Student Success and Retention Conference 2025

In this high-level and fast-paced session, Dr. Brent A. Gage, Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management and Strategy at the University of Iowa and Senior Consultant with AACRAO Consulting, will provide an in-depth look at the challenges and opportunities higher education professionals will face in 2025 and beyond. This keynote will explore critical areas of focus for daily work and long-term planning, addressing pressing emerging trends that demand attention. Covering 10 essential insights, including the looming enrollment cliff, growing mistrust in financial aid, and the evolving tension between campus priorities and national politics, Dr. Gage will dive into the key reflections to help higher education professionals navigate the changing landscape with confidence. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable perspectives and strategies for the future!

Summer 2025 is on the horizon, and OSU is excited to announce some big changes! Come learn about our new Core Education requirements and how they impact transfer students. We'll explore new tools and resources designed to make your transition seamless. Join us for a brief presentation and open discussion.

The Ford Family Foundation administers four scholarship programs that annually serve 1,000+ active scholarship recipients attending 100+ colleges and universities throughout the United States. The Foundation has awarded scholarships to nearly 7,000 students since the inception of its scholarship programs in 1994. Given this context, supporting the multi-faceted needs of our scholarship recipients and alumni in a changing higher education landscape is, in and of itself, a unique problem and an exciting opportunity. It’s a worthy problem-tunity. In this presentation, we will discuss our Student Supports portfolio, the evolution of our strategy and opportunities for future collaboration. Key themes for our presentation include: strategies for supporting students during key transitions in their postsecondary journeys, redefining programmatic success beyond retention and completion metrics and embracing social and economic mobility indicators as markers of programmatic success.

As you grow in your profession, supervising may become a responsibility. Often, this responsibility is given to you without little training, support, or release of existing job responsibilities. Hiring, training, managing, and retaining your team members in addition to your existing work opportunities is exciting and challenging. In this session, we will discuss ways to build your supervisory skills and collaborate on case studies of situations middle managers experience. The goal is for folks to gain practical tips and resources they can implement with their team right away, with the hopes that they will be able to develop and retain the team they have.

This presentation explores the impact of implicit bias on decision-making for community college employees. Attendees will learn how implicit biases can influence issue framing, policy, communications, and resource allocation, and gain strategies to address these biases in order to enhance equity, belonging, and well being for all at their institutions and the communities they serve.

This presentation is focused on expanding access to higher education for rural and small-town students in Oregon. This session is divided into two key parts: 1) Understanding Rural Oregon Student Data Trends – Gain valuable insights into the college-going culture of Oregon high school students through College Board data. Explore the trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping rural students’ postsecondary pathways. 2) Leveraging the STARS College Network – Learn how you can connect your students to the STARS College Network, a transformative initiative partnering with 32 of the nation's top colleges and universities. This free resource provides personalized advising, application support, virtual programming, and campus visit opportunities—all designed to help rural students successfully navigate the college admissions process and thrive at their chosen institution. Learn more: starscollegenetwork.org. Don't miss this opportunity to equip yourself with data-driven insights and powerful resources to support Oregon's rural and small-town students in accessing life-changing educational opportunities! 

Join this interactive session to learn more about Career Connected Learning initiatives and impacts in Oregon from the viewpoint of the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, Achieving the Dream, and a community college Career Connected Learning Systems Navigator, with input from the Oregon Department of Education. This session will focus on the experience and insights of CCL Systems Navigators and feature a report from Achieving the Dream on the implementation and impact of the Career Connected Learning Systems Navigator initiative at Oregon’s community colleges. Attendees will provide feedback on the report’s recommendations and discuss actions that can be taken at their college or university to enhance student support and retention through Career Connected Learning. Whether you’re a college or university administrator, faculty member, student affairs professional, or workforce partner, we want your insights about leveraging Career Connected Learning to improve collaboration and student outcomes statewide.

Supporting first year students to thrive in college isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach—it takes creativity, collaboration, and a commitment to meeting students where they are. At Portland Community College, we’ve created a unique First Year Experience (FYE) that combines college coaches, personalized text messaging, and an engaging first year course. Together, these pieces create a holistic support system for over 2,000 first year students, with a 3-year plan to serve all new PCC students (approx 5,000 students). With many unexpected opportunities, the process to develop this FYE was as dynamic as our students are. In this session, we’ll share our process for creating our First Year Experience (spoiler: there were many twists and turns) and break down our FYE elements. Our FYE coaches will share their process to develop holistic supportive relationships with large caseloads and how we’re using technology to help students develop a sense of belonging. You’ll leave with practical tools, including a student communication plan, ideas for using software such as H5P and Vyond, an approach to student-centered voice within a project, and fresh ideas for your own institution.

During our Teagle/Arthur Vining Davis grant funded project, “Oregon Transfer Pathways to the Liberal Arts,” we have learned that strong partnerships with community colleges are critical to building effective pathways for community college students to transfer to private liberal arts universities. The partnerships must include communication networks, personal connections between sectors, and consortial agreements that make student facing information clear and accessible. Building these partnerships is complex and requires input and buy-in from multiple entities in each sector. In this presentation I will focus on our work to build partnerships between Oregon’s 17 community colleges and eight members of the Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges & Universities. I will share lessons learned from: • Work during our planning grant • Student input • An Alliance sponsored, Credo facilitated, Ford Family Foundation funded campus scan for transfer student readiness • Five regional workshops that targeted invitations to advisors, administrators and faculty • Presentations at conferences that have a significant presence of either faculty or staff as academic advisors • Shared documents we have co-created between sectors that provide advice on best practices for informing and supporting transfer-intending and transfer students • A video series that will be developed on selected topics in the transfer process • Faculty connections with staff advisors • A realization that this process needs to officially begin with high school counselors. I will share agendas for workshops, best practices documents we have co-created, and planned next steps. I will solicit advice on topics for informative videos and additional ideas for partnership building.

Centering student voices is critical in colleges’ student success efforts, particularly elevating the voices of new majority learners - working, parenting, immigrant, adult education, career pathways and Black, Indigenous and other students of color - students whose voices have not historically been front and center. To culminate this year’s Student Success and Retention Conference, attendees will hear from four current Oregon community college students. Through this powerful panel discussion, we’ll learn about their unique journeys to and through college. The students will share the college supports that have been most helpful to them and offer invaluable insights and recommendations on what more colleges can do to be student ready. Attendees should feel even more inspired and motivated to implement innovative student success ideas and best practices back on their campuses.