Georgia State University Receives Award To Expand Community Partnerships For Student Success

ATLANTA—The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) have awarded Georgia State University a $50,000 grant to advance university-community partnerships to boost student success.

Georgia State was one of 11 universities awarded Collaborative Opportunity Grants to link student success with their institutions’ community engagement. These institutions are eligible to re-apply for grants next year to qualify for a total of $100,000 in funding. The grants are supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"Georgia State's commitment to student success has led to the introduction of a host of impactful programs and a 22-percentage-point increase in graduation rates,” said Timothy Renick, vice provost and vice president for enrollment management and student success at Georgia State.  “The work funded by this latest APLU grant builds on a lesson critical to these gains: engaged students earn better grades, are more likely to stay enrolled and are better prepared for their lives after graduation."

Georgia State is partnering with the Southern Education Foundation through the university’s College of Education & Human Development and Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) to examine the climate of social justice and its impact on students transitioning into the institution and the student body.

“The public universities receiving these grants have undertaken efforts that represent a sea change in the way we think about student success,” said Shari Garmise, vice president of APLU’s Office of Urban Initiatives and executive director of USU. “For decades, institutions have applied a nearly singular focus on addressing academic hurdles students face once they’re enrolled. These institutions are saying that isn’t enough. We have to work with community partners to ensure students have the required resources to apply, the necessary instruction to be prepared for the rigor of college coursework, and the tools they need to thrive in the workforce and drive positive change in their communities.”

The co-principal investigators for Georgia State’s grant are Dr. Joyce King, holder of the Benjamin E. Mays Endowed Chair for Urban Teaching, Learning and Leadership in the College of Education & Human Development, and Dr. Valora Richardson, manager of faculty development and support at CETL.

Representatives from the 11 awarded universities will meet in July in Washington, D.C., to strategize and collaborate on their initiatives. USU and APLU will share key findings from the institutions’ work after the Collaborative Opportunity Grant program has ended to promote best practices other public universities can adopt.