Georgia Institute of Technology 2024

The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is one of the top public research universities in the U.S., developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education,Georgia Tech is considered one of the fastest-growing public universities in the country over the last decade. In summer and fall 2023, Georgia Tech welcomed 4,890 new undergraduate students and had a record total enrollment of almost 48,000 students. Undergraduate enrollment soared over 19,000 students for the first time in the Institute’s history.

As a science and technology-focused institution, supporting students to persist and complete STEM degrees is central to our mission. The sustained economic impact made possible through a better-prepared STEM workforce is significant, and producing highly qualified STEM graduates to meet workforce needs is a high priority for Georgia Tech. Over the 2023-2024 academic year, Georgia Tech awarded 12,177 degrees, including 4,575 bachelor’s degrees, 38% of which were earned by women. The top five majors for bachelor’s degree conferred were STEM disciplines, including Computer Science (n=1,206), Mechanical Engineering (n=473), Business Administration (n=392), Industrial Engineering (n=343), and Biomedical Engineering (n=275). Georgia Tech continues to be a national leader in the number of STEM students enrolled and the number of degrees conferred each year. (See Appendix A: Quick Facts About Completion for Academic Year 2023-2024.)

The Institute continued to bolster special transfer pathways for first-generation students, limited-income students, and veterans, with 1,118 incoming undergraduate students transferring into Georgia Tech from another institution in fall 2023. (See Appendix B: 2023 First-Year and Transfer Class Profile.) Additionally, Georgia Tech partners with high school and home study programs to offer advanced courses to students that have completed the highest level math and science courses available in their local curriculum through our Distance Math and On-Campus Dual Enrollment programs, which served more than 1,000 students in fall 2023,2 and offered opportunities for STEM engagement to more than 27,000 K-12 students between August 2023 and July 2024 through its Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). Expanding access to Georgia Tech through our growing undergraduate enrollment, transfer pathways, and K-12 programs remains an institutional priority and reflects our motto, “Progress and Service.”

Georgia Tech values the diversity of our campus community, as reflected in our student body. In fall 2023, 39.2% of the 19,505 undergraduate students were women, 19% of which were women from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds and 78% enrolled in STEM majors. URM students represented 17% of our undergraduate student body in fall 2023 and the Institute welcomed record-setting representation of incoming first-generation college students (15%) and students from rural areas (12%), with 81% of undergraduate students majoring in STEM disciplines.2

As of fall 2023, Georgia Tech achieved a first-to-second-year retention rate of 98% for the first-time, full-time freshman 2022 cohort, sustaining an Institute record high, and a six-year graduation rate of 93% for the 2016 cohort. Further, the four-year graduation rate for the 2018 first-time, full-time cohort was 66%, also a record high and an increase from the 2017 cohort’s four-year rate of 57%. Table 1 shows Georgia Tech’s historical retention rates since the launch of CCG in 2011. Table 2 shows the Institute’s historical graduation since the launch of CCG in 2011. While Georgia Tech’s institutional benchmarks are relatively stable, even as undergraduate cohorts heavily impacted by the pandemic persist towards graduation, achieving the gold standard in student success is an emergent priority; that is, all student populations achieve educational outcomes at a rate equal to the highest performing group.

Table 1. First-time, full-time freshman retention rates.
COHORT	1st to 2nd Year
Fall 2009	94%
Fall 2010	95%
Fall 2011	95%
Fall 2012	96%
Fall 2013	96%
Fall 2014	97%
Fall 2015	97%
Fall 2016	97%
Fall 2017	97%
Fall 2018	97%
Fall 2019	97%
Fall 2020	97%
Fall 2021	98%
Fall 2022	98%

Table 2. First-time, full-time graduation rates.
COHORT	4-YR	5-YR	6-YR	8-YR
Fall 2005	31%	72%	79%	81%
Fall 2006	33%	72%	79%	82%
Fall 2007	40%	76%	82%	84%
Fall 2008	36%	74%	81%	84%
Fall 2009	40%	78%	85%	87%
Fall 2010	41%	80%	86%	89%
Fall 2011	39%	80%	85%	88%
Fall 2012	40%	82%	87%	89%
Fall 2013	45%	85%	90%	92%
Fall 2014	46%	86%	91%	92%
Fall 2015	51%	89%	92%	93%
Fall 2016	55%	90%	92.5%
Fall 2017	57%	90%	92.4%
Fall 2018	64%	92%
Fall 2019	66%

The Chronicle of Higher Education. (2023). The almanac of higher education, 2023-2024.

Georgia Tech Institutional Research and Planning. (2024). 2023 Fact Book.

Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing. (2024) CEISMC Impact Magazine 2024.

National Center for Education Statistics. Retention Rate, 4-year Institutions. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/trendgenerator/app/answer/7/32 . Retrieved December 19, 2023.

