New Research Affiliate: Jennifer Keup
The Pullias Center is pleased to announce it’s new research affiliate Dr. Jennifer Keup, Director of the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. Drs’ Kezar and Keup have collaborated on the Thompson Scholars Learning Communities Project, a $7 million dollar project funded by the Susan T. Buffett Foundation, where Keup is an Advisory Board member.
Dr. Keup’s long dedication to college student access and transition to college are an ideal complement to the Pullias Center’s work to improve the success of first generation and underserved minority students. Keup’s research interests focus on two complementary areas of scholarship: (a) the first-year experience and students in transition and (b) high-impact practices and institutional interventions. Keup is a co-author of the book Designing and Sustaining Successful First-Year Programs: A Guide for Practitioners and of the CAS Cross-Functional Framework for First-Year Experiences. Pullias Center Director Kezar commented on Keup’s important research: “We are so excited to have her voice added to the Pullias Center. Her work identifies critical areas of campus growth needed in order to serve today’s more diverse students well.”
Keup provides leadership for all of the National Resource Center’s operational, strategic, and scholarly activities in pursuit of its mission “to support and advance efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education.” During her time as director, Keup has worked to spearhead the National Resource Center’s national and international collaboration and partnerships, thought leadership, advancement of publication and professional development outlets, grant acquisition, and expansion of channels for resource sharing and communication, including online and social media. Kezar noted: “this partnership builds on the existing collaboration she has worked to build in service of student success.”
Helping All Students Succeed
As a Pullias Center research affiliate, Keup will continue to serve as an advisory board member but expand into joint publications and research projects, with the goal to combine forces to make a significant impact on education policy and practice. She will work closely with Adrianna Kezar, co-director of the Pullias Center and USC professor of higher education, on projects related to student success, particularly those who have traditionally not been well served.
“Jennifer’s expertise is strongly aligned with the Pullias Center’s goals of college access, without the work of the National Center, colleges and universities would be far less diverse” Kezar said. Kezar noted that as she thought about key thought leaders across the country to join the Pullias Center, Dr. Keup’s name raised to the top immediately.
With her new role as research affiliate at the Pullias Center, Keup is especially looking forward to expanding their collaboration around student transition and success. Keup described the importance of building on the joint thinking (Pullias and the National Resource Center) about student success “as a comprehensive, holistic, integrated, and inclusive approach to supporting students at transition points throughout their educational journey in the hopes of advancing effectiveness, excellence, and equity at the individual and institutional levels.” Keup has illustrated this commitment as a principal investigator for the National Resource Center’s involvement in a Bill and Melinda Gates-funded Solution Network focused on identifying, building, and scaling effective and equitable advising solutions across the field of higher education. Adrianna has also been very engaged with the Gates Foundation thinking around student success and we are excited to expand the fields knowledge in this area. Also, as a member of the advisory board for the NASPA Center for First-generation Student Success she noted how her work with first generation students is very aligned with Pullias Centers’ work.”