Making Real Change Happen: How UHD Plans to Increase Graduation Rates

By Marie Jacinto

Do you wonder how real change happens? Writers like Malcolm Gladwell of “The Tipping Point” fame and “Freakonomics” authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have built careers writing about societal change, but what about effecting change within our own university?

UHD is on target to do just that—to make real change happen in retention and graduation rates. How? By moving the needle on first-year retention rates by 12 points—from the current 67% to 79%—over six years and doubling the six-year graduation rate by 2028.

Setting goals is one thing; however, to reach a bold future requires a strategic plan. In collaboration with the UHD community, President Blanchard created the 2022-2027 Strategic Plan: A New Paradigm with Enhancing Student Success as the first goal. To that end, UHD Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Deborah E. Bordelon, Ph.D., instituted a new case management approach to advisement. Now, UHD Academic Success Coordinators follow a given cohort of students throughout their academic careers at UHD, providing many points of contact along the way.

This new approach was just the first step in effecting real change. Next, the National Institute for Student Success analyzed UHD’s data over the summer of 2022 and recommended these effective strategies:

❚ Redesigning academic advising;

❚ Providing consistent academic support and reducing D or F grades, withdrawals, and incompletes of gateway courses;

❚ Improving systematic first-year support; and

❚ Increasing support of student financial wellness.

Now with a $750,000 grant from ECMC Foundation, UHD is establishing the new Gator Success Institute (GSI), providing the student-centric infrastructure and expanded wraparound services necessary to address the academic, professional, financial, and basic needs of first-generation, low-income, and historically excluded students. Ultimately, the GSI will help these students navigate their educational journeys and earn their degrees so that they may become the professional labor force and civic leaders of Houston, the state, and the nation.

And that’s how real change happens.

Every generation strives to make things better and provide for those who follow. The scholarships, programmatic funds, and endowment funds you support are helping us transform today’s students—the next generation of professionals and leaders. Their future work will advance the living standards and quality of life for those they touch. We are proud to be a catalyst for our students as they embark upon their respective careers and lives equipped with a strong academic preparation and a sense of mission. We are encouraged and most grateful to have you as a partner on this journey. Thank you for your continued support of the University of Houston-Downtown.