By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – The TRIO Student Support Services programs at Washington State University Tri-Cities and WSU Pullman were recently approved for $2.53 million and $1.375 million in grants, respectively, that will support the three programs throughout the next five years.

The WSU TRIO Student Support Services programs provide support, tutoring and mentorship services to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. To qualify for the program, students must be a first-generation college student, from an economically disadvantaged background or have a documented disability.

“The ultimate goal and mission of TRIO is to not only retain students from disadvantaged backgrounds, but ensure their degree completion and a successful transition into the workforce or graduate school,” said Stassia Feltes, director of the ���سԹ� TRIO program and writer of the Tri-Cities TRIO Student Support Services grants.

Feltes said TRIO adds value to the students’ college experience because the program provides community and support to students from similar backgrounds to enhance their sense of belonging on campus.

“We increase confidence in our students and are committed to student success,” she said. “At TRIO, your success is our commitment.”

New STEM programming at ���سԹ�

���سԹ�, specifically, was awarded two separate grants that total their $2.53 million award. In addition to qualifying for funds to support another five years of their regular student support services programming in the amount of $1.265 million, the campus qualified for an additional $1.265 million grant that specifically supports services for students in STEM or health sciences degree programs.

“The new STEM grant is targeted to support 120 additional eligible students here at ���سԹ�,” Feltes said. “We are excited to be able to serve more students and help them reach their academic and career goals.”

Some of the additional programming that the STEM and health sciences grant will support include additional STEM supplemental instructors and an undergraduate research course that will partner with faculty on current research to prepare students for STEM and health science careers and internships. Additionally, the grant supports faculty and professional mentoring in STEM, STEM projects ranging from digital application development to virtual reality, support for STEM conferences and STEM professional mentors from the community. The grant funds also support the hire of an additional full-time STEM student success specialist, hourly peer advisors and an hourly office assistant.

Feltes said they are not letting the COVID-19 pandemic stand in their way of providing college success and support resources for students. All of their programming, she said, will continue to be offered virtually.

“We need more diversity in STEM majors and careers, and with TRIO, we can strengthen the pathway for students to pursue their goals and provide increased diversity within the STEM community,” she said.

The two grants mark the ���سԹ� program’s third cycle of its existence at ���سԹ�.  The program received grants in the 2010-2015, 2015-2020, and now two for the 2020-2025 cycles. The program has helped hundreds of students since 2010.

Heightened focus on career development and graduate education at WSU Pullman

The WSU Pullman TRIO program is the longest-standing TRIO program in the WSU system. Their recently-awarded grant marks their fifth cycle, where they have received consecutive five-year grants since 2000.

“It’s a cornerstone program at WSU,” said Lucila Loera-Herrera, executive director for the WSU Pullman Office for Access and Opportunity. “Student Support Services alums participated in a recent retreat and many of them are getting PhDs, some are even working in TRIO programs across the nation. They are always enthusiastic to talk about the impact of their WSU experience.”

Loera-Herrera said the WSU Pullman program, too, won’t let the pandemic stand in its way of providing a quality experience through the program.

“In this virtual world, we were more deliberate in setting that up and we have to be much more intentional in making connections and bridging students to resources,” she said. “Services will all be remote.”

With the new WSU Pullman TRIO grant, Angie Klimko, WSU Pullman TRIO Student Support Services director, said they put a heavier emphasis on career development and graduate education.

“Our students need more structure for learning why graduate education is important and the pathway to get there,” she said.

For more information about the ���سԹ� TRIO program, visit tricities.wsu.edu/trio. For more information about the WSU Pullman TRIO program, visit

Media contacts:

Stassia Feltes, ���سԹ� TRIO Student Support Services program director, 509-372-7389, stassia.feltes@wsu.edu

Lucila Loera-Herrera, 509-335-7944, executive director for WSU Pullman Office for Access and Opportunity, lucila@wsu.edu

Maegan Murray, ���سԹ� assistant director of marketing and communication, 619-403-3617, maegan_murray@wsu.edu

By Stephen Nakata, Division of Student Affairs

Washington State University has been selected as a First Forward Institution for its dedication to serving first‑generation college students.

WSU joins the inaugural cohort of 80 universities and colleges across the nation selected by the Center for First‑Generation Student Success, an initiative of the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) and The Suder Foundation.

WSU and the University of Washington are the only institutions in Washington to receive the designation.

“Being named a First Forward institution recognizes the foundational work we have done at WSU to support first‑generation students,” said Lucila Loera, executive director of the Office for Access and Opportunity under the Student Engagement pillar in the Division of Student Affairs. “It also gives us a push to explore where we can go in the future as we continually strive to improve and be innovative in meeting the needs of first‑generation students.”

A community of professionals

Sarah E. Whitley, senior director for the Center for First‑generation Student Success, is pleased to welcome WSU to the inaugural cohort of institutions.

“Through the application process, it was evident that WSU is not only taking steps to serve first‑generation students, but is prepared to make a long‑term commitment and employ strategies for significant scaling and important advances in the future,” Whitley said.

A key benefit of being selected is being able to engage with a broad cohort of peer universities that are willing to consult on challenges and celebrate program successes. Institutions also will be offered professional development that strengthens the campus knowledge base and are encouraged to develop a blog for the Center’s website.

“First Forward is an exciting opportunity for WSU to join an elite community of professionals prepared to share evidence‑based practices and resources, troubleshoot challenges, generate knowledge, and continue to advance the success of first‑generation students across the country,” NASPA president Kevin Kruger said. “We are excited to see a groundswell of activity from the First Forward cohort and know WSU will be a significant contributor.”