National Center for Education Statistics. Graduation Rate, 4-Year Bachelor's Cohort, Public Institutions. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/Search?query=&query2=&resultType=all&page=1&sortBy=date_desc&overlayTableId=36024. Retrieved December 19, 2023.

Success Inventory

Companion Course and Academic Support for Pre-Calculus (Georgia Institute of Technology-2024)

Strategy/Project Name:

Companion Course and Academic Support for Pre-Calculus

Momentum Area:

Pathways

Category:

Access for Underserved Populations

Corequisite Learning Support

Strategy/Project Description:

Students enrolled in precalculus (MATH 1113) have been identified as a high-priority population at Georgia Tech as the course is a gateway to successfully progressing into and completing a STEM degree. While student athletes were typically the majority of our precalculus enrollment, as the Georgia Tech strategically expands access to student groups historically underrepresented in higher education, MATH 1113 enrollment is steadily rising (161.4% increase from Fall 2018 to Fall 2022). Furthermore, while a final grade of B is considered the threshold to successfully advance into a STEM major, only 15% and 18% of MATH 1113 students earned an A or B, respectively, in the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semester, indicating two-thirds of the students were not Calculus 1-ready by the end of the term in precalculus.

It is vital to examine institutional opportunities to better support our increasingly diverse undergraduate population as we welcome more first-generation college students and students from rural communities, as a student’s potential to pursue and succeed in a STEM discipline should not dictated by how well-resourced their high school math program is. We aim to reframe the perception of precalculus at the Institution as a viable entry point into a STEM major by cultivating a co-enrollment learning environment between the first-year seminar (GT 1000) and the precalculus program.

Our first Momentum strategy of 2024 entailed establishing precalculus success sections of GT 1000 aligned to the MATH 1113 course pacing to provide additional support specific to navigating the first year of college; these sections included elements of academic coaching, mindset development, and academic success strategies. Additionally, GT 1000 provides an avenue for key academic planning incorporating MATH 1113, which is not included in any Georgia Tech STEM degree map. Beyond course planning, holistic college roadmapping supports the development and realization of one’s purpose to help MATH 1113 students make appropriate major selections and provide motivation for successful completion of precalculus to advance into subsequent STEM courses.

Activity Status:

Initiating

Evaluation/Assessment plan:

The MATH 1113/GT 1000 academic support initiative will be evaluated on two levels: partnership development and student impact. The developing partnership between the Academic Success and Advising (ASA) team and the School of Mathematics is evaluated with consideration to the formation stage and the building stage. During the formation stage between March 2024 and June 2024, feasibility was assessed, companion course strategy was developed, and additional campus collaborators were identified. The building stage, which began during the Fall 2024 semester, is focused on developing infrastructure and capacity and fostering commitment.

Short-term student outcomes are evaluated by tracking how many MATH 1113 students enroll in the complimentary transition seminar sections and utilize academic services. Longer term student impacts will be measured by (1) DFWU rates and (2) the percentage of students earning an A or B (the likely threshold for success in a STEM major) compared to the baseline metrics in which Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters had a combined DFWU rate of 44% and 35% received an A or a B.

Progress and Adjustments:

Formation Stage (03/2024 – 06/2024)

Key partners signed onto the intervention from College of Engineering, School of Mathematics, Academic Success and Advising, and Transition Seminars. We staffed and scheduled four companion sections of GT 1000, with experienced advisors from the College of Engineering, Academic Coaching, Exploratory Advising, and Retention Initiatives agreeing to serve as instructors.

Building Stage (Development, Summer 2024)

Course Design: Led by Anna Holcomb (Director, Retention and Completion Initiatives), two course design sessions were held on June 26 and August 15 to align GT 1000 to the planned pacing for MATH 1113.

Reducing planned sections: Due to personnel shifts, we chose to move forward with the following three GT 1000 sections rather than four:

GT 1000-S01, Mondays at 11AM in Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, Room 323. Section S01 is co-taught by our team from Academic Success & Advising— Nicole Leonard, Emmie Cass, and Devoni Williams.

GT 1000-S02, Fridays at 2PM in Skiles, Room 317. Chirag Patel, an experienced undergraduate academic advisor in the Aerospace Engineering program, will lead Section S02.

GT 1000-S03, Fridays at 2PM in Swann, Room 106. Lauren Morton, who supports Clark and Dean’s Scholar in the College of Engineering, will lead Section S03.

