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UERU Awarded Grant to Advance Academic Advising Reform for Undergraduate Student Success

National project will investigate how universities can redesign advising structures and systems to better serve students.

FORT COLLINS, CO — The Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU) has been awarded a multi-year, $343,201 grant from ECMC Foundation to lead a national research and implementation project on academic advising reform. A cross-institutional research team will examine the impact of a promising advising model on student retention and degree completion, as well as its impact on the overall adoption of evidence-based holistic advising practices at the university. The project will focus on understanding the shared model of advising administration, an emerging approach that combines centralized coordination with discipline-based advising expertise to scale holistic, student-centered advising practices.

The award comes at a critical moment. While research consistently demonstrates that holistic advising improves student outcomes, many colleges and universities struggle to implement these practices on a larger scale. Advisors often face overwhelming caseloads, fragmented communication systems, and inconsistent training that make it difficult to reach the students who need support most.

"Too much of the national conversation about student success focuses on individual advising practices without examining the structures that allow those practices to flourish," said April Belback, Co-Principal Investigator and Vice Provost for Student Success at the University of Pittsburgh. "We know that advisors can change students' lives when they have the training, support, and organizational conditions necessary to do their best work. This project will help institutions understand how to create those conditions and make holistic advising the norm rather than the exception."

The project builds on seven years of work within UERU's Advising Administration Community of Practice (AACoP), a national network of nearly 400 advising leaders from research universities across the United States. Through that work, UERU has built a powerful coalition of advising leaders committed to reform in service of student success. Prior research conducted by Tyton Partners found a significant relationship between the shared advising model and improved student retention and graduation outcomes. Yet significant questions remain about how the shared model works in practice, which components are most critical for success, and how institutions can effectively manage the organizational change required to implement it.

Over the next two years, UERU and its partners will conduct qualitative research with a diverse group of research universities using the shared model. The research team seeks to understand how institutions have successfully adopted and scaled holistic advising practices under this model. Findings from the research will be translated into practical resources for institutional leaders across the sector, including implementation guides, case studies, and change-management tools designed to help colleges and universities redesign advising systems in ways that are sustainable, equitable, and evidence-based.

The project also includes collaboration with the Advising Success Network (ASN) and a national advisory group of practitioners and field leaders from a wide range of institutional types, including community colleges, minority-serving institutions, and comprehensive universities. Their involvement will help ensure that the project's findings and resources are broadly applicable across higher education.

“Research consistently demonstrates that academic advising supports student success, retention, and degree completion. Yet we know far less about the institutional infrastructure needed to make high-quality advising consistently accessible to every student,” said Claire Robinson, Co-Principal Investigator and Assistant Provost of Undergraduate Advisement at the University of South Carolina. “This project focuses on the systems, structures, and partnerships that create a strong advising ecosystem—one in which every student can access the holistic, coordinated support they need. When that happens, students are more likely to stay enrolled, complete their degrees, and achieve their educational and career goals.”

Project resources and research findings will be made freely available to the higher education community through UERU and its partners, creating a national foundation for future advising reform efforts.

Founded in 2000, the Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU, pronounced “You-Roo”) is dedicated to excellence and access in undergraduate education by sharing and developing expertise across member institutions and other higher education organizations. The UERU membership is comprised of 141 research universities across the U.S. and 8 international affiliates, which collectively serve nearly 3 million undergraduate students. UERU helps its members stay current and forward-thinking, fosters connections across academic units, and enlists leaders in common projects to meet the challenges and opportunities facing undergraduate programs. Learn more at ueru.org.

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