Supplemental Updates for University of West Georgia - 2025

Other UWG Student Success Updates Connected to USG Momentum

Momentum Center & Student Solutions: The University of West Georgia opened its signature Momentum Center in September 2020, strategically located at the heart of campus to provide students with a single, welcoming space to access the support they need to thrive. At the Momentum Center, every UWG team member takes personal ownership of each student’s questions and concerns, fostering a service culture grounded in empathy, responsiveness, and commitment to student success.

Designed to adapt to students’ evolving needs, the Momentum Center continues to break down barriers and expand access to essential services. Housed within the center are several campus partners who serve students in their specialized areas:

• Student Solutions, where students receive personalized assistance navigating their enrollment journey, with support ranging from registration and financial aid to student billing, and graduation
• Campus Services, where students can help with meal plans, parking passes, ID cards, and more.
• The Financial Aid Outreach and Communications Team, which engages students both on and off campus in proactive student success initiatives.

The Momentum Center also features flexible spaces that accommodate campus partners during high-demand periods. For example, during registration, the UWG Online Team assists students in the open-concept computer lab, while during Orientation, Housing & Residence Life hosts a support station in the lobby to help students complete housing applications and answer housing-related questions.

The Student Solutions Team is uniquely positioned to anticipate and proactively respond to trends throughout the student lifecycle, thanks to the volume and variety of student interactions it manages. In the past year, more than 8,700 students visited the Momentum Center, and we engaged with the UWG community over 60,500 times across phone, in-person, and live chat channels. These interactions not only provide real-time support but also inform campus-wide process improvements. For example, we enhanced transparency around student account holds, streamlined the withdrawal process, and conducted “train-the-trainer” sessions to equip key campus partners with answers to frequently asked questions—expanding our capacity to support students beyond the the center.

Student feedback underscores the impact of our work. Surveys show students rated our ability to provide answers or appropriate guidance at 4.2 out of 5.0, and the friendliness of our team at 4.5 out of 5—exceeding service goals and reinforcing our commitment to a welcoming, student-centered environment. In recognition of this work, the Student Solutions Team received the 2025 Service Excellence Award at UWG’s annual employee recognition ceremony. Together, the Momentum Center and Student Solutions Team embody UWG’s mission to remove obstacles, empower students, and create a campus where every student feels supported and valued.

First-Year, 30 Hour Completion: Credit hour completion has remained relatively consistent since UWG first emphasized completing 15/30 credit hours in 2015 as part of USG Momentum. In Spring 2019 UWG transitioned to pre-made schedules that include 15 credit hours for entering first-time, full-time students, which has helped with this process, along with more consistent messaging and advising about the value and importance of attempting 15 credit hours each semester. Spring FTFT enrolled in 15 hours or more typically increases in the spring as students gain confidence in their abilities to succeed in their courses. UWG plans to  extend pre-made schedules to the spring semester for first-year students beginning next year.

First-Year ENGL and MATH: When first-year students enroll at UWG and attend orientation, they are provided with a pre-made, first-semester schedule, customized for their unique educational experience. Students are enrolled in first-year English and Math during their first year as part of this orientation and advising process, and advisors track completion of these courses in the first year.  AY 2024 results show that out of 1345 FTFT students, the following numbers of first-time full-time students attempted ENGL and MATH courses during the academic year. Dual enrollment has impacted these numbers over the past several years since these courses are usually completed before full-time enrollment at UWG.

Corequisite English and Math: AY 2020 was UWG’s first year offering corequisite learning support courses (ENGL 0999, MATH 0997, and MATH 0999). UWG also participated in the Statistics Pathway pilot to offer MATH 1401 (Elementary Statistics) as part of the Core IMPACTS.  MATH 1401 and MATH 0996 were offered for the first time in Fall 2020. In designing its learning support courses, UWG followed the USG best practices criteria. UWG corequisite learning support courses are one credit hour but two contact hours per week. The one credit hour ensures that learning support does not negatively impact students financially, while the two contact hours provide students with the instructional time they need to support learning in the core course. The same instructor teaches the core section and the corequisite learning support section. English and Math faculty designed the learning support course following USG guidelines. At the same time, professional staff in Admissions, Advising, Registrar, Academic Success, and the Provost’s Office developed processes for advisement and placement of students in learning support. UWG has a designated Learning Support Coordinator and has sent teams consisting of Math and English faculty and professional support staff to each USG Learning Support Academy, including in Fall Semester 2025.

