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WASHINGTON, D.C.—National Institute for Student Success Executive Director Timothy Renick testified Wednesday before a congressional subcommittee examining innovation in American colleges and universities.
Renick was among a panel of four education experts testifying before the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development. He discussed Georgia State’s transformative efforts over the past decade to boost graduation rates, close achievement gaps and ensure success for students from all backgrounds.
Renick, who was senior vice president for Student Success at Georgia State before the establishment of the National Institute for Student Success, also discussed innovations like micro-grants targeted at students in jeopardy of stopping out for financial reasons, and artificial intelligence-enhanced chatbots that allow Georgia State to reach students at scale.
“These data-informed approaches can be self-sustaining, even revenue generating, by helping institutions hold on to millions of dollars in tuition-and-fee revenues that previously were being hemorrhaged,” he told the subcommittee. “But just as importantly, they are helping to transform communities and their economies.”
Asked by U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) about the data colleges need to help students succeed in college and in the workforce, Renick explained the prevailing problem isn’t a lack of data, but an inability to “operationalize” the data. Renick went on to discuss how first-year students at Georgia State get information on the marketplace for their given major so they can make better-informed career decisions earlier in college.
“If they’re majoring in political science, we’re sharing with students what political science graduates of Georgia State are doing: What companies they’re working for, what organizations, what titles, what their salaries are,” Renick said. “And we’re doing that in the first year, so that when they’re making decisions about their majors, they have the kind of information they need to be informed.”
Renick's testimony begins at the 28:10 mark.
Featured Researcher
Timothy M. Renick
Founding Executive Director
National Institute for Student Success at Georgia State
Timothy Renick is the Founding Executive Director of Georgia State University’s National Institute for Student Success. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President for Student Success and Professor of Religious Studies. Since 2008, Dr. Renick has led strategies, initiatives and programs that have established Georgia State as an internationally recognized leader in student success and enrollment efforts. Under Dr. Renick’s leadership, Georgia State has produced one of the fastest growing graduation rates in the nation and has eliminated achievement gaps based on students’ race, ethnicity and income levels.
Dr. Renick has testified on strategies for helping university students succeed before the U. S. Senate and has twice been invited to speak at the White House. His work has been cited by President Barack Obama and has been covered by national news media, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time and CNN.