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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.