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Student Success Research

University Innovation Alliance Resources

On November 30, 2022, the University of Utah joined the University Innovation Alliance (UIA), the leading national coalition of public research universities committed to increasing the number and diversity of college graduates in the United States. UIA projects at the U are focused on supporting student success by decreasing institutional barriers and innovating new paths forward to support undergraduate students' timely college completion. For more information, see the resources below or visit our UIA at Utah webpage.

UIA Frontier Set Report

College to Career Playbook

Completion Grants Playbook

Predictive Analytics

Proactive Academic Advising Playbook

NISS Resources

NISS Diagnostic Playbook for the University of Utah

EAB Resources

The goal of the University of Utah’s partnership with EAB is to facilitate an exceptional educational experience for every student through the combined efforts of Edify and Navigate U. Edify’s sophisticated analytics tools allow the institution to gain new insights into the student experience, such as identifying risk and success predictors, triangulating student engagement data with academic performance data, and measuring the impact of interventions. These insights and predictive modeling are made actionable by Navigate U, a student success platform. Navigate U utilizes a coordinated care model that connects students to a network of support. For the first time, the advising community has a central software to use for scheduling, meeting notes, tracked referrals, proactive outreach, and targeted interventions. Student engagement data will then feed from Navigate U to Edify. Edify analyzes the data alongside several other data sources to generate predictive metrics, insights, and actionable data. These results then flow back to Navigate U in the form of targeted outreach, appointment campaigns, alerts, or referrals. That data then flows back to Edify for the Navigate U interventions to be analyzed and assessed. Based on these assessments, the interventions will be adjusted accordingly. EAB’s technology gives the institution the tools to improve the student experience, persistence and graduation rates, and cross-campus collaboration.

In this case study compendium from 2020, EAB highlights the impact of campaigns at Virginia Commonwealth University (PDF) through Navigate, such as major selection, transfer student persistence, and graduation application reminders. Similarly, at Georgia State University (PDF), Navigate equipped advisors with the data and tools needed to put their students on a path to completion.

Shared Services Primer

Understanding the Opportunities for Scaling Administrative Services

Taking Action on Student Equity

The Six Data Detractors Holding Your Campus Back—And How to Respond

What Health Care Can Teach Us About Student Success

5 Things Campus Leaders Need to Know About AI and Machine Learning

The Promises and Perils of Student Success Predictive Modeling

Scholarly Research

  • Addy, T. M., Dube, D., Mitchell, K. A., & SoRelle, M. (2023). What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching. United States: Taylor & Francis.
  • Andrews, M. E., Borrego, M., & Boklage, A. (2021). Self-efficacy and belonging: the impact of a university makerspace. IJ STEM Ed, 8(24). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-021-00285-0
  • Anistranski, J. A., & Brown, B. B. (2023). A Little Help From Their Friends? How Social Factors Relate to Students’ Sense of Belonging at a Large Public University. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 25(2), 305-325. https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025120985107
  • Artze-Vega, I., Darby, F., Dewsbury, B., & Imad, M. (2023). The Norton Guide to Equity-minded Teaching. Norton.
  • Bean, C. S. (2023). What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching. The Journal of Faculty Development, 37(1), 81-82.
  • Bettencourt, G.M. (2021) “I Belong Because It Wasn’t Made for Me”: Understanding Working-Class Students’ Sense of Belonging on Campus, The Journal of Higher Education, 92:5, 760-783. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2021.1872288
  • Bowen, W. G., Chingos, M. W., & McPherson, M. S. (2009). Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400831463
  • Carmean, C., Kil, D., & Baer, L. (2021). Why Data Matters for Student Success in a Post-Pandemic World. EDUCAUSE.
  • Cuenca-Carlino, Y., Giovagnoli, D. J., Friberg, J. C., Meyers, D. J., Catanzaro, S. J., & Karraker, D. (2023). Creating the Framework for Inclusive Teaching Excellence. International Journal for Academic Development, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2022.2158834
  • Davidson, C. N., & Katopodis, C. (2022). The new college classroom. Harvard University Press.
  • Felten, P., Lambert, L. M. (2020). Relationship-Rich Education: How human connections drive success in college. United States: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Flaherty, C. (2023, February 13). Changing the Conversation: Promoting Student Success. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/02/13/why-everyone-should-be-talking-about-student-success
  • Garvey, J.C., Ballysingh, T.A., Dow, L.B., Howard, B.L., Ingram, A.N., & Carlson, M. (2020). Where I Sleep: The Relationship with Residential Environments and First-Generation Belongingness. College Student Affairs Journal 38(1), 16- 33. https://doi.org/10.1353/csj.2020.0001
  • Gillen-O’Neel, C. Sense of Belonging and Student Engagement: A Daily Study of First- and Continuing-Generation College Students. Res High Educ 62, 45–71 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-019-09570-y
  • Gopalan, M., & Brady, S. T. (2020). College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A National Perspective. Educational Researcher, 49(2), 134-137. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X19897622
  • Grawe, N. D. (2021). The Agile College: How Institutions Successfully Navigate Demographic Changes. United States: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Johnson, D. M., & Johnson, D. M. (2019). Student demographics: The coming changes and challenges for Higher Education. The uncertain future of American public higher education: Student-centered strategies for sustainability, 141-156. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01794-1_10
  • Karen Gravett & Naomi E. Winstone (2022) Making connections: authenticity and alienation within students’ relationships in higher education, Higher Education Research & Development, 41:2, 360-374. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1842335
  • Lauren A. J. Kirby & Christopher L. Thomas (2022) High-impact teaching practices foster a greater sense of belonging in the college classroom, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46:3, 368-381. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2021.1950659
  • Mowreader, A. (2023, December 21). 24 Stats for 2024. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/academic-life/2023/12/21/trends-higher-education-student-success-2024
  • Nunn, L. M. (2021). College Belonging: How First-Year and First-Generation Students Navigate Campus Life. United States: Rutgers University Press.
  • Oleson, K. C. (2023). Promoting Inclusive Classroom Dynamics in Higher Education: A Research-Based Pedagogical Guide for Faculty. United States: Taylor & Francis.
  • Paolini, S., et al. (2021). Intergroup Contact Research in the 21st Century: Lessons Learned and Forward Progress If We Remain Open. Journal of Social Issues, 77(1), 11-38. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12427
  • Roscigno, V. J., Lee, E. M., Hurst, A. L., Brady, D., King, C. R., Abraham Jack, A., Delaney, K. J., McDermott, M., Muñoz, J., Johnson, W., Francis, R. D., Warnock, D., & Weigers Vitullo, M. (2023). Mobility and Inequality in the Professoriate: How and Why First-Generation and Working-Class Backgrounds Matter. Socius, 9. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231231181859
  • Roth, M. S. (2023). The Student: A Short History. Yale University Press.
  • Schwartz, H. L. (2023). Connected Teaching: Relationship, Power, and Mattering in Higher Education. United States: Taylor & Francis.
  • Spight, D. B. (2020). Early declaration of a college major and its relationship to persistence. NACADA Journal, 40(1), 94-109. https://doi.org/10.12930/NACADA-18-37
  • Strayhorn, T. L. (2012). College Students' Sense of Belonging: A Key to Educational Success for All Students. Routledge.
  • Tinto, V. (1993).  Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.
  • Watson, C. E., & Hagood, T. C. (Eds.). (2017). Playing to Learn with Reacting to the Past: Research on High Impact, Active Learning Practices. Springer.
Last Updated: 6/20/24