Building Stage (Launch, Fall 2024)

Marketing and enrollment: Leading up to the course add/drop period for Fall 2024, we conducted several email campaigns marketing the GT 1000 companion course to engineering students that were registered for MATH 1113 for the upcoming term. As enrollment for the companion course waned into the first week of the semester, a targeted communication strategy was deployed to call and email students individually, engage with academic advisors to build awareness for the course and eligibility requirements, preemptively issue permits to the section that best fit a student’s schedule, and visit the MATH 1113 lecture to advertise the course and its benefits for student success. Despite these extensive efforts to enroll first-year precalculus students in the GT 1000 companion course, registration ultimately dictated that we run only one section, GT 1000-S02, with 7 students.

Piloting: Despite the smaller than anticipated course enrollment, we are piloting one section of the GT 1000 companion course this semester and preliminary student data is promised. Of the seven students registered, only one student received a midterm grade of U-Unsatisfactory in MATH 1113 and the cohort has averaged 2.2 visits per student to our tutoring center so far in the Fall 2024 semester.

Plan for the Year Ahead:

In our first attempt offering a GT 1000 companion section to MATH 1113, we delayed our marketing and enrollment push until after math placement exams were finalized. As we plan to offer the GT 1000/MATH 1113 success sections again in Fall 2025, our recruitment efforts will be adjusted to capitalize on the academic advising sessions during first-year orientation throughout the summer. We are also exploring options to auto-enroll first-year STEM majors requiring pre-calculus in an academic support companion course.

Challenges and Support:

The success of GT 1000 companion section to precalculus ultimately depends on both our partnership development and student impact. Our ability to foster partnership between key campus stakeholders in the School of Mathematics, Undergraduate Transition Seminars, and the College of Engineering is a resounding success from the year. However, our challenges enrolling students in the course limits the potential impact on student outcomes.

This would be an ideal student population and course to implement the Mindset Learning Project if made available in Canvas. Currently, it seems MLP is only available in D2L formats, which is not our institutional Learning Management System.

Contact email:

lorett.swank@gatech.edu

Primary Contact:

Lorett Swank Executive Director, Academic Success and Advising

Anna Newsome Holcomb Director, Retention and Completion Initiatives

High-Priority Student Focus in Retention Initiatives (Georgia Institute of Technology-2024)

Strategy/Project Name:

High-Priority Student Focus in Retention Initiatives

Momentum Area:

Change Management

Category:

Access for Underserved Populations

Advising

Early Alerts

Financial Aid Interventions

Tutoring

Strategy/Project Description:

A series of retention and completion initiatives are conducted annually to identify high-priority students and disseminate outreach campaigns aimed at referring, reengaging, and reenrolling these students. During the spring 2024, summer 2024, and fall 2024 semester, we piloted specialized outreach campaigns and retention interventions to high-priority populations to encourage the students to engage in specialized advising with our Student Success Specialist or attend a workshop focused on achieving academic success following an unsatisfactory midterm progress report.

  Of our suite of retention and completion initiatives, the following were selected for piloting a targeted approach for high-priority students:

  Midterm Progress Reports (MPR): Intervention to students that are identified as off-track (received 2 or more Unsatisfactory progress grades) for 1000- and 2000-level courses. Occurs every fall and spring semester.

GT 2801, Study Strategies Seminar: For the first time since fall 2021, GT 2801 was offered to students on academic probation, with a limited enrollment capacity of 20 students. GT 2801 provides students with the dedicated time in their schedule to learn (and utilize!) skills, strategies, and ways of thinking to support their holistic success at Georgia Tech and rebound academically. GT 2801 will be offered every spring and fall semester.

Activity Status:

Piloting

Evaluation/Assessment plan:

We spent the last year developing this approach through comprehensive student success data analysis, creating the organizational structure to support a high-touch individualized retention strategy, and hiring the personnel to execute this vision. With the team in place, Retention and Completion Initiatives launched the high-priority student retention strategy in Spring 2024 during our MPR campaign.

As “high-priority student” is a new target population of Georgia Tech, as defined by continuous analysis of our achievement gaps, we have not tracked students in our retention efforts in this way before now. Therefore, measures of success will look to capacity building. We will look to students reached in our targeted outreach campaign. Additionally, we will track the utilization of our Student Success Specialist by tracking referral streams from our campus partners and conversions from outreach campaign to engagement in individualized appointments or workshop attendance.

Progress and Adjustments:

Spring 2024 Outcomes

277 high-priority advising appointments were set by 135 students, 77 of which were limited-income students.

The most common advising topics were academic improvement strategies (n=126), academic planning (n=83), general advisement (n=25), and SAP advisement (n=24).

