Becoming a Student-Ready Institution

All UI faculty and staff have an important role in creating an institution that is student ready. We can all contribute to this process by working together to better understand all students' needs, learning how to build stronger, more meaningful relationships, and contributing towards a welcoming campus community that supports all students.

Being "student ready" means transforming the institution to meet all of our students' needs...

The first principle in Becoming a Student-Ready College is that all people who work on campus have the capacity to be effective educators. However, you cannot be an effective educator if you do not understand and embody the goals and priorities for student success or if you are isolated from change efforts to transform the institution.
Article based on Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (Jossey-Bass, 2016) by Tia Brown McNair, Susan Albertine, Michelle Asha Cooper, Nicole McDonald, and Thomas Major, Jr. Become a Student-Ready Institution by Tia Brown McNair
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Workshops & Trainings

The first-generation college experience and strategies to support first-gen students’ success

Is your department curious to know how first-generation students enrolled in your classes or majoring in your programs are experiencing college? Or perhaps your unit would like to use a staff meeting or regularly scheduled professional development time to focus on learning how to better support first-gen students? Maybe your leadership team is looking for strategies to improve first-gen student outcomes? 

Academic Support and Retention staff are available to present customized departmental workshops and training sessions, incorporating institutional data and research-based best practices into each presentation. Sessions are typically scheduled at 45, 60, or 90 minutes in length, but can be adjusted as necessary.

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Online Tutorials for UI Faculty and Staff

Putting Our Firsts, First: Strategies for Empowering First-Generation College Students at the University of Iowa

A series of 1stGen@Iowa online modules is in development that will be available in academic year 2024-2025. These engaging tutorials will be offered through the university's Compliance and Qualifications system and taken through ICON. The training consists of three modules: An introduction, unhiding the hidden curriculum and strategies for building meaningful relationships.