CCA On the Air

Midwest Alliance Engagement Director Nichole Mann speaks with Breana Brown, Program Coordinator at Illinois State University's Stevenson Center, about her journey from first-generation college student to passionate advocate for student success. Breana shares her unique perspective working with both graduate students and first-year undergrads, emphasizing the importance of shifting from a deficit lens to examining how institutional systems can better serve all students. Through powerful personal stories and practical insights, she demonstrates how bringing your authentic self to student success work can create transformative connections and help students recognize their own potential.

In this episode of CCA On the Air, Alliance Engagement Director Jonathan Gowin sits down with two leaders from the CollegeBound Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland: Khala Granville Williamson, Director of High School Programs, and Jennifer Covahey, Director of College Success. They explore how CollegeBound has built a comprehensive "to and through college" model that supports Baltimore City public high school students from college access through graduation. The conversation reveals the power of individualized advising, strategic partnerships, and financial support in driving student success. Listeners will learn about CollegeBound's impressive retention rates, their recent merger with Adelante Latina to better serve Baltimore's Latina students, and the essential ingredients for replicating this work in other communities. Learn more about the CollegeBound Foundation at www.collegeboundfoundation.org.

In this episode of CCA on the Air, recorded live at CCA's Data Days convening in Denver, we dive deep into Kentucky's ambitious journey toward its 60 by 30 educational attainment goal. Hear from higher education leaders across the state who are redefining what success looks like by moving away from rigid target-setting toward progress-based benchmarking.

In Kentucky, constant communication, transparent data validation, and collaborative processes are driving real results. Learn how they've built trust between state agencies and institutions, aligned KPIs across multiple levels, and leveraged performance funding to support underrepresented student populations.

Whether you're working at the state, system, or institutional level, this conversation offers practical insights on building effective data partnerships, measuring what matters, and moving everyone in the same direction.

Featuring:

Travis Muncie, MS, Chief Information Officer, Data & Advanced Analytics, KY Council on Postsecondary Education

Christopher Ledford, PhD, Director, Data and Advanced Analytics, KY Council on Postsecondary Education

Melissa Young, Senior Fellow, Communications, KY Council on Postsecondary Education

Alicia Crouch, MPP, Vice Chancellor of Research and Policy Analysis, KY Community & Technical College System

Cori Henderson, EdD, Associate Director, Institutional Research, Northern Kentucky University

Moderated by Carrie Hodge, EdD, Director of Data Analysis, Complete College America

Helpful links:

Kentucky's 60x30 Goal: http://www.cpe.ky.gov/ourwork/60x30.html

Kentucky CPE's Data Center: https://cpe.ky.gov/data/index.html

Join Nichole Mann from Complete College America as she explores corequisite education in the sciences with Dr. Thomas Dickson from the Ohio Department of Higher Education and Geoff Woolf from Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. This episode examines Ohio's Strong Start in Science initiative, which applies successful corequisite models from math and English to introductory biology, chemistry, and anatomy courses. The conversation covers implementation challenges, faculty culture change, and strategies for improving student success in gateway science courses.

Accreditation sits at the heart of higher education’s promise to deliver value, quality, and opportunity. But in 2025, the landscape is shifting fast, fueled by questions of accountability, the rise of alternative accreditors, and new expectations around data and student success. In this episode of CCA on the Air, we sit down with Dr. Maria Toyoda, the new President and CEO of WSCUC. Together, we explore how WSCUC is using data to drive innovation, the role of accreditation in the evolving higher education landscape, and how accreditors can balance rigorous standards with access, student success, and innovation.

Join us as we sit down with John Fink, Senior Research Associate and Program Lead at CCRC, and one of the authors of More Essential Than Ever: Community College Pathways to Educational and Career Success, to explore a decade of research on guided pathways reforms. We'll discuss how state and institutional leaders can implement proven strategies to help more community college students complete their programs on time and graduate career-ready. From accountability for post-completion outcomes to reimagining dual enrollment, discover actionable insights for transforming community college success rates and ensuring students achieve upward mobility through affordable, high-quality education.

In this guest episode of the Voices for Justice podcast, host Alyssa Silva speaks with Dr. J. Luke Wood, the ninth president of Sacramento State and a nationally recognized scholar on racial equity in education. Together, they explore what it means to lead with courage during politically charged times, the launch of the nation’s first Black Honors College, and how innovation and resilience are shaping the future of higher education.🎙️ Tune in to hear Dr. Wood’s insights on leadership, equity, and justice and the advice he has for students and early-career professionals striving to create lasting change.

On this episode of CCA on the Air, we explore the world of Open Education and its transformative impact on student success.

Our guest, Lindsey Gwozdz, Assistant Dean of Libraries at the Community College of Rhode Island, brings a dual perspective—as a campus-based practitioner and a regional leader in the open ed movement. Together, we discuss the promise of open education (OE), what it takes to bring OE initiatives to life, and how free, accessible learning materials can drive student success.

Guest Contact: Lindsey Gwozdz, [email protected]

Internships can be game-changers, but for many students, access to meaningful work experience remains out of reach. In this episode of CCA on the Air, we hear directly from Complete College America’s student interns about how their internship experience has influenced their professional growth and shaped their views on the student experience.  They reflect on the realities of navigating college while pursuing professional growth, what they’ve learned as part of the CCA team this summer, and how internships can be designed to better serve all students.  Tune in for a candid conversation that challenges the status quo and reminds us why student voice must lead the way in reimagining the future of work and learning. 

Join CCA Alliance Engagement Director Nichole Mann as she explores the concept of values-driven advising with Dr. Jeff Elliott, executive director of undergraduate academic advising at Purdue University. This episode examines how academic advisors can integrate their personal values with institutional mission to create meaningful student experiences. The conversation covers the holistic nature of modern advising, professional boundaries and burnout prevention, and the potential for AI to enhance rather than replace the human dimensions of advising work.