Sixty-One Institutions Selected to Participate in AAC&U Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success

Washington, DC—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) announced today the sixty-one institutions selected to participate in its 2021 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success. The Institute is designed to advance campus- and system-level efforts to achieve quality, equity, and student engagement goals through the design, implementation, and assessment of active teaching and learning practices widely known as “high-impact practices,” or HIPs. The Institute will be held virtually from June 15–18.

“The AAC&U Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success provides an unparalleled opportunity for colleges and universities from across the country to collaborate on ways to become more intentional in serving all students and to improve both completion rates and the quality of student learning,” said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella. “We look forward to partnering with each of the institutions selected to create campus transformation in support of student success.”

Each participating institution will send a team to the Institute, where they will work with leading experts and practitioners to identify opportunities for deepening connections between students’ assets and their educational experiences. Drawing on research that demonstrates a positive relationship between student participation in HIPs and improved student outcomes, the teams will define and start to develop curricular and cocurricular practices that support student engagement, advance curricular coherence, and generate equitable outcomes. They will also define and strengthen processes for directly assessing student achievement of the learning outcomes that result from participation in HIPs. These assessment processes will help institutions set and monitor progress toward equity goals to improve educational outcomes for all students.

“The Institute represents AAC&U’s continued partnership with leading experts on high-impact practices and student success to examine the latest research and to address the most pressing issues related to equity, quality, and assessment to design sustainable efforts that are responsive to students’ needs and values the diversity of students’ identities,” said Tia McNair, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers.

The Institute will focus on implementing educational change and bringing effective practices to scale in a time of unprecedented changes, limited resources, and variations in modes of delivery. The curriculum will support campus teams as they develop faculty-engaged, evidence-based, sustainable models and strategies to advance quality, equity, and engagement in service to academic excellence and social justice. Topics addressed will include integrating HIPs across modalities, aligning courses and programs with guided pathways, promoting connections between educational experiences and long-term career success, and encouraging an academically open environment while promoting the safe and civil exchange of ideas.

The following institutions will send teams to the 2021 Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success:

• Adams State University
• Albany State University
• American International College
• Appalachian State University
• Arkansas Tech University
• Bay Path University
• Bellarmine University
• Berkshire Community College
• Bridgewater State University
• Bristol Community College
• California State University–San Marcos
• California State University, Long Beach
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Central State University
• Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
• Clemson University
• College of Southern Idaho
• Columbus State University
• Friends University
• Gavilan College
• Georgia Highlands College
• La Salle University
• Louisiana State University at Alexandria
• Menlo College
• Metropolitan State University
• Miami Dade College
• Muskingum University
• North Carolina State
• Principia College
• Riverside City College
• Schoolcraft College
• Seattle University
• Siena College
• Southern Utah University
• St. Catherine University
• St. John’s University
• St. Mary's College of Maryland
• St. Petersburg College
• Stockton University
• SUNY Old Westbury
• Tennessee Board of Regents
• The College of St. Scholastica
• The University of Arizona
• The University of Arizona Global Campus
• Tulsa Community College
• University of North Carolina Wilmington
• University of Virginia’s College at Wise
• University of Arkansas
• University of British Columbia
• University of Michigan
• University of Missouri–Columbia
• University of Mount Union
• University of North Florida
• University of North Texas
• University of the Incarnate Word
• University of Washington Bothell
• University of Wisconsin Green Bay
• Washington State University
• Webster University
• Westfield State University
• Young Harris College