In June, Northern Arizona College unveiled a campuswide initiative meant to broaden entry to greater schooling and prioritize fairness on the Hispanic-serving establishment. This system, referred to as Elevating Excellence, introduced modifications to the admissions, scholar companies and monetary assist places of work and has been held up as a case examine of success by the Institute for Larger Schooling Coverage.
Below its new ethos, Northern Arizona disaggregated institutional knowledge to seek out the place it had been failing potential college students and repair holes in its insurance policies. For instance, the college realized its admissions tips required college students to have taken sure coursework that was unavailable at many Arizona excessive faculties, resulting in an overhaul within the utility course of.
José Luis Cruz Rivera took over as Northern Arizona’s president in June 2021 and helmed the Elevating Excellence program from ideation to implementation. Previous to that, he served as government vice chancellor and college provost of the Metropolis College of New York and as provost of California State College, Fullerton. Cruz Rivera shared a few of the program’s largest modifications, how the college selected which initiatives to pursue and the way different faculties can transfer extra rapidly to assist deprived college students.
This interview has been edited for readability and brevity.
HIGHER ED DIVE: What did you prioritize if you joined Northern Arizona College somewhat over a 12 months in the past?
José Luis Cruz Rivera, president of Northern Arizona College
Permission granted by Northern Arizona College
JOSÉ LUIS CRUZ RIVERA:
It turned very clear early on that, as I used to be listening to my college, workers, college students, alumni and different stakeholders, there was a necessity for NAU to broaden participation in prime quality credentials packages, which in flip present college students with good post-college outcomes and allow them to contribute to the state and their communities.
We wished to articulate a brand new constitution for our work and set strategic priorities to drive that constitution ahead. I’m very comfortable to say we’ve got a really engaged and mobilized college group. What that results in is a really intentional method to the work that we do.
I have been in greater ed for a few years, I have been privileged to work in a number of college programs and on faculty campuses. And what I’ll say is that the extent of focus and depth and intentionality that I see in my group right here, it is one thing that I have not seen elsewhere.
What had been a few of the predominant obstacles impeding scholar entry, and the way did you deal with them?
One was that our admissions course of required college students to take 16 core lessons in highschool. However sadly, 50,000 Arizona college students attend excessive faculties that solely provide 14 of these 16 lessons.
You would actually be a valedictorian at a kind of faculties, however except you went out of your solution to take an internet class or go to a group faculty, you had been deprived in having access to NAU.
This was one thing that our college group instantly understood was inequitable, so we labored with the board of regents to remove that requirement. Now we’re in a position to say that should you’ve graduated from highschool in Arizona with a 3.0 GPA, you’re assured admission.
We additionally made it in order that should you come from a family incomes beneath $65,000 a 12 months — which is a couple of out of each two households in Arizona — you come to NAU tuition free.
Did you discover examples of packages that had been already working?
Sure, the best program we had is a scholar tutoring program referred to as Peer Jacks. College students that participated had one thing like an 8 proportion level greater retention price, however this system was solely accessible for out-of-state college students. As a result of we appeared on the knowledge and it was so highly effective, we as a college group made the choice to relocate present funds to make that program accessible to all of our freshmen.
Beginning new packages and increasing present ones is commonly costly. How did Northern Arizona deal with the monetary aspect of this fairness roadmap?
In all my profession, I’ve by no means been in an educational division or faculty or system the place you are not in a position to advance good concepts due to cash or sources.
Individuals will say there isn’t any cash for that, to which I say, it is not about budgeting {dollars}. It is about budgeting individuals’s time, expertise and power. That is the actual forex. And there is at all times a possible to advance concepts by reallocating funds, which I do know is usually painful as a result of it implies that you need to cease doing one thing else.
One other factor is that if in case you have a compelling worth proposition, yow will discover companions. As we had been constructing this plan, it was compelling sufficient that we had been in a position to safe $81 million between private and non-private sources. A number of this cash is one-time cash. So I see it as enterprise capital, and we’ll launch initiatives that may have a return on funding over time.
Schools are sometimes recognized for making incremental change, so creating and implementing a universitywide fairness plan in beneath a 12 months is quick paced. How did Northern Arizona do it?
Altering admissions necessities would have taken months, if not years, at a few of the different locations I have been. As you realize, in greater ed, it is at all times exhausting to align what the board desires with what the directors need with what the college and workers need, not to mention the scholars. However we’ve got this magical alignment of planets right here proper now.
In greater ed, if you wish to drive change rapidly, you need to work out the right way to maintain the rhythms of the shared governance, however up the tempo.
For instance, we created some new advisory boards that embrace college, workers and college students that we may go to rapidly. And each time we’ve got particular points that we have to take a look at deeper, we represent 45-day committees. It retains issues from being too open ended and provides you a set period of time to get individuals’s greatest pondering. And if the very best pondering is that they want 45 extra days, that is effective. However not less than you are setting that commonplace.
There must be real alignment between the place the administration and the regents or trustees need to go along with the place the college, workers and different stakeholders aspire to go. There’s so many points to deal with in greater ed, I do not see any purpose for there to be battle on the campus. In the event you’re gonna do 5 issues, I am positive any campus can discover 5 issues the place all people agrees they need to try this.
