Success coaching, case management program continues to grow
“The first-year seminar instructors are incredibly committed to the students’ success, but students also experience a lot of non-academic challenges that neither the faculty member nor the peer mentor are best positioned to handle,” says Lee Kahan, director of Titan Teams. “The success coaches serve as case managers with their students, and they figure out what the barrier is that the student is confronting, and what resources would best help remove that barrier. They’re frequently working with financial aid, the Titan Success Center, and the bursar function.”
The idea had been germinating since 2020, and Titan Teams officially launched as part of the Strengthening Institutions Program grant that the campus received in 2022. The first Titan Team Leaders were hired in spring 2023 and the first pairings of Titan Teams and select first-year seminars took place in fall 2023. The grant is part of a larger study that examines the impact of interventions like Titan Teams on student success, retention, and sense of belonging. The program currently serves 416 first- and second-year students.
“Titan Teams are a group of people who are providing non-academic support to students, trying to help them connect with campus resources, and creating a sense of community and belonging,” says Erinn Kelley, Director of Professional Engagement. “There’s a focus on the freshman population, and that carries forward throughout the cohorts’ academic experience. They’re guided to my office when they are ready to seek internships and career support. Ideally, that happens in their sophomore year, and I can work with students to help them develop job application materials and start thinking about applying for internships by the time they’re juniors.”
Some students seek consultation for a specific matter, such as asking about how a particular course is going to translate to real-life professional success. Others come in looking for guidance about which major they should choose.
“We’ve had great conversations with students about how to figure these things out,” Kelley says. “We can help take some of the mystery out of what happens next.”
Tavia Campbell earned her B.A. in Sociology from IU South Bend in 2023, and was among the initial roster of Titan Team Leaders last year. As she begins the second campaign, she is still close in age to the students, and relates to the undergraduate experience.
“Whenever the students have an issue, even if it’s just a time-management question, they can reach out to us,” Campbell says. “Sometimes someone will say, ‘I’m not sure if college is right for me.’ If a student mentions some motivational issues with getting their assignments turned in on time, we can give the faculty member a heads-up through weekly email updates. Faculty can also come to us, saying that a student has been absent a lot, putting that on our radar so we can reach out to them and see what the cause might be.”
To bolster community-building, Titan Teams also hosts a series of workshops, study groups, coffee socials, and therapy dog sessions.
Find out more about Titan Teams at academics.iusb.edu/titan-teams.
