Five innovations we saw at the Reach Higher Showcase
About 150 projects were presented to a crowd of over 400 people at the Reach Higher Showcase on April 12. Here are five presentations from the event.
Apr 15, 2024
The Enrollment Development and Educational Outreach Division Overview
The Enrollment Development and Educational Outreach Division is responsible for providing leadership in enrollment development and educational outreach by implementing comprehensive strategies to improve student retention, academic excellence, and learning while employing the use of data-driven, evidence-based enrollment practices. The division will work to inspire others within our community to work collaboratively in achieving the university’s enrollment and retention goals.
Mission Statement
The Division of Enrollment Development and Educational Outreach values cooperation and interconnectedness with each functional unit at Grand Valley State University. The division contributes to the enrichment of our society by implementing enrollment planning and services that value diversity, inclusion, belonging, and accessibility; identify, recruit, and enroll capable learners; offer services to support and promote equitable enrollment, retention, progression, graduation and overall success for all learners.
Vision Statement
The Division of Enrollment Development and Educational Outreach will be recognized as a national model for enrollment management programs, services, and practices. We will be a learner-ready and evidence-based division utilizing an inclusive approach to encourage learners from all backgrounds to become leaders and complete their educational pursuits. Utilizing a coordinated care approach, we will provide comprehensive services to lifelong learners at every stage of their educational career.
Guiding Principles
- Recruiting, admitting, retaining, and graduating a diverse learner population with equitable outcomes as the goal
- Placing learners’ welfare ahead of other institutional goals by advocating for their needs
- Involving cross-divisional stakeholders from across the institution to think through a lens of transformation to ensure optimal results
- Utilizing asset-based, abundance thinking, about our learners and the varied gifts and talents they bring
- Supporting all learners in ways that honor and respect their diverse and multiple social identities
- Delivering intrusive, inclusive, and intentional education and experiences
- Investing in the ongoing learning and development of faculty and staff as they seek to serve learners, recognizing their invaluable influence
- Providing comprehensive and high-quality academic advising and coaching in a supportive learning environment
- Designing course sequencing and course availability within our curriculum to meet the needs of our traditional, non-traditional/adult, and graduate learners
- Using systemically-gathered data to inform our decision making
- Seeing the local, state and global community as valued partners in providing educational opportunities for our learners
- Working to be a learner-ready institution, recognizing and acknowledging our faculty and staff's role in understanding and supporting our learners
Featured News
Grand Valley Pledge will help first-generation students pay for college in Calhoun County and beyond
Through development of recent pipeline and financial aid programs, Grand Valley leaders have opened the university’s doors even wider to diverse students and, in turn, helped diversify West Michigan’s workforce.
B. Donta Truss, vice president for Enrollment Development and Educational Outreach, led establishments of these programs and said he drew largely from his own experience as a first-generation college student to create programs that make it easier for students to attend college. Truss earned three degrees, including a doctorate in educational leadership, policy and law, from Alabama State University, one of the country’s oldest Historically Black Colleges/Universities (HBCU).
GVNext News
Grand Valley hosts 23rd annual "Celebrating All Walks of Life" Pow Wow
The annual two-day event, a collaboration between multiple Grand Valley departments and community members, is a celebration of culture through ceremony, song, dance, feasting and socializing.
Apr 13, 2024
Reach Higher Showcase elevates GVSU's innovative projects
Nearly 150 projects were presented, exemplifying Grand Valley’s Reach Higher commitments in providing an empowered educational experience and fostering a lifetime of learning and a culture of educational equity.
Apr 12, 2024