Chancellor’s Student Success Initiative spring 2025 update

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to share important updates on the work being advanced through the Chancellor’s Student Success Initiative.

The Chancellor’s Student Success Initiative was launched last fall with goals to increase the six-year graduation rate by 10 percentage points over the next decade and eliminate gaps in enrollment and graduation. This continues UIC’s long-standing trajectory of being intentional about creating and sustaining a student-centered culture across campus.

In the years since the previous Student Success Initiative began in 2012, we have experienced significant growth and progress in broadening access and fostering a culture of continuous improvement centered on student outcomes. From 2014 to 2024, the Office of Project Management for Student Success Initiatives supported faculty and staff in collaboratively implementing numerous projects and practices that transformed our capacity to support students.

Building on this exemplary foundation, the newly established Chancellor’s Student Success Initiative aims to enhance coordination and scale support to better serve all students, improving their time to graduation with cutting-edge learning opportunities and responsive supports throughout their educational journey.

An executive committee has been organized under the leadership of Interim Senior Vice Provost for Academic Programs, Student Success and Effectiveness Nikos Varelas to provide strategic direction and oversight of the Chancellor’s Student Success Initiative. The committee is charged with:

• Advancing progress toward our goals.
• Providing recommendations for project priorities.
• Developing strategies focused on integrating and scaling a comprehensive portfolio of program elements proven to boost student outcomes including recruitment and degree pathways, financial support, pre-matriculation programming, proactive advising, responsive academic support, teaching and learning innovation, research and experiential learning, career preparation and health and well-being.

Planning is underway for another series of College Success meetings this spring, bringing together leaders from undergraduate colleges, advising, enrollment management, assessment, student success and belonging and student affairs. These meetings will provide a collaborative space to review outcomes and develop strategies for continued improvement.

We invite you to learn more about the Chancellor’s Student Success Initiative and the exciting projects underway. We deeply appreciate the ongoing partnership and collaboration of the campus community, which are essential to the success of this initiative and, ultimately, to the success of our students.

Sincerely,

Karen Colley
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Michael Ginsburg
Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Student Affairs

For more information, please contact:
Office of the Provost
provost@uic.edu