Wayne State University today announced it has been named as one of five finalists for the Association of Public Land-grant Universities’ (APLU) 2016 Project Degree Completion Award. The university earned the distinction after reporting a 9 percent increase in graduation rates since implementing its Undergraduate Student Success Initiative in 2011.
The annual prize works to identify, recognize and reward public universities across the country that employ innovative approaches to improve retention and degree completion. Wayne State’s improvement in its graduation rate is the 20th largest improvement among APLU universities in the country.
The award is part of Project Degree Completion — a joint initiative that APLU and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities developed in which nearly 500 public colleges and universities have pledged to collectively award 3.8 million more degrees by 2025. The annual Project Degree Completion Award includes a $15,000 prize given to the winning institution to further its efforts to improve student outcomes. APLU manages the award, and the competition is open to all APLU members. A panel of seven judges reviewed the applications and determined the finalists. The award winner will be announced and all finalists will be recognized at the APLU Annual Meeting, which will be held Nov. 13-15, 2016, in Austin, Texas.
The other finalists for the 2016 Project Degree Completion are California State University, Fresno; Cleveland State University; Montana State University; and the University of California, Riverside.
“Entering college and pursuing a degree is more important than ever before,” said APLU President Peter McPherson. “But the critical importance of completing a degree is too often overlooked. Raising degree completion rates remains key to achieving our national goal of 60 percent of adult Americans holding a bachelor’s degree by 2025. Meeting that goal will require increasing not only the number of students entering college, but just as important, the number graduating. Wayne State University and the other four 2016 Project Degree Completion Award finalists have made great strides in improving student retention and degree completion — and we’re thrilled to share their experiences so other institutions can replicate their approaches and results.”
“Making such a significant gain in our graduation rate over such a short time is no small feat,” said Monica Brockmeyer, Wayne State’s associate provost for student success. “We worked hard to provide supported academic pathways for students, we provided for the different learning needs of different students, and we did so with excellence by creating meaningful relationships with our students.”
In particular, the APLU recognized that Wayne State has transformed its student success culture under the institution’s Undergraduate Success Initiatives — a set of 10 mutually reinforcing programs that address a variety of aspects affecting degree completion. Components of the initiative include a bolstered commitment to academic advising, an advising scheduling system, comprehensive monitoring of student progress, financial literacy education and increased support for transfer students. The initiative has yielded a 9 percent increase in Wayne State University’s graduation rate over the past four years. Many of these initiatives were supported financially by an award from the Kresge Foundation.
Student Success is an important focus area in WSU’s 2016-21 “Distinctively Wayne State University” strategic plan, which aims to achieve an additional 15 percent increase in the graduation rate by 2021.