Pioneering Student Success Nonprofit Names Renowned Georgia State Leader to Advisory Board

Georgia State University’s Dr. Timothy Renick will advise InsideTrack on proven strategies and emerging best practices for improving student success

PORTLAND, ORE. (MAY 24, 2022) — InsideTrack, the nonprofit student success organization that has served more than 2.6 million students over the last two decades, today announced the appointment of Dr. Timothy Renick, executive director of the National Institute for Student Success at Georgia State University, to its National Advisory Board. Renick will join a distinguished group of experts in student success, higher education leadership, and public policy who advise InsideTrack on the development of new strategies to meet the emerging challenges facing students today.

“These are challenging times for higher education. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted students from underrepresented and under-resourced backgrounds, and equity gaps are growing nationally. Meanwhile, many colleges and universities are facing declining enrollments and budget shortfalls,” said Renick. “The success coaching pioneered by InsideTrack represents a proven, impactful strategy for addressing these challenges by helping more students enroll and giving them the support they need to achieve their education and career goals.”

A distinguished international expert on student success and college completion, Renick is best-known for his transformational leadership to improve student success at Georgia State University, an urban public research university based in Atlanta. From 2008-2020, he directed student success and enrollment efforts at the university, overseeing one of the fastest improvements in graduation rates in the nation and the elimination of achievement gaps based on students’ race, ethnicity or income level on Georgia State’s campus. There, he pioneered the application of new strategies to improve student success, including a widely -hailed predictive analytics strategy and a university-wide advising reform initiative. These efforts culminated in a recent $9 million U.S. Department of Education grant, helmed by Renick as its principal investigator, to study the impact of analytics-driven advising and student support on ten thousand low-income and first-generation students nationally.

Renick has testified on strategies for helping university students succeed before the United States Senate and has twice been invited to speak at the White House. His work has been profiled by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Axios and CNN. He was named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune in 2021, received the 2015-16 Award for National Leadership in Student Success Innovation, and was awarded the 2018 McGraw Prize in Higher Education.

“Dr. Renick’s unique approach to student-centered innovation has improved the lives of thousands of students at Georgia State and countless more attending institutions who have been influenced by Georgia State’s work,” said Ruth Bauer White, president of InsideTrack. ”We’re delighted to welcome Dr. Renick to our advisory board and look forward to working with him to advance new strategies to help more students chart pathways to social and economic mobility.”

InsideTrack’s existing national advisory board members include Dr. Virginia M. Fraire, associate provost of the University of Texas El Paso; Wil Del Pilar, vice president for higher education policy, practice and research at education civil rights nonprofit Education Trust; Joel Vargas, vice president of programs at national education and workforce nonprofit JFF; and Julian Thompson, director of strategy at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

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About InsideTrack: InsideTrack is passionate about helping all learners achieve their education and career goals through the transformative power of coaching. Since 2001, we've served 2.6 million learners, partnering with more than 250 institutions and organizations to directly improve enrollment, persistence, completion and career readiness. Our coaching methodology is evidence-based and research-confirmed, with proven outcomes for every type of learner — from traditional to adult, part-time to full-time, online to in-person — including first generation students and those who face systemic barriers to postsecondary success. We also work with partners to build internal coaching capacity through staff training and professional services — designed to sustain advances in-house for lasting, scalable impact. InsideTrack is a part of Strada Collaborative, a mission-driven nonprofit. To learn more, visit www.insidetrack.org and follow us on Twitter @InsideTrack and LinkedIn @InsideTrack.