MPR outreach was conducted to the following student samples:

All students receiving two or more Us in Spring 2024

Group 1: Advising required by major (n=229)

Group 2: Advising is not required by major (n=121)

First-year students receiving two or more Us in both Fall 2023 and Spring 2024

Group 3: Advising required by major (n=17)

Group 4: Advising is not required by major (n=3)

Group 5: Limited-income students receiving one or more Us in Spring 2024 (n=417, 77 converted to retention advising appointment)

Summer 2024 Outcomes

165 appointments between May 13 and August 1 (14 no-shows) from the following high-priority student referral streams:

Continuing Tech Promise Retention Campaign (Referral from partners in Financial Aid and Special Scholarships)

21 students at-risk of losing scholarship were contacted for additional support, 5 converted to retention advising appointment

Incoming Tech Promise Mentorship Program (Pre-FASET Advising)

58 students contacted for Pre-FASET advising, 8 converted to retention advising appointment

Special Scholarships Referrals [Provost Scholars]

15 Provost Scholars were referred, 1 converted to retention advising appointment

General Advisement (SAP, Probation, Academic Improvement)

Most appointments, outside of special scholarship campaigns/referrals, came from students who were in academic distress and hoping to improve their academic performance during the summer including a targeted campaign to 11 students in MATH 1113 that were struggling in the course. Many students were hoping to meet with their academic advisors about SAP appeals but were unable to schedule through Advisor Link. These students were connected with the appropriate offices (Financial Aid and Academic Advising) and, in many instances, provided academic coaching throughout the semester.

Momentum Mentoring engaged 58 incoming Tech Promise scholars in our summer mentoring program, 30 of which were referred to First-Gen Jackets Peer Mentoring program to continue their engagement through Fall 2024.

Fall 2024 Outcomes (Underway)

The following student populations were included in an outreach campaign as an additional notification that a U has been received and to provide general knowledge about the MPR process at Georgia Tech. Additionally, as a new offering in Fall 2024, students were also invited to a workshop hosted by Retention and Completion Initiatives, “Midterm Progress Report: What It Is and How to Leverage It for Academic Success.” The workshop will be offered several times following the release of MPRs to students, both in-person and virtually.

Population 1: High-priority students that made one or more U (n=115)

1A) Tech Promise scholars

1B) Achieve Atlanta scholars

Population 2: Transfer students that made one or more U (n=785)

Population 3: First-year students that made two or more Us (n=513)

Population 4: First-year students that made a U in GT 1000 (n=9)

Plan for the Year Ahead:

Throughout the year we are finetuning each intervention protocol and crafting language to reach students that are known to be at higher risk of academic challenge based of analysis of our institutional achievement gaps. Additionally, we actively developing a suite of student resources, like our midterm workshop series, to meet students struggling academically with just-in-time resources.

We also established a working group with representatives from Undergraduate Admission, the Office of Undergraduate Education, Enrollment Management, and Institute Research and Planning to develop a model specific to our institution to identify limited income students and establish data protection safeguards

Challenges and Support:

Our approach at targeting limited income students was hindered by delays associated with the launch of the new FAFSA application at the federal level and reformulation of Pell-grant eligibility. As the identification of limited income students using any federal indicator grew increasingly problematic, we shifted our focus in Summer 2024 to needs-based scholarship recipients. We will continue to focus on efforts on Tech Promise scholars and Achieve Atlanta scholars as we build capacity for individualized support with our new Student Success Specialist.

We would appreciate any advice or resources on best practices for accessing student financial indicators to support academic success and progress. What trainings do other USG institutions require? Who are the key personnel given access to this information?

Contact email:

aholcomb@gatech.edu

Primary Contact:

Anna Newsome Holcomb Director, Retention and Completion Initiatives

Curricular Complexity within College of Engineering (Georgia Institute of Technology-2024)

Strategy/Project Name:

Curricular Complexity within College of Engineering

Momentum Area:

Data & Communications

Category:

Strategy/Project Description:

We are engaging in a large-scale analysis of student success metrics related to curricular complexity to analyze its impact on student time to degree. Curricular Complexity provides a way to analyze the impact of course sequences and required credit hours on a student’s successful progression through the curriculum and their time to degree. Research has shown that curricular complexity is directly related to time to degree; reducing curricular complexity should therefore reduce time to degree for students. This project is designed to analyze our current degree programs, determine their impact on student time to degree, and result in recommendations for reducing curricular complexity (which should in turn reduce time to degree and improve 4-year graduation rates).

Activity Status:

Refining/Maintaining

Evaluation/Assessment plan:

Evaluation Plan and measures: The Curricular Analytics project is expected to be a long-term project with multiple points of evaluation and assessment. Key evaluation metrics and processes include:

Analyze and map all Georgia Tech undergraduate degree programs using curricular complexity tools (complete)

Analyze relationship between curricular complexity and time to degree (in progress)

Analyze relationship between curricular complexity and retention in major (in progress)

Collaborate with College of Engineering (CoE) faculty and administration to examine curricular chains and suggest ways to reduce curricular complexity (in progress)

Implement learning community to train CoE faculty on curricular complexity concepts and data analysis (scheduled for April 2024)

Once meaningful changes have been made to curricular pathways in CoE, we will then track the impact of these changes on student progress.

