Bob Krauss, Assistant Professor of Mathematics for Southern State Community College, has graduated as a fellow of the newest class of the Ohio Leadership Academy for Student Success.

Sponsored by the Ohio Association of Community Colleges, the academy is the first of its kind in the nation to gather mid-level faculty and staff for a year of training, exchanging ideas, and immersion in how to promote student success.

The OACC created the academy in 2019 to reverse mid-level management turnover by strengthening internal advancement pipelines within the state’s 23 community colleges.

Each fellow of the course was nominated by their institution’s president. They met in person six times throughout the year for two-day meetings and worked on group projects between sessions. The sessions focused specifically on evidence-based strategies for student success, including Ohio’s higher education policy landscape and aspects of a presidential leadership curriculum provided by the Washington, D.C.-based Aspen Institute, one of the partners of the program.

“Attending the Ohio Leadership Academy for Student Success has greatly enhanced my understanding of the evolving needs of our students and how we can better address them,” said Krauss. “This program was instrumental in enriching my role as a professor and underscored the importance of implementing changes that will improve the student experience at Southern State Community College. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity and confident that these insights will help us continue to elevate the quality of education and support we provide.”

The academy was funded by several national organizations, ensuring that colleges had minimal expenses to participate.

According to Dr. Nicole Roades, President at Southern State, “Student Success is an essential part of everyone’s work in higher education.”

“I congratulate Bob Krauss on completing this Academy and helping bring the ideas and best practices back to Southern State. This work is more important than ever, and success rests on our ability to implement practices that place students in the workforce pipeline,” commented Roades.

Supporting and mentoring talented higher education administrators is crucial at a time when institutions bear an ever-increasing responsibility for graduating workforce-ready employees in fields such as healthcare and nursing, teaching, business, and information technology. This demand is also growing as Ohio sees a flood of jobs in the electric vehicle battery, semiconductor, solar panel, and cloud storage sectors.

The OACC represents the presidents and trustees of the state’s 23 public two-year institutions that work to advance community colleges through policy advocacy and professional development.