Listen in to a session at CTB's latest virtual retreat on wrap-around supports: a conversation with best-selling author Paul Tough. Paul is the author, most recently, of The Inequality Machine: How College Divides Us (previously The Years That Matter Most), published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. His three previous books include the best-selling How Children Succeed, Helping Children Succeed, and Whatever It Takes.

Paul joined CTB's President and CEO Steve Katsouros, SJ for a wide ranging discussion on topics including recent trends in higher education, Paul's experiences visiting Arrupe College, and the importance of institutional commitments to social mobility.

Listen in to a conversation between Steve Katsouros SJ, President/CEO  of Come to Believe, and Eric Immel, SJ, Vocations Promoter for the  Midwest Jesuits and former Associate Dean for Student Success at Arrupe College. Steve and Eric discuss Fr. Immel's earliest memories of Arrupe College, the role of Cura Personalis at Arrupe, the importance of  orientations and retreats to Arrupe's success, and much more!

An excerpt from an interview with Don Graham of the Dream.US, part of our ongoing Design Grant program. The Design Grant provides colleges and  universities with an inside look at the CTB model as they consider replication on their campuses.

Today's episode focuses on credit accumulation—how the rate at which students earn college credits can make a big difference on their trajectories and ultimate success. We were joined by two higher ed experts with recent research in this area. Dr. Taylor Odle is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Odle recently co-authored a report on ‘Credit Accumulation and Completion Rates among First-Year College Students,’ which served as the foundation for our discussion. We were also joined by Dr. Davis Jenkins, a senior research scholar at the Community College Research Center and a research professor in Education and Social Policy at Teachers College. Davis has decades of research experience on topics including credit accumulation and guided pathways.

Students all over the country count on state grants to afford the cost of post-secondary education, but the form and generosity of these programs vary widely from state to state. CTB's latest panel, held on September 8th, 2022, began with a research presentation on the impact of grant aid by Dr. Brent Evans of Vanderbilt University, and then dove into the landscape of state aid to provide greater clarity on how these programs operate, featuring state-level practitioners from Illinois and Minnesota.

Our latest panel featured Dr. Lisette Nieves presenting her research on the importance of employment to students' academic and personal development during college. Then, Steve Katsouros, SJ facilitated a round table discussion with special guests from Dougherty Family College, Arrupe College, and CTB about internships, employer relations, and more!  Finally, we had time for audience Q&A. 

Check out CTB’s third virtual panel discussion "The Cost of Aid: The Burdens of Affordability in Higher Ed" was held on April 4th, 2022 at 5:00 PM EDT. The panel began a research presentation on the challenges of navigating the postsecondary financial aid system by Bridgette Davis of the UChicago Crown School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Next, CTB President/CEO Steve Katsouros, SJ facilitated a panel discussion on financial aid, equity, and stratification within the field of higher education with special guests from the Noble Network of Charter Schools, Arrupe College, and Loyola University Chicago. Finally, we ended the conversation with audience Q&A on this critically important topic in higher ed.

Check out our conversation with Bridgette Davis, a doctoral candidate at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago, about the burdens associated with the financial aid system in the United States. Bridgette is a two-time Point Foundation Scholar and Institute of Education Sciences Predoctoral Fellow. Her fields of interest include anti-poverty policy and implementation, nonprofit organizations, social inequality, and administrative burdens. Her current project investigates the role of organizational policies and practices in reproducing or challenging racial and economic inequality among youth as they navigate the transition to adulthood.

Perhaps the most critical aspect of the Come To Believe model is the sense of belonging cultivated at each campus. Simply put, belonging is in CTB's DNA. We dive into a discussion focusing on belonging and inclusion within the field of higher education. With presentation from Assistant Professor at UCLA and Director of the Culture and Contact Lab, Dr. Tiffany Brannon.

Check out our conversation with Dr. Tiffany N. Brannon, Assistant Professor of Social Psychology at UCLA and the Director of the

Culture and Contact Lab. Her research examines socio-cultural identities in negatively stereotyped

groups such as African-Americans and Latino/a/x-Americans; and she investigates the potential for these

identities to serve as a psychological resource— one that can facilitate a variety of individual and

intergroup benefits. Her research has been published in top academic journals and she is currently a

member of the editorial board for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and has been an

elected council member for the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.