KPIs:

Four-year graduation rates for CoE students

Student time to degree completion for CoE students

Curricular complexity reduction for targeted CoE degree programs

Baseline measure (for each KPI):

Four-year graduation rates for students matriculating in CoE 56.3% for the Fall 2019 cohort; this is slightly lower than the previous cohort year’s grad rate, but still an overall increase. We will use 57% as our baseline (average of 2018 & 2019 4-year CoE grad rates)

On average, students who graduate do so in 8.1 Fall/Spring semesters; the number is slightly higher for CoE students (8.2 semesters). For this project, we will use 8.2 semesters as the baseline.

We will use a baseline of curricular complexity of 361 (average of all CoE majors) and degree program length 129 credit hours (average of all CoE majors).

Current/most recent data (for each KPI):

CoE 4-year grad rate for 2019 FTFT cohort is 56.3%

Average time to degree is 8.1 semester for all grads; 8.2 Fall/Spring semesters for CoE majors

CoE majors vary between 126-131 credit hours, with 129 as average.

Goal or targets (for each KPI):

Our goal is to achieve 4-year graduation rates similar to those of our peer institutions. We currently have lower 4-year grad rates than all of our peers, so we are targeting rates that would put us in range with the average of our peers.

Average time to degree goal is four years (8 Fall/Spring semesters)

Reduce average CoE curricular complexity to <300 and degree program length to =<126 credit hours.

Progress and Adjustments:

We have mapped all 39 undergraduate degree programs using the curricular analytics metrics and are currently working with two additional institutions to analyze their Engineering program curricular complexity in relationship with student success metrics with a particular focus on time to degree.

March 2024: OUE leaders invited to share developing student success strategy and analytics with the CoE faculty involved in the Tri-University Learning Community.

April 2024: Tri-University Learning Community meeting with all 3 institutions at UC, San Diego.

August 2024: Georgia Tech sent representatives from OUE and CoE to the Lamborn-Hughes Institute hosted by the Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU) at Colorado State University. The Institute is dedicated to the proposition that superior undergraduate education and student success require innovative student-centered approaches and collaborative partnerships across units. During the three-day immersive planning session with the other Tri-University stakeholders, the future direction for the multi-institution collaborative was charted.

Plan for the Year Ahead:

Fall 2024: Ongoing development of strategy proposal with CoE faculty

Challenges and Support:

Curricular changes are often not quick changes and require input and approval.

Contact email:

lacy.hodges@gatech.edu

Primary Contact:

Lacy Hodges, Director for Undergraduate Analytics & Planning

Campus Plans Supplemental Sections

Academic Year 2023-2024 Updates

Complete College Georgia-Georgia Tech (CCG-GT) Steering Committee. Georgia Tech’s Momentum work is guided by the CCG-GT Steering Committee, a diverse team of cross-campus leaders who provide input for our student success initiatives and promote engagement of our Momentum work across Georgia Tech. Chaired by Dr. Steven P. Girardot, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, the CCG-GT Steering Committee meets several times annually to review, refine, and assess retention and completion strategies. The 2023-2025 CCG-GT Steering Committee members serve a two-year term to create stability for our CCG work.

Academic Success and Advising Awards: Annually, the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) recognizes the outstanding contributions of faculty and staff who have gone above and beyond to support our undergraduate students and improve retention, progression, and graduation with our Academic Success and Advising Awards. Since 2004, Georgia Tech has formally recognized excellence in academic advising, an integral part of the academic culture at the Institute, ensuring a holistic experience for students. Champions in this work, one staff advisor and one faculty advisor, are honored, highlighting best practices and core values in advising. Kristi Mehaffey, an Advising Manager in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, was awarded the Outstanding Undergraduate Academic Advisor for staff. Christina Ragan, an academic professional based in the School of Biological Sciences who works with the students, faculty, and staff in the Neuroscience undergraduate degree program, was awarded the Outstanding Undergraduate Academic Advisor for faculty.

New this year, OUE launched the Complete College Georgia (CCG) Champion Award. The CCG Champion Award recognizes one staff or faculty member who has made critical contributions to undergraduate student success, advancing the primary goals of CCG to improve the experience for Georgia Tech’s highest priority students while promoting our institutional values. OUE’s inaugural CCG Champion is Ashton Tomlin, Senior Assistant Director in the Office of Special Scholarships. Ashton joined the Special Scholarships team in 2022, demonstrating her commitment to expanding access to students traditionally underrepresented in higher education by connecting financial aid and holistic student support. She has developed a support program for Tech Promise Scholars, ensuring student needs are fully understood. Ashton is praised by colleagues and students alike for her ability to connect with students and her tireless work to find the resources they need to succeed. The CCG Champion is awarded $1,500 as a token of their contributions to the Institution.

