The University of Tennessee at Martin will host its second Skyhawk Regional Retention Summit on Wednesday, May 25, in the Boling University Center. Public and private two- and four-year institutions across the southeast are invited to join the conversation surrounding student retention, persistence, and success in higher education. Registration should be completed online at <a href="http://www.utm.edu/retentionsummit">www.utm.edu/retentionsummit</a> by May 18. A complete summit schedule is also found at this link.

The first summit was held in 2019 and planned as an annual event, but the summit was canceled the past two years because of the pandemic. The inaugural event attracted approximately 130 external participants and a total audience of about 250 attendees.

A pre-summit meeting for provosts from Ohio Valley Conference schools will be held May 24, 10:30-2 p.m., in the Champions Club located in Hardy M. Graham Stadium. A pre-summit workshop for chancellors, presidents, and cabinet officers will follow from 3-5 p.m. in the same location.  Registration for the workshop begins at 2 p.m. The workshop will include a COVID-19 debrief, an idea exchange and then a reception and dinner beginning at 5 p.m. in the Dunagan Alumni Center.

The summit opens May 25 with a continental breakfast followed by a welcome from Dr. Philip Acree Cavalier, UT Martin provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs.  Randy Boyd, University of Tennessee System president, and Dr. Keith Carver, UT Martin chancellor, will follow Cavalier with opening remarks.

Also on the program will be Dr. Emily House, executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. House, who will speak at noon, has held the executive director’s position since January 2021. She formerly led the THEC/TSAC Research and Planning team and College Access teams as the chief research and policy officer. The Rochester, New York, native is a graduate of the Tennessee Government Executive Institute and is received the inaugural THEC Presidential Fellowship.

Topics to be covered during concurrent discussion sessions throughout the day will include promoting equity and inclusion in teaching and learning inside and outside of the classroom; leveraging innovative course delivery models to promote retention and persistence to graduation; early warning systems for identifying students in trouble academically, socially, and emotionally; and how new data and technology solutions contribute to increasing persistence to graduation.

For more information, call the UT Martin Office of Academic Affairs at 731-881-7010.
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