as an institution have made in improving the experiences of students and others with disabilities on our campus.”
“I am excited to continue working with Dr. Okanlami as he transitions to his permanent role leading the Services for Students with Disabilities Office, the Testing Accommodation Centers, and the Adaptive Sports & Fitness program,” said Christina Kline, assistant director and ADA coordinator in U-M’s Office for Institutional Equity.
“Dr. O brings a passion and dedication to this work which has and will continue to have an impact on the University community. I look forward to helping support him and his vision for fostering an accessible and inclusive culture and community.”
— Susan Thwing contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared in the July 6, 2021 edition of The University Record
Five faculty members have received 2021 Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Awards for their contributions to the development of a culturally and ethnically diverse University of Michigan community.
Established in 1996, the annual award is given by the Office of the Provost in honor of Harold Johnson, dean emeritus of the School of Social Work.
This year’s recipients are:
The following profiles were compiled from information submitted in award nomination letters:
Gholson, assistant professor of educational studies in the School of Education, has worked to advance a just and equitable society through education.
A scholar of mathematics education, she examines through a Black feminist framework how identities and relational ties to mathematics, peers and teachers create different developmental trajectories and learning opportunities within mathematics contexts. She investigates that which is often dismissed as superfluous to mathematics: children’s social relationships and networks.
In 2019, Gholson launched the Race and Social Justice Institute, in which members build literacies to support research and teaching centered on educational justice. She mentors students committed to diversity and social justice, and works to enhance the success of students of diverse cultural and racial backgrounds.
Gholson integrates her dedication to equity and social justice into her courses. Practicing the self-authorship that students engage in through the RSJI, she provides authentic feedback as an instructor who creates space for students’ personal reflection and development. She also uses various technology, multimedia tools and unique activities to engage students.
Gholson’s other contributions include serving as the faculty lead for the Secondary Mathematics Educator Preparation Program and as the Wolverine Pathways mathematics education faculty liaison and curriculum team lead.
Elizabeth Birr Moje, dean of the School of Education, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, wrote that Gholson “has made an incredible impact on the students, faculty and overall community culture in the School of Education. In turn, she empowers others to intellectually and skillfully address issues of race and social justice in their own realms of influence.”
Pinto, professor and associate dean for research and innovation in the School of Social Work, helps minority researchers and students develop the emotional, informational and tangible support needed to navigate academia, obtain tenure and promotions, and become independently funded.
Pinto grew up in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, during a dictatorship. He trained there as a biologist before moving to New York City, where he lived as an undocumented immigrant, earned a master’s degree and Ph.D., and provided HIV-prevention, substance misuse and community organizing services to immigrants and racial, ethnic and sexual minorities.
Pinto’s contributions to a culturally and ethnically diverse campus and society reflect his personal identities and research. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, his community-engaged research impacts delivery of evidence-based services (HIV and drug-use prevention) to racial, ethnic and sexual minorities in the United States and Brazil.
Pinto has also conducted art-based scholarly research, showing that critical dialogue around gender-identity and sexual orientation can help prejudiced people feel greater empathy toward LGBTQIA+ people and women. He recently held a series of 13 online events, called COVID and Stigma, that included discussions with activists, scholars and students and took an intersectional, justice-focused approach to the pandemic.
In addition, Pinto has served as chair and co-chair of the School of Social Work Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee and is involved in myriad governance and scientific committees.
“Pinto’s contributions help create a better climate in our school and advance social justice, equity and inclusion across the university,” wrote Beth Sherman, clinical associate professor of social work.
Price, clinical assistant professor of social work, demonstrates an ongoing commitment to underserved populations. She strives to build bridges between scholarship and practice within the field of social work by engaging with partners on campus and across southeast Michigan.
Price is studying the impact of COVID-19 and mental health in communities of color as she pursues her Ph.D. in urban education at Eastern Michigan University.
Before joining the School of Social Work, Price worked at the Wayne County Mental Health Authority. She became the liaison to the school’s Office of Field Education for the Detroit Clinical Scholars, cultivating field placements for master’s students to serve vulnerable populations. Price also created a training program that taught clinical social work skills and anti-racist practices.
At U-M, Price has participated in committees to center justice within the curriculum and the School of Social Work community. She has also been a leader in the Undoing Racism workgroup and serves as the faculty adviser for the student organization Black Radical Healing Pathways.
Price is known for bringing high levels of energy and enthusiasm to her work and for using her personal and professional experiences to inspire students, staff, faculty and community partners. Students of color respect Price as an educator and leader, and because she intentionally seeks them out to offer support and guidance.
“We believe that Daicia Price encompasses this award’s spirit and is the consummate social worker living our profession’s values every day in her professional pursuits and commitments to the communities she lives in and serves,” wrote Daniel Fischer, clinical assistant professor, assistant dean and director of field education in the School of Social Work, and several colleagues.
Rivero, professor and chair of film, television and media, and professor of American culture, is committed to bringing attention to otherwise unheard voices.
Rivero’s work sits at the juncture of media studies, Latino/a studies, feminist theory and communications, addressing critical issues around identity, race, gender and class in modern media. She has played an important role in building the subfield of Latin American and Latina/o television studies through attention to understudied regions of the world and interdisciplinary methods of research and analysis.
Rivero was director in the Latina/o Studies Program and as department chair has made significant strides in diversifying the film, television and media faculty.
She has organized events to address the needs of diverse communities. For example, she recently hosted an innovative event that brought together a critical studies scholar and a production artist-practitioner who engaged in an in-depth discussion about how race and gender influence access to Hollywood. She also implemented a forum series in which faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, staff and community members discussed contemporary critical issues affecting Latinas/os.
Rivero’s commitment to bringing attention to otherwise unheard voices is reflected in her undergraduate and graduate teaching. She created a Wolverine Pathways summer program for K-12 students from under-resourced backgrounds who are interested in film and TV.
“Dr. Rivero has made broad, long-lasting, varied, innovative, and impactful accomplishments in advancing DEI through her leadership, scholarship, teaching, mentorship, and outreach. She is committed to addressing events of deep, personal significance for marginalized communities,” wrote Fiona Lee, associate dean for diversity, equity, inclusion and professional development, professor of psychology and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, LSA.
Winful, the Joseph E. and Anne P. Rowe Professor of Electrical Engineering, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, and professor of electrical engineering, computer science and physics, has worked at all levels of the university and beyond to realize and promote the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. His approach includes helping as many people as possible advance in STEM-based careers.
Winful was a member of the initial steering committee and committee chair of the STEM-Africa Initiative. The committee focused on creating an environment in Africa to encourage and support developing scientists and facilitate international collaborations. He helped organize STEM conferences at U-M and in Africa to foster U.S.-Africa scientific exchange and to identify candidates for the U-M African Presidential Scholars Program.
He was also involved in Excellence in Higher Education for Liberian Development, a consortium of three universities that assisted the University of Liberia in re-creating its engineering program, which had been obliterated by civil war and the 2014-15 ebola outbreak.
Winful served as founder and chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Division’s Committee for an Inclusive Department, as a Rackham Faculty Ally for Diversity, and as a College of Engineering DEI Department Lead. He has been a faculty adviser to the Graduate Society of Black Engineers and Scientists for more than 20 years.
“Professor Winful’s enthusiasm for the university and its potential combined with his years-long efforts to cultivate a culture of diversity, openness and inclusiveness within UM and beyond make him an ideal candidate for this award,” wrote Duncan Steel, Robert J. Hiller Professor of Electrical Engineering and professor of physics.
This article originally appeared in the June 1, 2021 edition of The University Record