Improvements to Student-Serving Operations and Spaces. The Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons (CULC) is a five-story, 222,000-square-foot hub for undergraduate education that includes classrooms, labs, academic services and student commons areas. Named in honor of former Institute President G. Wayne Clough, it opened in 2011 and serves as an interdisciplinary facility to encourage collaboration and technologically enhanced teaching and learning. CULC is also home to the Office of Undergraduate Education’s ASA and E2L, which underwent an exciting renovation over fall 2023 to revitalize and modernize the office spaces, providing a more dynamic and efficient hub for undergraduate students and staff alike. OUE plays a pivotal role in guiding students throughout their academic journey, providing essential resources, support, and guidance to ensure a fulfilling and enriching university experience. Recognizing the importance of its mission, the decision to renovate its offices demonstrates the Institute’s commitment to continually improving the student experience.

Highlighted Programming for High-Priority Populations. Over the spring 2024 semester, ASA led efforts to identify key collaborators for cross-campus partnerships that are essential to support high-priority students. With an established infrastructure in place, the Expanding Access Team utilized a case management approach to high-priority student support in fall 2024, first focusing on Tech Promise students. The team includes partners from the Office of Special Scholarships, Financial Aid, and GT Strategic Consulting in addition to core members from OUE’s ASA, E2L, and GT Career Center.

As a result of the developing collaborations between departments, Retention & Completion Initiatives and Undergraduate Admission piloted a cost-free asynchronous peer mentoring program over summer 2024 for all incoming Tech Promise scholars called Momentum Mentoring. The G. Wayne Clough Georgia Tech Promise Program is the first of its kind offered by a public university in Georgia. Since 2007, the scholarship has provided a debt-free degree to qualifying students from low-income Georgia families, filling a gap in the financial aid support system by picking up where other scholarships and financial aid options leave off, covering a student’s full cost of attendance. Ultimately, 58 incoming Tech Promise scholars participated in summer Momentum Mentoring, 30 of which were referred to First-Gen Jackets Peer Mentoring program to continue their engagement through fall 2024.

During the spring 2024 semester, First-Generation Student Initiatives matched 100 first-generation students at Georgia Tech with one of 52 employer hosts from the Atlanta region for a shadowing day experience. Activities students participated in while shadowing included an office tour, a meeting with senior leadership, resume review, informational interviews with team members, joining a client meeting, etc. First-generation students had the opportunity to network with professionals, discuss career pathways, and gain knowledge of internship or job opportunities. The First-Gen Shadowing Program at Georgia Tech is designed to expose first-generation students to career possibilities. Often, a shadowing experience can be the first time a student meets with someone from a related STEM field.

OMED: Educational Services. A unit within the Office of the Provost, OMED provides programming to expand access and amplify impact in areas such as recruitment, retention, career readiness, experiential learning, and cohort development for students traditionally underrepresented in STEM, including Black, Latinx, multi-racial, American Indian, women of color, limited income, and first-generation students. In 2023-2024 OMED reached 2,868 students through a slate of programs and initiatives to meet the above aims.

Recruitment and Orientation Programs:

OMED offers two summer bridge programs to enhance student’s success as they transition from high school or home institutions to Georgia Tech.

1) Challenge, a six-week summer residential program for first-year first-time high priority students, served 115 fall-enrolling participants in 2023. Challenge students earned an average GPA of 3.27 with 77% earning a 3.0 or better in their first fall semester. African American/Black Challenge students earned an average 3.31 GPA, significantly higher than the Institute average for matriculating Black students. Early orientation relationships and methods produced 508 OMED mentoring connections the following Fall.

2) Tech 411, a one-week residential program for first-year high priority transfer students from HBCU, MSIs, HSI, and USG partner institutions supported a diverse group of students, including 41% women, 6% non-binary, 71% Black, 35% Latinx, 45% from the Engineering Transfer Pathway, 6% from the Arts & Sciences Transfer Pathway, and 59% regular transfer students. Participants engaged in a System of Success Workshop and an Academic Success Workshop Series.

Academic Enrichment & Retention Programs:

OMED provides academic enrichment and support through a variety of academic initiatives that match faculty, staff, senior undergraduate students, graduate students, resources, and tools to undergraduate students in core STEM curriculum courses, courses with high DFW rates, and areas of significant disparity between underrepresented students and majority student populations.

