Chancellor to discuss student engagement at social mobility summit

Winston-Salem State University Chancellor Elwood L. Robinson will discuss the university’s strong culture of student engagement as a presenter at CollegeNET's first Social Mobility Summit meeting, July 16-17 in Portland, Oregon.

The meeting, which brings together five key thought leaders from higher education, will discuss best practices for student success.

Robinson, WSSU’s 13th chancellor, will make a presentation that helps explain how WSSU is establishing a strong culture of engagement for students.

 He will be joined at the summit by:

•  Dr. Rory McElwee, vice president for enrollment and student success at Rowan University, who will discuss the four strategic pillars of student success.
• Dr. Kristin Croyle, vice president for student success at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, who will talk about eliminating college costs and pressures.
• Dr. Michael Dennin, vice provost for teaching and learning and dean of the division of undergraduate education at the University of California, Irvine, who will offer plans for a unique, personalized and scalable student support system.
• Dr. Jaye Padgett, interim vice provost for student success and a professor in the linguistics department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who will outline his "whole student" philosophy.

CollegeNET is the creator of the Social Mobility Index (SMI), a data-driven system that ranks four-year U.S. colleges and universities according to how effectively they enroll students from low-income backgrounds and graduate them into promising careers.

WSSU has been ranked among the top 20 schools on the SMI for three consecutive years (2014-16). And, in February, WSSU was named by CollegeNET as a Social Mobility Innovator.