The University of Houston-Downtown is establishing its new Gator Success Institute (GSI) in support of its number one priority of Enhancing Student Success, the first goal of its 2022-27 Strategic Plan: A New Paradigm. The new Institute is made possible by a $750,000 grant from the ECMC Foundation.

The GSI will provide 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.

"ECMC Foundation’s support is crucial to our achieving our student success goals," stated UHD President Loren J. Blanchard. "Through extensive research, we know that by taking a holistic approach in providing for our students’ basic needs, we will increase retention and graduations rates, ultimately leading to improving the socioeconomic mobility of our graduates and their families," he continued. "Furthermore, a culture of care is firmly engrained in the DNA of UHD. The Gator Success Institute will move the needle on the continuum of care provided by UHD, helping to ensure students can achieve their dreams of graduating from college with a degree of value that will forever change the trajectory of their lives and generations to follow."

UHD is positioned to set a national standard in student success through its proactive measures to have a positive impact on first-generation, low-income students. The University boldly commits to doubling its six-year graduation rate to 60% by 2028, resulting in an additional 350 graduates each year.

"UHD’s ‘Gator Success Institute (GSI): Creating a Culture of Care Through a Holistic Approach to Student Success’ proposal especially appealed to ECMC Foundation," stated Program Officer Jonathan T. Reid. "GSI aligns with our strategic priority of removing barriers to postsecondary completion for students who have been consistently and systemically left behind. This program is an exciting approach to evidence-based innovation and will help build the capacity of the University. We look forward to seeing how the Institute impacts UHD students’ ability to persist and graduate in a timely manner."

The realization of the Institute is in part based upon the recommendations of the National Institute for Student Success (NISS) to increase retention and graduation rates of UHD students following its extensive data analysis. As a member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Implementation Cohort, the NISS has been working with UHD administration, faculty, and staff since May 2022 and has provided an evidenced-based assessment of the University’s current student success efforts and areas of opportunity to better serve its students.

After a comprehensive diagnostic analysis of UHD’s historic student success outcomes, the NISS found that students were more likely to transfer or stop out altogether than graduate with a majority of students leaving during the first year. NISS stated that changing this student outcome will be a key area of focus for UHD to advance its student success goals and continue to meet the city’s critical workforce demands.

GSI’s tactics to improve UHD’s first-time-in-college student success outcomes include:

• A caseload-management approach to student support in that every participating student will have their own GSI Student Success Advocate who will provide resources and wraparound services;
• The assignment of every student to a learning community (based on college affiliation) and near-peer mentors;
• Digital degree maps with clear academic and professional targets for students with pathways to complete their degrees on time and transition to the workforce smoothly;
• Systematization across departments, colleges, and programs of UHD’s Student Success Management, which monitors students’ progress towards degree attainment;
• The development of bilingual family programming (monthly newsletters, in-person presentations, and online modules) for the parents/guardians of first-generation students to engage them in the educational journey;
• The "La Familia" program to match students with faculty and staff to build a stronger sense of belonging; and
• Emergency financial assistance for students fa

cing food, housing, transportation, and healthcare insecurities.

For more information about UHD, visit uhd.edu.