ASCEND Podcast

Dr. Gill Hunter from Eastern Kentucky University joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share his deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

Dr. Gill Hunter is Assistant Vice President of Retention and Graduation at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. Located just east of the Bluegrass of central Kentucky and in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, EKU is a regional university serving almost 15,000 students, nearly half of them the first in their families to attend college. Dr. Hunter is an English faculty member with 18 years at EKU. His commitment is to EKU’s “school of opportunity” mission and the social mobility that higher education provides. In addition to helping lead EKU’s first generation student initiatives, Gill supports programs focused on first-year students, student parents, student athletes, students with college-readiness needs, and tutoring and advising. His wife is a recently-retired public school administrator and he has two girls, one a middle school English teacher and the other a pediatric oncology nurse. Gill also has two grandchildren and, as passionate as he is about education, his favorite job in the world is being Papi.

One way to help nudge students is to have a banner (or several banners) hung across campus that has interchangeable signs for particular events (i.e. course registration days, career fairs, etc.) and removable numbers that can create a countdown (days left until the event).

We have found that some Gen Z students may lack essential life skills such as cooking, cleaning, basic home maintenance, and financial literacy due to growing up in a digital age where such skills are less emphasized or learned from traditional sources like parents or home economics classes.

With this as a backdrop, we have found that institutions of higher education can play a crucial role in helping students develop life skills and prepare for adulthood by offering a range of programs, resources, and experiences that focus on practical life skills, personal development, and career readiness. On our campus, we refer to such programming as ‘Adulting 101.’ 

In season one of the ASCEN D Podcast we outlined strategies for how leaders, managers, and supervisors might go about shifting the organizational culture on a campus. Because this effort is at the core of improving student success we spent more time on this topic in volume 2 of our book and wanted to reshare these strategies in season 2 of our podcast.  Enjoy!

The first few weeks of each semester can be hard for many students. During these first few weeks, new students may feel homesick after they leave their family and home for the first time. Given these realities, and to show our students we are here to support them every step of the way, during the third week of each semester we do apartment walks where we visit the apartments (both on and off campus) of our students.

At our institution, our Financial Wellness Office hosts a wide array of events and initiatives throughout the year, but during February, there is a concerted effort to get students financially ready for the next school year.  Tune in to learn more about Financial February!

In this episode we discuss the different aspects of the ASCEND Model -- Affordability, Support, Culture, Engagement, Nudges, and Data. As a result of the implementation of this new model, we saw immediate improvements in retention and completion rates. Tune in to learn more!

In this episode we discuss the following 8 reasons why colleges and universities should focus on retention and student success:

• a declining national pool of high school graduates; 
• increased pressures to grow revenues; 
• a growing call from the public for increased accountability; 
• the need to close the equity and achievement gaps;
• the ever-changing generational landscape;
• an increased desire for flexibility through online learning;
• Gen Z’s declining interest in traditional higher education; and
• it is simply the right thing to do. 

It's great to be back for season 2 of the ASCEND Podcast!  Thanks for listening!

In this episode, ASCEND Podcast co-hosts Eric Kirby and Jared Tippets wrap up Season 1 and talk about themes and takeaways from the first season.