By Deseray McKinzy
At the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management and Student Success, Dr. Braque Talley has begun an initiative to promote student success and retain students to graduate.
Recently, the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities awarded financial support to the University in its invitation to participate with 15 institutions nationwide to collect and share data geared to finding solutions for college access and help generate more graduates from underrepresented minorities, low-income, and first-generation backgrounds. The initiative is called Powered by Publics: Scaling Student Successes funded through a stipend of $15,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help cover expenses related to the research and project participation.
According to the press release from the University, Dr. Talley explained his purpose and role in this initiative, which is to share his data with other public universities working together to increase college access, eliminate the achievement gap, and award hundreds of thousands more degrees by 2025.
“By collecting, reporting, and analyzing the data from students of all backgrounds across the
country, it will help to foster more informed decisions about how to improve opportunities and
support the current gaps in student success,” Dr. Talley said.
Dr. Talley and his team are credited by the University for helping UAPB reach the largest enrollment increase in almost a decade while increasing the retention rate to one of the highest in the University’s history.
