The GLCA hosted a Summit on Student Academic Success February 23-25, 2026 in Ann Arbor, MI. The Summit is part of GLCA’s signature professional development program, GALI (GLCA Academic Leadership and Innovation).  Forty-eight staff and faculty from all 12 GLCA institutions, including our newest member, Washington & Jefferson, participated.

The Summit opened with a presentation by Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director of the Center for Postsecondary Research and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Institute at the Indiana University School of Education. Kinzie talked about using data to advance contemporary frames for student success – particularly around relationship building, career-connected learning, and academic support. 

Regan Gurung, Professor of Psychology at the School of Psychological Science, Oregon State University, kicked off Tuesday morning by engaging participants in thinking about how to leverage the science of teaching and learning to enhance and sustain student success. A participant noted, “Regan was terrific and I really enjoyed hearing his perspective. I already shared his website with staff back on campus and they are looking to incorporate his ideas into our new summer bridge program.”

Tuesday also featured a team from Ohio Wesleyan University, including Provost Karlyn Crowley, presenting a case study of OWU’s approach to move the needle on retention, something for which they have received national recognition. Ian Binnington, Dean for the Student Experience at Allegheny College, gave a presentation on ways to be cautious of and utilize gen AI in the work we do as small college staff and faculty.

Throughout the summit, campus teams had structured and unstructured time to work in teams, meet colleagues in similar roles and interact with and receive feedback from the facilitators.  

One participant remarked, “This was great! Hard to leave work behind, but so important to consider these issues AND meet wonderful colleagues across GLCA schools.”

The final step was a tour of targeted action steps and suggestions to take back to campus to further their work on enhancing student success.  Some ideas included improving communication to students, developing new mechanisms to reach student athletes, ways to use AI for personalized approaches, reviewing academic standing policies, establishing unique cross-campus partnerships, thinking about physical spaces and the naming of programs, ways to harness and utilize existing data in addition to many other small and large ideas to impact students and improve student success.  

Heading into the summit, participants hoped to learn more about what others are accomplishing, what challenges they are facing and gain insights to move their own efforts on campus forward. The energy, engagement and reflections of the campus teams demonstrated they took full advantage of these opportunities to connect and collaborate and keep students at the center of their shared work in student success.