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U�¼������ϲ�-SSRI Student Success Conference

Since its inception, the AIA has collaborated with U�¼������ϲ�’s SSRI team in encouraging participation and attendance in their annual Student Success Conference, held every February. Staff affiliated with AIA projects across the tri-university system were invited to present compelling projects that support student success innovations. At the upcoming February 2024 conference, recipients of AIA award proposals will be presenting on their experience with AIA Learning Studios and the solutions that resulted from the cross-institutional collaboration.

Transcript Withholding Policies Working Group

Summary: The AIA invited ASU, NAU, U�¼������ϲ� and community college partners to take part in an exploratory working group, enabling collaborative discourse among institutional practice to explore national and state-level approaches for use of transcript withholding policies and their impact on educational attainment, access, and retention in the state. Output from the work included:

• Session resources and artifacts: Compilation of resources from working group sessions.
• Internal assessment framework: Toolkit/framework for assessing the use and impact of transcript policies.
• Assessment outcomes report: Compiled report on the impact of transcript withholding policies across AIA institutions and participating community college partners.
• Recommendations report: Institutional and cross-institutional recommendations for minimizing the impact of transcript withholding policies on degree completion and economic mobility in the state.

ASU-NAU Work+ Discovery Sprint

NAU hosted the ASU Work+ team for a Discovery Sprint to generate innovative ways to support how students translate their collegiate employment experiences into workforce skills after graduation. This idea generation will result in the ongoing creation of intentional and valuable developmental opportunities for our students in collaboration with ASU’s Work+ team over the next year. Since fall 2022, NAU has been working with ASU and peer institutions across the country to build unique and innovative training opportunities for students. The Discovery Sprint will be the “kick-off” of idea generation and planning! NAU participated in a design thinking experience with ASU’s Work+ program during the summer of 2023.

AIA Facilitated Design Thinking Session

With facilitation support from AIA, the NAU Office of Enrollment Management hosted a two-day sprint series with primary stakeholders from across the institution engaged in the planning and facilitation of new student orientation. The two-day sprint series leveraged design thinking approaches to spark and solicit ideas for how the current NAU virtual orientation experience can be improved and enhanced for incoming students. In conclusion, NAU leadership received a substantive report summarizing the findings that emerged during the sessions.

NAU Equitable and Inclusive Teaching Seminar

Over the course of November, both ASU and U�¼������ϲ� engaged in a series of strategy meetings with NAU’s Director of the Inclusive Teaching Seminar program, Cody Canning. Strategy meetings focused on understanding the operational and programmatic components of the seminar as well as practices that can be implemented and scaled across institutions. The ASU EdPlus team invited Canning to participate in a day-long visit to ASU to determine potential opportunities for collaboration and leverage NAU expertise in the delivery and design of the seminar.

ASU Men of Color Student Services Internal Landscape Analysis

ASU is undergoing a landscape analysis of current Men of Color (MOC) initiatives to gain a deeper internal perspective of current practices, program outcomes and successes. The completed assessment will be leveraged to determine initial opportunities for shared learning with NAU and U�¼������ϲ� counterparts.

�¼������ϲ� Hispanic-Serving Institution Consortium

• Summary: Established in early 2021, the �¼������ϲ� Hispanic-Serving Institution (AZ HSI) consortium serves as a community of practice for the 22 designated HSIs in �¼������ϲ�. The consortium seeks to strengthen institutional and collective capacity to intentionally support conditions necessary for advancing Latinx student success. The AIA signed a scope of collaboration to support tri-university engagement and the following activities:
  • AZ HSI Consortium Summit: AIA served on the planning and coordination committee for the inaugural AZ HSI Consortium Summit on Oct. 7, 2022. The summit brought together 200-plus faculty, staff, administrators, and community partners from across �¼������ϲ�’s 22 HSIs to: Showcase evidence-based practices leading to improved attainment among Latinx students: and create opportunities for community building across AZ HSIs. More than 20-plus faculty members and administrators from AIA institutions presented at the summit with more than 60 individuals in attendance.
  • Catalog and Disseminate Evidence-Based Practices: AIA is supporting the design and development of a database for cataloging and disseminating evidence-based practices known to effectively increase college access, persistence, retention, transfer, and degree attainment for Latinx students in �¼������ϲ�. The catalog will be disseminated in 2024 and include program highlights from all AIA institutions

�¼������ϲ� Innovation Alliance and �¼������ϲ� Western College(AWC)

• As part of �¼������ϲ� Western College’s (AWC) ongoing strategic plan, President Dr. Daniel Corr set a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” of doubling the rate of earned baccalaureate degrees in Yuma and La Paz counties by 2035. The mission closely aligns with AIA’s goal to increase bachelor’s degree attainment in the region.
• In February of 2021, the AIA announced a formal partnership with �¼������ϲ� Western College to increase bachelor’s degree attainment in Yuma and La Paz counties. The partnership serves to enhance the long-standing collaborations between AWC and AIA institutions in advancement of the following goals:
  • Increase enrollment and retention in postsecondary education among residents of Yuma and La Paz counties.
  • Increase awareness, access, and visibility of academic and student support services among AIA-AWC.
  • Enhance collaboration for student support services, operational resources, and staffing, to support a seamless educational journey for those who pursue a bachelor's degree.
  • Align course availability of 100 and 200 level courses (including critical path courses and prerequisites) needed for bachelor's pathways to accommodate pipeline support for transfer.
• Partnership Highlights
  • Development of an enhanced tri-university data-sharing agreement enabling early outreach to AWC students who intend to transfer.
  • AIA funding and coordination support for the annual �¼������ϲ� Desert Southwest Transfer Conference.
  • Established initial reengagement initiative to support AWC associate degree holders in mapping a pathway to bachelor’s degree completion.