In AY 2023, corequisite faculty extended ongoing work to support student mindset by implementing the USG Mindset Modules in MATH sections, implementing their own mindset activities, and actively encouraging students to take the USG Mindset survey.  Four First-Year Mathematics faculty members have implemented the USG’s Mindset Modules in CourseDen in their Fall 2022 courses.  All corequisite faculty address mindset explicitly in their courses.

From Fall 2023 to Spring 2024, 55.2 percent of students in learning support courses were retained.  In the prior three years, the impact of the COVID pandemic could be seen on many levels. This is consistent with data from across the USG on the continuing impact of COVID. In Fall 2021, 14% of admitted first-year students were identified as needing learning support. In Fall 2022, there was a significant increase to 30% of admitted first-year students needing Learning Support. This is due primarily to the test-optional policy for admissions, leaving only high school GPA (and potentially ACCU-PLACER) to be exempt from the Learning Support requirements. The requirements were changed again in March 2023, as seen in the data below. The table below outlines the comparative analysis over the past two years (Fall 2023 – Spring 2025).

At the invitation of the University System of Georgia, UWG is developing placement exams for learning support courses in ENGL and MATH that students who do not meet the GPA requirement to exempt from learning support can take to place out of the course.  Faculty members who have experience teaching the courses have developed placement exams.  UWG intends to offer incoming students for Fall Semester 2026 the opportunity during the orientation process to take a placement exam if they believe that learning support would not benefit them.   

First-Year Seminar: First-Year Seminar (Cornerstone) courses support students throughout their first semester of post-secondary education, providing them with a faculty mentor who can answer questions and lead them through the transition into university life. Informed by the Momentum Year approach, Cornerstone courses center around a special topic so students may gravitate toward what interests them and engage in a common intellectual experience. Shared curricular components include Growth and Academic Mindset, Career Readiness (utilizing Steppingblocks with a focus on the NACE competencies), and Belonging function as collaborative learning experiences. The overarching idea of Cornerstone courses is that they function as small-scale learning communities. As such, they reflect the Momentum Initiative’s engagement with High Impact Practices designed to facilitate student success. UWG aspires to offer the First-Year Seminar course experience to every entering student, since institutional data has shown that students who take the First-Year Seminar are retained at a higher rate. In Fall 2025, the number of First Year Seminar sections grew to 43, serving approximately 775 students.

The First-Year Seminar course’s Career Lab connects with the QEP's focus on career readiness and experiential learning. Over the semester, faculty recursively emphasize the NACE competencies (such as professionalism and communication, critical thinking, and self-development) that are an intrinsic part of the QEP. In keeping with the QEP priority of motivating students to begin thinking about their career path in their first year, Cornerstone students explore potential career and major options via Steppingblocks, which guides them to match their skills to options for career paths; likewise, all sections engage in a discussion about additional factors for consideration in choosing a career path, such as their individual values and motivation, their short- and long-term goals. Following an in-class discussion guided by representatives from the Academic Transitions program, students then complete a survey centered on NACE competencies, prompting them to reflect on their career goals not just in their first year of college but in their first semester. These surveys provide crucial data for assessing not just the Cornerstone class itself, but how well it adheres to the QEP’s priorities.   

Cornerstone students are encouraged to participate in on-campus activities to fulfill their Belonging Lab requirements. They choose from a list of ongoing campus events, attending at least one before midterm and one after; a component of the Lab necessitates that they write a reflection about their experience. The reflection prompts them to move beyond merely summarizing the activity: “Reflective writing needs to go beyond simply summarizing what happened. Your reader needs to understand what the experience meant to you, how it connects to other things you’ve experienced or studied, and what you plan to do in response.”

At the beginning of the semester, students also participate in a Growth Mindset lab, which introduces students to different types of mindsets (fixed, purpose), foregrounding the science supporting the importance of a growth mindset. Students participate in a hands-on activity led by a representative from ATP, which serves as an illustration of neuroplasticity and the very real impact of a growth mindset.

University Advising: NISS initiatives related to University Advising are included in Section II.3 (Proactive Advising Strategies) of this report. Additional updates on student advising tools, EAB, HOLD, and Unenrolled campaigns are described below.

