First Generation College Students

Belonging, Student Success, and Persistence: the Simple Power of Names

In a previous post, we learned how the Xavier University Center for Teaching Excellence has deployed NameCoach to help address the most important element in student success: sense of belonging. “According to Terrell Strayhorn (2012), the number one key to student success in college pertains to the concept of belonging. A basic human need, students’ sense of belonging has been associated with positive outcomes in college, including academic [...]

admin2018-03-09T02:50:34+00:00March 8th, 2018|CSU-Northridge, Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging, First Generation College Students, Stanford University, Student Admissions & Recruiting, Student Retention, Student Success, Xavier University|

Freezing Summer Melt

As colleges gear up to enroll a whole new class of excited students, we start thinking about how to combat the thorny phenomenon of “summer melt”: college-intending students who take a step towards enrollment - such as accepting admission or putting down a deposit - but don’t show up. According to research by Lindsay Page et al., published by Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research, between 10% and [...]

admin2018-03-09T02:48:21+00:00March 7th, 2018|Case Study, Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging, First Generation College Students, Student Admissions & Recruiting, Student Retention, University of Dayton, Xavier University|

Setting the Bar Higher for Inclusion on Campus

We’ve had the good fortune to be on the front lines of the fight to create inclusive learning environments in higher education. But we haven’t been in that fight alone. We’ve had the honor of working alongside a number of schools doing amazing, if sometimes unnoticed, work to improve life in the classroom and on campus for their students. Institutions like Stanford, Northwestern, and California State University-Northridge. And [...]

admin2019-08-02T21:31:38+00:00March 1st, 2018|Canvas, Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging, First Generation College Students, Foothill College, Learning Management Systems, Student Success|

Q&A with Paul Schantz, California State University, Northridge

We recently had an opportunity to talk to Paul Schantz, Director, Web and Technology Services, Division of Student Affairs, California State University, Northridge, about how the university is using NameCoach to provide a more inclusive learning experience for its students. Can you tell me about CSUN? We’re a large institution with 40,000 students in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. Close to half of our enrollment is Hispanic. [...]

admin2018-03-07T09:30:21+00:00February 21st, 2018|Case Study, CSU-Northridge, Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging, First Generation College Students, Learning Management Systems, Student Success, University Systems|

Wish We’d Had NameCoach

The last school I taught at had a high percentage of immigrant and refugee students. This meant that many graduation ceremonies were cringe-worthy. Despite practice and notecards with phonetic hints, the administrator butchered the names of the majority of students. One year was particularly heinous. Not only did the announcer butcher most names, he did so multiple times in an attempt to get them right. That year, I [...]

Sarah Frohmberg2018-02-13T03:36:56+00:00December 25th, 2017|Commencement Ceremonies, Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging, First Generation College Students, Graduation, Learning Management Systems|

NameCoach and Stanford at AACRAO 2017: Respect and Belonging (Part 2)

This post is a continuation of a previous post, What we learned at AACRAO 2017: Part 1. At this year’s American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) conference, we had the opportunity to partner with Thomas Black, Associate Vice Provost and Registrar at Stanford University. In part of 1 of this post, we learned about the role administrators like Black are playing in meeting students’ calls [...]

Ritika Dewan2018-03-07T09:33:58+00:00November 3rd, 2017|Canvas, Case Study, Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging, First Generation College Students, Gender-Diversity, Learning Management Systems, Personal Pronoun Choice, Stanford University, Student Success, University Systems|

NameCoach and Stanford at AACRAO 2017: Respect and Belonging (Part 1)

NameCoach had the honor to present at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) conference, a national higher education association. We joined thought partner and NameCoach customer Thomas Black, Associate Vice Provost and Registrar at Stanford University. At NameCoach, we believe in the importance of diversity in higher education, so partnering with experts in the field helps us understand how they approach diversity, equity, and [...]

Ritika Dewan2018-03-07T09:32:55+00:00October 14th, 2017|Canvas, Case Study, Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging, First Generation College Students, Gender-Diversity, Learning Management Systems, Personal Pronoun Choice, Stanford University, Student Success, University Systems|