The Florida Consortium of Metropolitan Research Universities will celebrate our fifth anniversary on December 18, 2019. We have come a long way and a new year brings our ongoing focus on student success and a newly minted strategic plan. With support from Helios Education Foundation, campus partners, and the wisdom and insight of community leaders in Miami, Tampa, and Orlando, we crafted a strategic plan for the modern flagship metropolitan research university of the future.
To understand where we are going, it is important to understand where we have been. When President Rosenberg, President Hitt, and President Genshaft agreed to form the Florida Consortium, they made a commitment to work together to help MORE students graduate. In 2014 Florida Consortium member institutions; Florida International University, University of Central Florida, and University of South Florida forecasted that we would confer 124,350 bachelor’s degrees collectively before 2018. Keep in mind, we enroll over half of all of the Pell eligible students in the state of Florida and 60% of the transfer students. One in four students at Florida Consortium institutions are the first in their families to attend college. FIU, UCF, and USF rank high on the social mobility index. And yet, at the close of 2018 we collectively conferred 129,808 bachelor’s degrees. This means 5,458 additional college graduates are in the workforce and following their dreams.
So how did we do it? We built a network, an active community, where faculty and staff at FIU, UCF, and USF work together, exchange ideas, and share data driven solutions. Here are a few milestones:
- In 2014 our first collaboration resulted in the $8.5 million Targeted Educational Attainment (TEAm) Grant. The grant was designed to produce more graduates for careers in the state’s highest areas of needs as identified by the Board of Governors
- In 2015 we hosted our first Student Success Conference. Now in its fifth year, this annual conference has evolved and showcases best practices and innovative approaches to student success. To date, over 800 participants have attended this annual event
- In 2016, we were awarded a $1.498 million dollar grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to design and implement the Florida Metropolitan STEM Continuum: From College to Career program. Over 100 faculty and staff worked together to improve transfer student success, teaching and learning strategies, and employability through networked improvement communities. In just under two years, this work led to course redesigns and the launch of Learning Assistants programs aimed at improving persistence in large gateway courses at Consortium institutions
- In 2017, we built on our collaborative work and partnered with Embodied Labs to develop Clay Labs, an augmented reality teaching and learning solution that features a 66-year old veteran named Clay who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Students learn how to initiate conversations with family members on end of life decisions as well as how to explain hospice care to families. This solution conveys what end of life feels like for the patient.
- In 2018, our Transfer Network which is comprised of leaders from FIU, UCF, and USF hosted the inaugural Accelerating Transfer Success Summit at UCF. Over 300 leaders from across the Sunshine State including Madeline Pumariega, Chancellor of the Florida College system, joined us to discuss ways to eliminate performance gaps, reduce time to degree, the ideal introduction to institutions within the State University System of Florida and a transfer student success advocacy agenda. Also noteworthy, we engaged employers to learn how higher education can fill their talent pipeline. In parallel, we worked with campus partners and community leaders to develop our 2024 strategic plan.
Going forward our goal is to build on what we have learned. With our new strategic plan we will work in four key areas of student success:
- Increasing access for all student populations
- Highlighting innovative active learning techniques
- Helping students develop the skills needed for a great career
- Ensuring every student finds a rewarding career
We will also continue to initiate statewide conversations, host best practice workshops or events, coordinate cutting edge research, and publish informative insights. Here is a snapshot upcoming co-sponsored events:
- Sunshine Teaching and Learning Conference (January 30 – February 1
- National Student Success Conference (February 27 – March 1)
- Active Learning Summit (April 25-27)
- Accelerating Success for Transfer Students Summit (May 8)
I hope to see you at one of these great events.
In summary, we are doubling down our collaborative work and look forward to executing our new strategic plan. We have also created the #WeGoFurther campaign because every person deserves access, opportunity, and ways to secure a rewarding future regardless of their starting point or professional destination. The #WeGoFuther campaign will help us to share those stories.
Here’s to a great 2019.
Michael Preston, Ed. D.
Executive Director
Florida Consortium of Metropolitan Research Universities