Smartsheet Advising: All advisors now complete a standardized Smartsheet-generated advising email. This includes detailed advisor notes, referrals, anticipated graduation dates, and registration dates. This document is shared with students via email or in person and uploaded into EAB. The universal advising PDF is used when advisors are planning out several semesters. The generated email via Smartsheet is the consistent standard that every student receives, no matter what, after every appointment. Course recommendations and key points are mirrored in Wolf Watch to ensure a cohesive support network where advisors, student affairs, and academic leaders can quickly review and tailor support for each student. University Advising transitioned from Google Sheets to Smartsheet for student tracking two years ago. This shift has continued to enhance data protection and automates several processes, reducing repetitive data entry for advisors. Additionally, Smartsheet’s dynamic dashboards provide real-time data views, enabling advisors to stay current with minimal manual intervention.

EAB Campaigns: EAB is used for targeted advising campaigns. As of October 30, 2025, every undergraduate student has received outreach through these campaigns. With 82% of students already advised, University Advising has successfully met with 6,431 out of 7,865 students.

Unenrolled Campaigns: This program encourages continuing students who do not have holds that prevent registration to enroll and continue their progress toward graduation. Below, we present the number of students contacted and the number of students who enrolled as a result of the campaign. This provides strong evidence of what information students will open and act upon.

Holds Campaigns: This program targets students with holds that prevent registration and encourages them to resolve those holds and then to register.  Students are provided with information on how to resolve common holds which prevent registration.

Center for Academic Success: The Center for Academic Success offers Peer Tutoring, Supplemental Instruction, Academic Coaching, Success workshops, and a number of employment opportunities for students. Updates on early alerts, course alerts, and supplemental instruction are highlighted below.

Early Alerts and Supplemental Instruction: In the Center for Academic Success, Supplemental Instruction (SI) focuses on supporting “high-risk courses” with a 20-25 percent or more DWF rate. Once these courses are determined and faculty have agreed to allow SI in their sections, Supplemental Instruction is available to students enrolled in these courses. Students attending at least two to three (2 to 3) SI sessions per week significantly outperform non-SI participants. These collaborative sessions are open to all students and SI Leaders are encouraged to offer their sessions at various times throughout the week to support our working and non-traditional students. SI is further open to any dual enrollment students.

While SI supports core courses and covers many more courses than those listed below, the following courses were identified as high impact with substantial improvement ranging from nearly one-and-a-half letter grade improvement to one-fourth letter grade improvement. The retention rate of students receiving Supplemental Instruction in Fall 2024/Spring 2025 is 93% and exceeds the UWG average retention rate.

Course Alerts: Course Alerts are a primary tool for identifying students at risk of not being academically successful during the specific reporting period of the academic semester. During the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semesters, the Course Alert campaigns were expanded to cover all undergraduate students at the University of West Georgia, rather than the traditional model of first and second year. We deployed two rounds of Course Alert campaigns; the first for session I courses and full session courses for all undergraduates, and a second time for Dual Enrolled students, student-athletes, and session I courses specifically.

Three-thousand eight-hundred and forty-three unique students appeared in 5541 course alerts were identified in Fall 2024 and Spring 2025. Of these uniquely identified students, 2894 (or 75.3 percent) engaged with our Student Success Services. Increasing this percentage of student interaction/engagement with any and/or all success services is a paramount goal for the Department of Academic Excellence. Follow-up interactions based upon Early/Course Alerts include:

Acknowledgments: UWG achieved most of its Momentum goals for this reporting year or made significant progress in achieving them.   Planning is already underway for the next cycle of action-goals to support students. Momentum is embedded on the UWG campus as a broad, collaborative, cross-divisional partnership that works toward identifying and implementing specific, evidence-based student success actions. Many academic and student support units, administrative leaders, faculty, and staff at UWG contributed to UWG’s Momentum work this year and the updates in this report. UWG thanks the following colleagues who have contributed to writing and/or editing sections in this year’s report: Jon Preston, Elaine Harper, Jennifer Jordan, Monica Smith, Ashlee Pollard, Tim Schroer, Mandi Campbell, Bonnie Jett, Amy Ellison, Joy Ginther, Ashley Leggett, Meggie Miller, Shelby Ringer, Suzy McCorkel, Amanda Wright, Crystal Shelnutt, Sharmistha Basu-Dutt, Jason Swift, Cassidy Nelson, Clayton Hamre, Matt Varga, and David Newton. UWG also extends its appreciation to Jonathan Hull, USG Associate Vice Chancellor for Student and Faculty Success, who participated in the 2025 Momentum Planning Session.