The Persistence to Degree Committee was formed in 2023 to provide deliberate focus and university-wide collaboration on improving MSU’s persistence and graduation outcomes to attain Goal 1.1 of MSU’s strategic plan, Choosing Promise.

 

AY23-24 Membership

 

Name

Position

Affiliation

Michael

Babcock

Director

Center for Faculty Excellence

Carina

Beck

Vice Provost

Academic Affairs

Mike

Becker

News Director

University Communications

Nicole

Berg

Student Success Coord.

Gallatin College

Jeff

Bondy

Director

Residence Life

Beth

Burroughs

Dept. Head

Mathematics

Jess

Carroll

Asst. Director

Writing Center

Julian

Collins

Director

TRiO SSS

Dallas

Dallman

Assoc. Director

Admissions

Ariel

Donohue

Sr. Diversity Officer

Academic Affairs

Emily

Edwards

Director

Advising Commons & Univ Studies

Jennifer

England

Asst. Prof.

Music

Christina

Fastnow

Director

Office of Planning and Analysis

Brian

Gillespie

Assoc. Dean

Business

Kandi

Gresswell

Assoc. Registrar

Registrar

Joe

Hicks

Assoc. Dean

Education, Health & Human Dev.

Andrew

Hill

Assoc. Prof.

Ag Econ & Economics

Yves

Idzerda

Dean

Letters & Science

Laura

Larsson

Professor

Nursing

Amy

Lincoln

Director

Office of Student Success/AYCSS

Lorelei

Michael-Owens

ASMSU Senate Speaker 

ASMSU

Aaron 

Mitchell

Assoc. VP

Administration & Finance

Lori

Oakley

Sys Mgmt Prog Mgr

AYCSS

Michael

Reidy

Dept. Head

History & Philosophy

Abigail

Richards

Dept. Head

Chemical & Biological Engineering

Chad

Schreier

CEO

MSU Bookstore

John

Sheppard

Professor

School of Computing

Durward

Sobek

Vice Provost

Academic Affairs

Ryan

Storment

Instr. Tech. Specialist

Academic Technology & Outreach

Sandy

Sward

Assoc. VP

Research Administration

Christina

Trunnell

Asst. Dean

MSU Library

Charge

The committee is advisory to MSU’s executive team and charged with:

  • Monitoring key metrics related to undergraduate student persistence, time to degree and degree completion.
  • Coordinating efforts to encourage student persistence occurring across the university.
  • Cultivating an informed Community of Practice focused on outcomes indicative of our public land grant mission through intentional faculty/staff professional development.
  • Monitoring innovations and best practices from peer institutions, commissions and professional organizations to consider implementation at MSU.
  • Generating and prototyping fresh ideas for programs that instill a sense of belonging, focus, and expectation from the earliest stages of the student journey.
  • Evaluating ideas and making recommendations to university leadership.
  • Assessing impacts.
  • Reporting a summary of the committee’s work annually to the President’s Executive Council.

 

Co-Chairs

Vice Provost of Allen Yarnell Center for Student Success. Currently Carina Beck

Vice Provost. Currently Durward Sobek

Appointed By: Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

Length of Term: Term of office

Meetings

2-3 times per academic year semester.

Length of Term

One year, renewable.

Membership

Appointed by the Committee’s co-chairs

Reports Due

Annually, in May