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In December 2025, Provost Matthew Martens and Dr. Jim Spain hosted a half day Student Success retreat with a focus on opportunities to expand high-impact practices (HIPs) throughout campus.
Breakout sessions included discussions of Mizzou 101, Stellic, Roary, metrics, undergraduate research and the new Council for High-Impact Practices.
Some outcomes from these session include:
Student Success Initiative in the Sinclair School of Nursing
Thanks to the presentation from the Sinclair Student Success Coaches, the Learning Center is now collaboratively building a Pre-Nursing-specific version of the center’s existing Academic Coaching program that allows a smoother transition between Pre-Nursing and Nursing students.
National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE): Using NSSE to Hear from Our Students
- The session generated strong interest in NSSE results related to academic rigor, prompting an action item to collaborate with the Provost’s Office to further explore the results.
- Participants raised questions about how the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced students’ perceptions of academic expectations and rigor and how we might help manage expectations.
- Discussion highlighted interest in identifying student engagement with high-impact practices, with an action item to clarify the purpose and feasibility of using MU Connect tags to capture and act on students’ HIP interests.
- NSSE findings reinforced the value of co-curricular experiences, with an action item to continue encouraging student engagement through advising and other student support interactions.
Roary–Using a New Tool for Student Success
- We heard interest in receiving Roary reports and more personalized data for different units throughout the semester to support programming and communications, specifically from the Office of Student Engagement.
- We are following up with the Writing Center to add FAQ from the Online Writery to the Roary knowledgebase so that Roary can respond to student writing questions.
- We are following up with the Financial Services offices to review and update the knowledgebase.
- We are following up with Tiger Pathways staff to add tailored responses for their population of students because of the specific requirements and context for those students.
- We received specific data questions to better understand student engagement with Roary, including:
- How many students respond to more than 1 message?
- What is the drop off rate of student responses for consecutive questions from Roary?
- We are meeting with A&S to discuss additional opportunities to leverage Roary and engage A&S students.
Using Stellic to Better Support Students
The Student Success Retreat highlighted strong progress in how advisors across units are using Stellic to support student success, improve advising consistency, and help students better understand their academic options. Advisors shared that Stellic is now a central, daily tool in appointments, orientation, and registration planning, with visual planning features that help students explore scenarios, stay on track, and make informed decisions, especially for first-year, transfer, and highly sequential majors. Sessions also underscored effective cross-unit collaboration, including shared use of reports to monitor progress, anticipate course demand, and coordinate with colleagues. Most importantly, the retreat identified clear next steps: developing common student-facing resources, clarifying shared advising norms (such as notes, plans, and follow-up practices), and continuing peer learning to ensure consistent, effective use of Stellic across advising units. Overall, the retreat reinforced Stellic’s role as a key platform for student-centered advising and institutional goals around retention and timely graduation.