Realizing Inclusive Student Excellence

HIGHLANDERS RISE TOGETHER

In the spring of 2021, several teams from across campus began research and meetings to decide on a focus for Radford’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The QEP demonstrates the university’s commitment to student learning and success and is one of three major components of Radford University’s reaffirmation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).*

Merrie Winfrey, J.D., instructional designer and learning architect in the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning and Sarah Kennedy, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, worked with a team to submit the topic “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” to the QEP selection committee. Once this topic was selected, they began to lead the QEP development and wrote the document (with more than 40 Highlander collaborators) that went to SACSCOC in October 2022.

After months of conversation, focus groups and research, the QEP development team named the QEP, Realizing Inclusive Student Excellence (RISE) with the tagline, “Highlanders RISE Together.”

The QEP plan was inspired by the REALISE program that has been ongoing in the Artis College of Science and Technology since 2017. REALising Inclusive Science Excellence (REALISE) is a $1 million Howard Hughes Medical Institute funded program that provided faculty with inclusive pedagogy training for redesigning STEM courses.

Curriculum reform included increased use of research in the classroom, incorporating active learning techniques, as well as faculty introspection and cultural awareness. The program also increased belongingness for our students through the peer mentoring program, REALISE Students. Fresh Fruit Fridays, de-stress events, STEM club fair, and Diversity in STEM series are all events that brought faculty and students together in the Artis College.

RISE has three main goals: students will successfully complete 100- and 200- level courses; students will experience a sense of academic belonging; and students will experience a sense of campus belonging.

These goals will be accomplished through two main components that are reminiscent of the REALISE program:

1. RISE Faculty Institutebeginning spring 2024: In each year of the five-year QEP, 20 faculty members who teach 100or 200-level required courses will learn to remove barriers to learning; engage with students, diversity, and differences; and foster academic belonging through inclusive and active learning pedagogies; and,

2. RISE Community Action Teams (R-CATs) – beginning fall 2023: groups of students and faculty members will examine disaggregated student success data and then collaborate to advance campus belonging within colleges, creating community through onetime and ongoing events.

The RISE QEP addresses several critical factors at Radford. It aligns with student success and enrollment growth goals in the university’s current strategic plan. Research for a 10-year period of grade data for 315 distinct 100and 200-level courses showed definitive gaps in grades achieved when sorted by race. The plan will increase student performance and belongingness of all students. And finally, research shows that with faculty development, inclusive and active forms of instruction will increase students’ sense of belonging and academic performance to close equity gaps.

Learn more about RISE at www.radford.edu/qep or contact Sarah Kennedy, co-chair of the QEP Development Committee, skennedy25@radford.edu.

*Every five years, Radford University must produce a compliance certification document, institutional summary form and QEP to be considered for reaffirmation with Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC.)

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Quality Improvement, led by Jessica Stowell, works with faculty, staff and administrators to assess, report and utilize results of assessment for meaningful data-driven decisions for the university. All of this work funnels into the compliance certification document and the Institutional Summary Form.