Tag: QEP

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Student Success & Retention

Fall 2025 Mid-Semester Progress Report Completed.

SMU display

The Office of Student Success and Retention (SSR), in partnership with the SMU Registrar’s Office, has finalized the Mid-Semester Progress Report (MPR) for Fall 2025. As part of SMU’s Early Alert Process, faculty were asked to report grades for students currently earning a C- or below in their courses. 

Faculty Participation Highlights 

This semester’s goal was a 90% faculty participation rate. The final response rate reached 78% across all colleges, schools, and divisions. Notable participation rates include: 

  • Provost/UNIV faculty: 89% 
  • Lyle School of Engineering: 87% 
  • Dedman College: 83% 
  • Cox School of Business: 80% 
  • Simmons School of Education: 71% 
  • Meadows School of the Arts: 61% 

Purpose and Impact 

The Mid-Semester Progress Report is a key component of SMU’s proactive student support strategy. It identifies students who may benefit from additional academic assistance and enables timely outreach. Reports are shared with academic advisors, who receive follow-up emails from SSR encouraging direct contact with students and guidance on available campus resources. Students and authorized individuals also receive MPR-related updates. 

Questions? 

For more information about the Fall 2025 Early Alert Process, please contact Lisa Miller in Student Success and Retention at ssr@smu.edu or lamiller@smu.edu . 

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Student Success & Retention

Early Alert Reports: Supporting student success from day one

Student Mentors

The Office of Student Success and Retention, in collaboration with the SMU Registrar’s Office, recently completed the Early Participation Report (EPR) process for all enrolled undergraduate students. This initiative enables faculty to record student attendance from the first day of classes through October 1, noting whether a student has never attended, has stopped attending, or has shown intermittent attendance. 

With a target of 90% faculty participation, this semester’s EPR achieved an overall response rate of 83% across colleges, schools, and divisions. The Simmons School of Education led with a 92% response rate, followed by Provost/UNIV course faculty at 90%. Other response rates included Dedman College at 87%, Lyle School of Engineering at 81%, and both Cox School of Business and Meadows School of the Arts at 76%. 

The EPR helps identify students who may benefit from additional support, enabling timely outreach and guidance. Reports are shared with academic advisors, accompanied by emails from SSR, prompting advisors to contact students for assistance and information about campus resources. Students and individuals with access to student records also receive EPR-related information. 

Mid-Term Progress Reports 

From October 21 to October 27, the Mid-Term Progress Report (MPR) rosters will be available for faculty to input current grades for students earning a C- or below. As with the EPR, MPRs are shared with academic advisors, along with emails from SSR to facilitate outreach and connect students with campus support services. The goal for MPR participation this fall is a 90% response rate. 

For more information on the Fall 2025 Early Alert Process, contact Lisa Miller in Student Success and Retention at ssr@smu.edu or lamiller@smu.edu  

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Cox BBA Academic Advising & Records Lyle Office of Undergraduate Advising & Student Records Meadows Student Academic Services Professional Advising SMU in Four Student Academic Engagement & Success University Advising Center University Advising Center

Transition to Professional Academic Advising at SMU

The following message was sent to all faculty and staff on April 22, 2025 regarding SMU’s transition to professional advising. 

—-

Dear Faculty and Staff,

As part of our ongoing commitment to student success, SMU is transitioning to a professional academic advising model for all undergraduate students. This shift, recommended in SMU in Four, our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), was outlined in the Year-Three Progress Report (2023–2024) as a key strategy to enhance retention and timely degree completion.

The professional advising experience will be phased in based on a student’s major declaration date or term of matriculation to SMU:

  • Continuing undergraduate students who declared their major before June 1, 2025 will experience no changes in their academic advising through graduation.
  • Undergraduate students declaring a major after June 1, 2025, and all students admitted for Fall 2025 and beyond will transition to the new professional advising structure. Both pre- and declared majors will be advised by:

More school-specific details on this transition will be shared with school faculty and staff in late April. We will also launch a new landing page at smu.edu/advising to direct students, faculty, and staff to the correct professional advising unit. Remember, undergraduate students can look up their assigned advisor on their my.SMU Student Dashboard. We appreciate your partnership in ensuring a smooth implementation that benefits both students and the SMU community.

Thank you for your continued dedication to student success.

Best,

Dustin K. Grabsch, Ph.D.
Co-Director, SMU in Four

Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education & Academic Success

 

 

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SMU in Four

Join SMU in Four at the year-three progress presentation

Join the SMU in Four team as we share year-three progress on SMU’s Quality Enhancement Plan.

Updates will be provided on early-alert mechanisms, undergraduate academic advising, technology enhancements, and gateway & introductory courses. Plus, informal student retention and graduation numbers will be shared along with goals for year four of the five-year initiative.