1) ILARC/Tutoring served 555 unique students in AY 23-24 through OMED’s drop-in tutoring, garnering 3,512 in-person visits. Additionally, ILARC tutoring and advising services were expanded to include research-based study sessions based on DFW rates in Math and NPHC fraternities and sororities academic performance. In response, OMED launched Math Mastery Study Sessions in the College of Science in partnership with the School of Mathematics and Soulful Study Sessions in collaboration with the Department of Sorority and Fraternity Life to incorporate music therapy and information processing techniques into academic support.

2) OMED diminishes financial barriers that impede student academic performance and retention. In AY 23-24, OMED’s Academic Empowerment Awards and Completion Grants of 2024 awarded $128,100 to 75 high priority students. Additionally, 20 students from HBCUs and MSIs received $9,600 in transfer empowerment stipends. Challenge participants were awarded more than $20,000 based on their academic performance in Challenge.

OMED also maintains a portfolio of mentoring programs including Edge, which matches incoming first-year students with upper-class students by major/incoming pathway, and Peer-I-Scope, which expanded its operations in AY 23-24 to provide peer mentorships for transfer students. The unit’s three-week Career Immersion Program matches limited-income students with Industry executive mentors, student peer career coaches, career center advisors, and STEM career shadowing, research, internship, or co-op experiences through a strategic intake process and customized professional development curriculum. The 2023 cohort achieved 100% industry executive matches and 56% percent secured a paid internship or co-op within six months of program completion.

High Impact Learning Initiatives. Georgia Tech offers high-impact curricular and co-curricular opportunities to promote active learning practices and enhance academic development. According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities, these teaching and learning practices have been widely tested and found to have a positive impact on student retention, engagement, and sense of belonging. Among the options for Georgia Tech students are a first-year seminar (GT 1000), transfer student seminar (GT 2000), numerous living-learning communities, an undergraduate research program, a study abroad program, and career-engaged experiential learning opportunities (e.g., internships, co-op, and service learning).

Participation levels in these optional high-impact programs are significant. In 2023-24, nearly half of all incoming first-year students participated in the first-year seminar, GT 1000 (n=1,802), and 98% of these students were retained to fall 2024. Over summer 2023, fall 2023, and spring 2024, 284 transfer students enrolled in the transfer student seminar, GT 2000.

Through the Career Center, undergraduates participating in Georgia Tech’s co-op/internship gain in-depth professional experiences, putting into practice what they have learned in the classroom. The Undergraduate Co-op Program is a five-year, academic program designed to complement a student's formal education with alternating semesters of full-time paid work experience directly related to the student's academic major. Table 3 shows the student participation in the co-op program and six-year graduation rate for participants in the fall 2011 cohort through the fall 2017 cohort.

Table 3. Co-op Participation and 6-Year Graduation Rate
	Fall 2011 Cohort	Fall 2012 Cohort	Fall 2013 Cohort	Fall 2014 Cohort	Fall 2015 Cohort	Fall 2016 Cohort	Fall 2017 Cohort
Graduation Rate %	96.0%	96.4%	96.8%	97.7%	96.4%	98.1%	98.3%
Number of Participants	646	718	600	572	531	369	355

The Internship Program is an academic program designed to complement a student’s formal education with practical work experience. The internships are single-semester, major-related full-time, or part-time work experiences that help students better understand the “real world” applications of their academic studies. Table 4 shows the student participation in the internship program and six-year graduation rate for participants in the fall 2011 cohort through the fall 2017 cohort.

Table 4. Internship Participation and 6-Year Graduation Rate
	Fall 2011 Cohort	Fall 2012 Cohort	Fall 2013 Cohort	Fall 2014 Cohort	Fall 2015 Cohort	Fall 2016 Cohort	Fall 2017 Cohort
Graduation Rate %	96.7%	96.6%	96.2%	97.4%	98.5%	98.1%	97.8%
Number of Participants	569	700	703	760	862	861	788

Engaging in these real-world work experiences strengthens students’ progression towards graduation. For the fall 2017 cohort, 98% of the students that participated in either co-ops or internships graduated in six years, compared to the overall graduation rate of 93%. Similarly, 98% of students in the 2017 cohort that participated in undergraduate research graduated in six years.

During 2023-24 Georgia Tech continued its commitment to learning communities, hosting six communities for first-year students (four year-long communities, the summer launch community, iGniTe, and First-Year Semester Abroad) and two for upper-level students (Women, Science, and Technology and the International House). Additionally, Transfer-Year Experience, a self-selected living options to help new transfer residents access the services and resources that are relevant to their current needs, was offered. Nearly 400 first-year students participated in the summer iGniTe program in summer 2023 and 730 students took advantage of the four year-long communities (Explore, Grand Challenges, Global Leadership, and Honors Program).

