A team of faculty and staff represented NOVA at DREAM 2014: The Achieving the Dream Annual Institute Student Success in Orlando, FL February 23-27. The conference had over 1600 participants from community colleges all over the country who gathered to share ideas about student success in community colleges.
The NOVA team included David Epstein (WO), Frances Villagran-Glover (AL), Jennifer Richardson (WO), Michael Brazie (LO), Stephen Clarke (LO), Rashmi Chilka (AN), Patricia Gary (MA), Molly Lynch (MA), Alison Thimblin (WO), Khaseem Davis (MA), Rhonda Myers (AL), Wes Hillyard (AN), Jenny Lopez (WO), and Vice President of Institutional Research and Student Success Initiatives George Gabriel.
ATD is a national initiative developed to increase student success rates at community colleges. NOVA has been a member of the initiative since 2007 and was recognized as a Leader College in 2010.
Gabriel, Lynch, and Epstein made a presentation, “NOVA’s transformation,” outlining NOVA’s seven year journey in the Achieving the Dream Initiative starting with an examination of data about success in gatekeeper courses and retention, the development and refinement of student success initiatives, and finally recent policy changes to mandate some of these interventions. Also discussed was how NOVA itself has changed as the Office of Institutional Research has played a critical role in championing student success initiatives. Additionally, Thimblin and Gabriel presented on “Using Technology to Increase Student Success: Constituent Relationship Management Software.”