A strong contender

TRIO Student Support Services Program Director Angie Klimko led the preparation of WSU’s application, feeling confident it would be a strong contender.

WSU has been focused on serving first‑generation students for over 20 years through TRIO programs such as Upward Bound, Student Support Services and McNair, along with others like Multicultural Student Service’s Smart Start, College Assistance Migrant Program and First Scholars.

The university has been a leader in experimenting with new and creative ways to help first‑generation students. Examples include having established a living and learning community for first‑generation students called Lead the Legacy, hosting a first‑generation conference to share best practices in serving them, implementing the “I was first, too!” button campaign, and creating the First‑Generation Study Abroad Program, which is sending 25 students to Seville, Spain this summer.

WSU also has a long‑standing partnership with the Suder Foundation, which helped establish the First Scholars Program on the Pullman campus as part of the early cohort of universities. WSU President Kirk Schulz is a member of the board of directors for NASPA’s Center for First‑Generation Student Success.

“I’m thrilled about WSU becoming a First Forward institution,” Klimko said. “While we have served first‑generation students for a while, I think it’s going to bring a lot of innovative ideas to our community and will help create more awareness of this important population.”

Klimko and a member of her team will meet leaders from the other First Forward Institutions at a mandatory workshop on June 15 in Orlando, Florida.

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – ���سԹ� recently became the only four-year university in the Pacific Northwest to be named a highly certified institution for AVID programming.

AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, is a nationwide program that prepares students to succeed by providing academic and social supports, which transcend into daily life. Although traditionally held at the elementary, middle and high school levels, ���سԹ� joined a collection of colleges and universities in recent years to introduce the AHE program.

���سԹ� earned the designation after meeting five essential characteristics in providing students with the supports to be successful, in addition to providing instructors with high-engagement strategies to ensure students persist, complete and are successful beyond college.

Those characteristics include:

• Campus leadership support
• A campus team to develop, implement and sustain the program
• Professional development for faculty
• Inclusion of an AVID seminar
• Using data to inform changes and improvements to university programming

Benefits of AVID in the classroom

Kate McAteer, ���سԹ� assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs, said the largest benefits of the AHE program is that it encourages students to become engaged on campus, make friends through a common course and that students learn study and other practical skills that they can use in classes across the board.

Through the program, all freshman take an AVID seminar course that encompasses an academic subject, which at ���سԹ�, is Human Development 205. The course also meets the communication requirement for graduation. In that course, students have one of their first experiences working intensively in groups, they participate in service learning, learn how to use the range of campus resources and attend at least one campus event – all in addition to the regular course material.

Many students have expressed that it was one of their favorite courses since beginning at ���سԹ�, mainly because it was the course where they met friends, learned practical skills to help their studies and that it helped boost their confidence for their college courses.

“Human Development 205 is responsible for my increased self esteem that I was able to use to make friends and get a rewarding on-campus job,” said Zachary Harper, student body vice president. “Without being a part of this class, my college experience would have probably been much more boring and lonely.”

Harper said one of the strategies that was most helpful in the class was learning about peoples’ conflict and work styles.

“I’ve been able to successfully apply this knowledge to all of the group projects I have been working on in class since then,” he said.

For student Riley Santo, the main benefit of the course was that it helped provide her with a successful transition from high school to college.

“It felt more like what my high school classes were like, but not in a bad way,” she said. “I enjoyed that the class had a more familial structure. You learned everyone’s name in class, we had group projects and there were lots of conversation between the professor and students, as well as between students. I also enjoyed the opportunity to express my personal beliefs with peers, and theirs to me.”

Preparing instructors with best-practice teaching methods for student success

With AVID, professors at ���سԹ� are trained with best-practice teaching styles that help ensure student success.

All ���سԹ� faculty have the option of attending a training that teaches these best-practice standards and styles, in addition to providing the option for professors to observe their colleagues’ teaching styles so that they may learn effective practices from one another.

“It has been a huge benefit for us,” McAteer said. “You watch your colleague teach a class and you go, ‘Oh, I should do that,’ and you bring it into your own class. It also reinforces group work among the faculty. We expect the students to work as a team, so we better know how to work as a team.”

Judy Morrison, one of the leaders for the teacher preparation program, said ���سԹ�’ regular teacher preparation programs are a part of the AVID Teacher Preparation Initiative, which means they use AVID strategies in some of their courses and help future teachers learn how to implement AVID strategies in their own teaching.

Morrison said they have led workshops ranging from reading, to writing, to general student engagement. This month, they will host workshops on metacognition and Socratic seminars. Morrison said the main benefit shown in students is increased understanding of their own capabilities, improved reading and writing skills, better communication and the development of organization skills.

“Having our campus be part of the AVID Teacher Preparation Initiative is very beneficial for the teacher preparation program and our students,” she said.

Katie Banks, instructor in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at ���سԹ�, said after going through her first AVID for Higher Education Summer Institute in 2016, she revamped her teaching philosophy and the strategies she uses to convey content in the classroom.

Some of the AVID methods she has adopted include:

• A social contract, which requires students to co-create the classroom expectations and physically sign-on to them
• Think-Pair-Share, which requires students to think or write about a topic for a short period and then share with a partner to investigate the question or issue posed
• Socratic seminars, which are formal discussions where students bring their open-ended questions to their peers, asking them to think critically and articulate their thoughts and responses

“These high-engagement strategies allow students to refocus – away from their notes, but also away from other distractions, like technology or zoning out – to really explore the course material a bit further,” she said. “No longer are students asked to be passive observers of my expertise as an instructor. Instead, we’re a community of learners, and we can each build from the knowledge of one another.”