Tutoring & Academic Support. As a part of Academic Success and Advising’s (ASA) mission, our Tutoring & Academic Support (TAS) program supports undergraduate students in achieving their academic goals through a range of both personalized and campus-wide initiatives that center students as our top priority. Our programming strives to foster self-regulated learning, enhance academic skills, and create opportunities for leadership and continued development within and beyond Georgia Tech's rigorous environment. In AY 2023-24, more than 9,000 students received academic support at TAS through peer-to-peer collaboration in 1:1 tutoring, Peer Led Undergraduate Study (PLUS) sessions, and drop-in visits. Table 5 displays the utilization of TAS programs over the last academic year.

Table 5. AY 2023-2024 TAS Utilization by Service
	Unique Visits	Students
*1:1 Tutoring (traditional)*	3,231	868
*1:1 Tutoring (Knack)*	7,678	1,310
*PLUS*	5,098	4,131
*Drop-In*	14,851	2,849

Additionally, a partnership with Knack, a third-party provider for tutoring facilitation, allowed us to leverage technology in new ways to better meets students’ tutoring needs. Knack is both a booking platform for students to schedule course-specific peer-to-peer tutoring services and a service to onboard and train Georgia Tech students who are hired as peer tutors. Tutoring is completely free, and appointments take place online. Knack and Georgia Tech started a partnership in the 2022-2023 academic year focused within the College of Engineering. The program launched spring 2023 and supported all undergraduate engineering courses. In the summer of 2023, the program expanded to include all undergraduate courses except for special internship/co-operative education courses, special project/topic courses, and English. Since summer 2023, the program has continued with this scoping and supported all undergraduate courses.

Observations and Next Steps

The Institute’s graduation rate strategy is a phased approach, scaffolding data-informed student success interventions progressively to increase the percentage of students in the fall 2024 cohort graduating in four years with an observable impact in spring 2028. Much of this work in centralized with in the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE). As part of OUE’s strategic alignment planning process, Academic Success and Advising (ASA) conducted an alignment review across the past six months. This review examined relevant practices in advising and academic support at other R1 universities and analyzed input from internal and external stakeholders, engaging all ASA staff.

Led by Executive Director Lorett Swank, ASA’s structure includes Academic Success, Retention and Completion Initiatives, First-Generation Student Initiatives, Specialized Advising, and Advising Operations and Engagement. As a result of its new organization, ASA has identified opportunities to align important student success functions in order to amplify their impact on student success and Institute priorities. For example, Momentum activities for the year and ASPIRE strategies were strategically aligned and reconceptualized to extend beyond the spring 2024 semester, cultivating synergy between our Complete College Georgia work and institutional priorities around student success. Advancing a cohesive vision for student success across the Institution has been a major success in the past year.

In addition, a new Undergraduate Advising Operations and Engagement team has been created within the ASA unit to support cross-campus undergraduate advising projects. This work will come with its challenges as academic advising at Georgia Tech has historically operated independently, siloed within the academic departments. The director for the new advising operations team will strategically implement Georgia Tech’s new advising software tool, EAB Navigate360, as well as ensure best practices, collaboration, and cooperation within our “unique and united” campus advising community.

As we look forward to further advance student success at Georgia Tech over the next year, strategic collaborations are paramount, both internally between Georgia Tech departments and outwardly as we create partnerships externally as well. Internally, Georgia Tech is preparing for the Institute’s 2025 reaffirmation of accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). As part of SACSCOC Reaffirmation of Accreditation, Georgia Tech is in the process of planning its next Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) entitled Leaders in Progress and Service: Creating Intentional and Transformative Learning Experiences. "Progress and Service” is the directional purpose of a Georgia Tech education and, from its founding, the Institute has recognized the transformative potential of experiential learning—learning by doing. The heart of the topic is the creation and implementation of a new credential that activates Tech’s mission to prepare students to advance technology and improve the human condition. An important aspect will also be a focus on students who may be less likely to participate in existing high-impact practices like under-resourced, income-limited, and first-generation students.

Externally, the Tri-University Collaborative for the equitable attainment of engineering degrees is advancing its work towards a coalition charter and identification of external funding. Additionally, the Office of Undergraduate Education and the division of Enrollment Management are collaborating in an exciting cross-USG partnership funded by the American Talent Initiative. The Atlanta Bridge Program, a partnership with Atlanta Metropolitan State College (AMSC), provides a cohort-based transfer opportunity for academically talented students to earn a Georgia Tech degree. Beginning in fall 2025, a cohort of 40 to 50 students will be selected to participate in the bridge program. Students begin their studies at AMSC and will complete the required coursework to transfer to Georgia Tech within four academic semesters. After successful completion of coursework, including a GT seminar course offered at AMSC, students will transfer to Georgia Tech to complete their four-year degree. During their time at AMSC, students will receive academic advising and support from both institutions. Co-curricular programming, including networking, mentoring, and cohort building activities will be provided on each college campus to enhance individual and group success.

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