A statewide conference on college retention will be held at the University of Central Arkansas this Wednesday and Thursday, April 1 and 2.
The Student Success Symposium is designed to provide two- and four-year institutions in Arkansas the opportunity to create alliances, and it will feature six national speakers and two keynotes. Speakers will present on proven strategies for engaging students, student success and improving retention.
As part of the Student Success Symposium, the presidents, chancellors, and chief academic officers for the two- and four-year institutions in Arkansas will attend a luncheon on Wednesday, April 1, from noon to 2 p.m. in UCA’s Brewer-Hegeman Conference Center rooms 4A&B. The keynote speaker at the luncheon will be John Gardner, who is the founder of two national centers: The National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina, and The Policy Center on the First Year of College based in Brevard, North Carolina. For over 30 years, he has led an international reform movement to persuade colleges to change their approaches to working with their first-year students.Over 247 people have registered to participate in the Student Success Symposium, representing 21 of the 22 two-year state institutions and 15 of the 22 four-year state institutions.
Dr. Betsy O. Barefoot will present a keynote address, and Dr. Scott Evenbeck, Dr. Joe Cuseo, Dr. Jocelyn Harney, Dr. Jean Henscheid, Dr. Christine McPhail, and Dr. Kay Gillespie will hold break out sessions focused on assessment, retention initiatives, learning communities, learning outcomes, and professional development.
For more information, visit www.arkansasstudentsuccess.org or contact Terri Files at terrif@uca.edu or 501-852-2592.
