SC State president forms Retention Steering Committee to strengthen student success

University leaders to coordinate efforts to improve student retention, graduation rates

ORANGEBURG, S.C. — South Carolina State University has formed a Retention Steering Committee to strengthen and coordinate universitywide efforts focused on student retention, graduation and overall student success.

The committee brings together leaders from Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Enrollment Management, Finance, University Advancement, Information Technology, Institutional Research and student-success units to align their work, identify barriers to students continuing their education and advance measurable progress toward SC State’s retention and graduation-rate goals.

“We’re excited about bringing this group together because student success is really what this university is all about,” SC State President Alexander Conyers said. “It’s one thing to recruit students and get them here. It's another to see them through to graduation.

"We have to make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep them here, help them succeed and see them walk across that stage with an SC State degree in hand," he said. "That’s the goal, and it takes all of us working together to get them there."

Universitywide leadership

The Retention Steering Committee will be co-chaired by Dr. David Staten, associate provost for Academic Affairs, and Dr. Tamara Jeffries, vice president for Student Affairs.

Executive leadership members are:

• Dr. Louis Whitesides, interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs
• Dr. Manicia Finch, vice president for Enrollment Management
• Dr. Gerald Smalls, vice president for Finance and Administration/CFO
• Dr. John Lee, vice president for University Advancement
• Eric Ham, director of Information Technology
• Sam Watson, executive director of Strategic Communications and Marketing

Academic and student success leadership members are:

• Austin Stephens, SGA president
• Dr. Jesulon Gibbs-Brown, interim dean, College of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences
• Dr. Stanley Ihekweazu, dean, College of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Transportation
• Dr. Matthew Guah, dean, College of Business and Information Systems
• Dr. Ralph Noble, dean, College of Agriculture, Family and Consumer Sciences
• Dr. Lakeisha Tucker, dean, College of Graduate and Professional Studies
• Dr. Lisa Sparks, executive director, Office of First-Year Experience
• Tyron Clinton, executive director, Professional Advising
• Dr. Samuel Hinton, executive director, Office of Student Success
• Cammie Berry, director of Institutional Research
• Sydney Keith, program team leader, Education, Innovation & Support (1890)

Conyers thanked the committee members for their willingness to serve.

"Ensuring our students persist to graduation is a shared responsibility, and this committee will play a central role in guiding that work in the months ahead," Conyers said.