Oct. 30, 2024

UIA Summit recap

 Seven MSU representatives attended the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) National Summit on Student Success Innovation, Oct. 23-25 in Tempe, Arizona. MSU attendees included Ariel Arnold, senior director of Student Success; Christina Bridges, strategic retention manager; Amy Martin, assistant dean, Student Success Strategy; Renata Opoczynski, assistant provost for Student Success and UIA liaison; Genyne Royal, assistant vice president of Student Life and Engagement for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging and UIA liaison; Justin St. Charles, strategic retention manager and Jane Zimmerman, math instructor, UIA Learning Innovations Fellow. 

Amy Martin stated, “the UIA Summit provided an opportunity to connect with other institutions engaged in similar work and learn from them. We made connections with Oregon State University and San Jose State University teams and found a potential grant opportunity from our engagements. We also had time as an MSU team to talk about ideas for future efforts at MSU.”

MSU demonstrated its leadership at the UIA Summit through an impactful session and two EdTalk sessions which included: 

  • Building Bridges to Completion: Creating a Campus Wide Retention Ecosystem; Speaker: Renata Opoczynski, Justin St. Charles, Christina Bridges, Jessica Williams
  • EdTalk: The Future of Democracy Starts Here: Developing Tomorrows Leaders Through Conflict Towards Civil Discourse by Genyne Royal
  • EdTalk: Navigating Change Over Time: Insights from MSU’s UIA Fellows on Consistent, Incremental Change Driving Student Success Improvement; Speaker: Renata Opoczynski and Amy Martin

View photos from the Summit below. 

Justin St. Charles and Chelsea Noble, MSU alumni, past UIA Fellow and now part of the UIA Central Team
Justin St. Charles (right), strategic retention manager, and Chelsea Noble (left), MSU alum, past UIA fellow, and now part of the UIA Central Team
A person in a green dress standing just right of center stage in front of a large screen that reads Dr. Genyne Royal, Michigan State University
Dr. Genyne Royal presenting at the UIA Summit
Two people standing behind a podium with a yellow-purple stage curtain backdropped and a large presentation screen to the right of them
Drs. Amy Martin and Renata Opoczynski presenting at the UIA Summit
A group of people standing closely together smiling at the camera backdropped by the UIA Summit backdrop
MSU attendees of the 2024 UIA Summit
Two people sitting next to each other at a table with drinks and other items on it smiling at the camera
Justin St. Charles and Dr. Christina Bridges, strategic retention managers, at the UIA Summit
A person stands behind a podium next to a presentation screen and speaks toward the audience
Justin St. Charles presenting at the UIA Summit
A person stands behind a podium next to a presentation screen and speaks toward the audience
Dr. Christina Bridges presenting at the UIA Summit
Main stage with a presentation screen dropped down and displaying the UIA Summit information in a banquet hall
UIA SUmmit main stage
Group of past UIA fellows standing on a stage at the UIA summit in October.
Past UIA Fellows at the UIA National Summit