Thursday | October 17, 2024
3 – 4:30 p.m.
Moody Hall Auditorium

Register

Walk-ins welcome, RSVPs encouraged

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SMU in Four

SMU in Four Year-two report available

The SMU in Four team releases the year-two progress report on SMU’s Quality Enhancement Plan.

Updates are provided on early-alert mechanisms, undergraduate academic advising, technology enhancements, and gateway & introductory courses. Plus, student retention, graduation rates, and goals for year three of the five-year initiative are shared.

Download a copy of the SMU in Four Year 2 Progress Report.

In October, a copy of the year-two progress presentation was shared with the SMU community and is also available online. Questions regarding the report or presentation may be directed to smuinfour@smu.edu.

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SMU in Four

SMU in Four presented year-two progress and goals for year three

On Thursday, October 12, the SMU in Four team presented their second annual presentation to discuss and showcase SMU’s progress toward completing our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). A total of 141 members of the campus community were in attendance.

This five-year QEP, a key component of SMU’s SACSCOC accreditation process, is constructed to undergird SMU’s goals to increase first-year retention and four- and six-year graduation rates for our undergraduate students.

Sheri Kunovich, Associate Provost for Student Academic Engagement and Success; Paige Ware, Associate Provost for Faculty Success; Dustin Grabsch, Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education and Academic Success; Curt Herridge, Associate Chief Information Officer in the Office of Information Technology (OIT); Molly Ellis, Director of Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Faculty Success; and Josh Beatty, Associate Director for the University Advising Center each spoke about the SMU in Four initiatives currently underway, shared data analyses and reflections on this year’s activities, and previewed plans for next year’s initiatives.

The written SMU in Four Year-Two Progress Report will be made available later this fall, but in the interim, click here for a copy of this week’s presentation.

What can you do to support student success and retention on campus? We invite faculty and staff to support this work by submitting progress reports, Advising Notes, and Retention Alerts.

Learn more about these efforts on the Office of Student Success and Retention website. 

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SMU in Four

Year-one progress and Common Curriculum degree planner

 

September 9, 2022

 

Dear Campus Community –

Welcome back for the fall semester! We’ve completed the first year of SMU’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), SMU in Four, our comprehensive initiative to improve four-year graduation rates and retention. Thank you all for your contributions to important aspects of the QEP. We could not do it without you, after all, retention is a collective effort. We write with updates on the initiative as we look ahead to year two.

Leadership & Membership: First, the initiative is now co-directed by Dr. Molly Ellis, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Office of Faculty Success, and Dr. Dustin Grabsch, Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education & Academic Success.

Next, in preparation for the new year, we would like to share the year-two membership rosters for all SMU in Four pillars/teams. For the 2022-2023 Academic Year, the chairs of each SMU in Four Pillars and Teams are:

  • Early Alert Pillar: Dr. Sue Bierman & Audryanna Reed
  • Academic Advising: Josh Beaty
  • First-Year & Gateway Courses: Dr. Paige Ware
  • Faculty Steering Committee: Dr. Paige Ware
  • Student Steering Committee: Dr. Dustin Grabsch
  • Technology Team: Curt Herridge
  • Assessment Team: Dr. Molly Ellis
  • School Implementation Teams: Dr. Sheri Kunovich

Join Us for a Progress Presentation: We will all gather at key moments throughout this five-year initiative. Our first will be the SMU in Four Year-One Progress Presentation for the SMU campus community on September 28, 2022 from 3:30 – 5:00 pm. Please RSVP and join us in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Auditorium. We will update the campus on our progress and goals for year two.

Undergraduate Degree Planner is Coming: To aid undergraduate Common Curriculum students in their progress toward degree, the SMU in Four Technology Team is developing a new tool called HighPoint Degree Planner within my.SMU. This tool will help students and advisors develop and sequence a personalized path to on-time graduation. HighPoint Degree Planner will not only benefit students and advisors but will aid academic departments in data-driven course scheduling and seat capacity planning. The new tool will launch to students on the Common Curriculum in November 2022.

In preparation, SMU in Four School Implementation Teams will be asked to work with academic departments to verify their degree plans within the HighPoint system. Instructions will be sent to department chairs (or a designee) to verify in September/October. Training and support sessions will be provided to the campus community and by request. Read more about the Common Curriculum HighPoint Degree Planner.

If you would like to stay abreast of updates related to SMU in Four, we invite you to subscribe to our blog or check out our updated website.

Sincerely,

 

Molly Ellis

Director of Strategic Initiatives

Office of Faculty Success, Office of the Provost

 

Dustin Grabsch

Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education & Academic Success

Student Academic Engagement & Success, Office of the Provost