One year into the University Innovation Alliance, Temple is strengthening the first-year experience, expanding career readiness and using data-driven strategies to improve outcomes.

Temple University is marking one year in the University Innovation Alliance (UIA) with significant progress in enhancing student success—from rethinking the first-year experience to embedding career readiness across the curriculum. 

The UIA is the nation’s leading coalition of public research universities committed to improving student outcomes through collaborative innovation. Founded in 2014, the alliance has served as a multi-university laboratory where member institutions test solutions to challenges that every university faces such as retention, degree completion, career readiness and equity in outcomes. 

Temple joined the UIA in March 2025 as its 18th member and is now one of 19 public research universities in the alliance. Membership is highly selective, with each institution representing its state.  

“Being part of the UIA is helping Temple advance our mission as a major public research university committed to access, academic excellence and social mobility,” said John Fry, president of Temple University. “In our first year, this partnership is already informing new ways to support students—which is at the heart of what we do—and will continue to drive data-driven strategic improvements across the university as we implement our strategic plan, Forward with Purpose, with student success as one of the plan’s three priorities.” 

Bridget Burns, CEO of the UIA, emphasized the importance of intentionally designing the first-year experience to support long-term student success.  

“The first year sets the trajectory for a student’s college experience, and career readiness is strongest when it is woven throughout that journey. Temple University plans to intentionally integrate predictive analytics, proactive advising and career readiness into the academic experience in order to strengthen pathways for students to build confidence and momentum from the start,” said Burns. “This kind of coordinated, evidence-informed approach ensures that more students graduate not only with a degree, but with the skills, networks and sense of purpose that position them for long-term life and career success.”   

Since joining last March, Temple has begun participating in several UIA initiatives that align with its strategic priorities. 

To support the first-year experience, the Division of Student Affairs has created a “listening lab” to gather input from students. The information will help Student Affairs identify opportunities to bolster Orientation, Weeks of Welcome, first-year seminars and other onboarding support that promotes belonging and sets students up for success as they begin their studies at Temple. 

A key area the division is examining is the First-Year Seminar, which is not a requirement for all majors at Temple. Student Affairs and Academic Affairs set out to understand the student experience between those who participated in the First-Year Seminar and those who did not. Specifically, they want to know if the seminar was helpful in influencing students’ connection to campus and awareness of resources. 

Sixty-five students were interviewed with representation from all of Temple’s 17 schools and colleges. The data collection was completed in December and will be analyzed to look for themes to better understand students’ perspectives about the first-year experience.  

“Student success is a central part of our new strategic plan,” said Jodi Bailey Accavallo, vice president for student affairs and Temple’s UIA liaison. “Data shows a strong first-year experience influences retention. Through the UIA, we’ve trained our team to gather and analyze student feedback so we can determine what should be centralized as a university and what each school can do to shape the overall first-year experience.” 

In addition to assessing the first year, the UIA is also helping Temple consider ways to enhance career readiness for students. Kristen Gallo, executive director for career services, is leading these efforts to explore how career readiness can be embedded within a student’s academic journey, which is also reflected in the university’s strategic plan. 

“The UIA includes universities that are doing truly innovative work in experiential learning and career planning for students,” said Gallo. “The UIA’s strong focus on measurable outcomes aligns closely with our strategic plan, which includes student outcomes as a key performance indicator. I’m eager to engage with upcoming UIA initiatives to explore how we can embed best practices here at Temple to empower our students to succeed in their future career paths.”  

As members, Temple faculty and staff now have free access to the UIA University Innovation Lab, an online hub with comprehensive resources and tools to support student success such as professional development courses and workshops, case studies, national working groups, virtual events and more. 

“Our involvement in the UIA gives Temple access to tested models, implementation playbooks, and a national network of institutions willing to share success stories and lessons learned,” said Accavallo. “We have also used the UIA for consultation and benchmarking on organizational structure, staffing models, first-year student experience design and other mechanisms that allow us to track progress against national best practices.” 

And in February, Temple launched a partnership with the National Institute for Student Success (NISS) at Georgia State University, a fellow UIA member.  

NISS’ mission is to help colleges and universities identify and resolve institutional barriers to college completion by increasing their capacity to implement proven and scalable student-success solutions.  

The diagnostic phase of this work is now underway. Over the coming months, NISS will gather data on Temple’s operations and practices that directly impact student success outcomes. The findings will be compiled into a diagnostic report followed by a playbook tailored to Temple with actionable recommendations to improve student outcomes. 

When the research is completed, Temple will host a campuswide convening where faculty, staff and students will come together to review the findings and discuss the path forward. The National Institute for Student Success team, including Tim Renick, will share key insights from the diagnostic process, highlighting both areas of strength and opportunities for improvement across the university. The convening will provide an opportunity for the Temple community to engage in a shared conversation about what the findings mean for the university’s work and how it can continue strengthening the systems, practices and partnerships that support student success. By bringing the campus together around this work, Temple aims to ensure that improving student outcomes remains a collective institutional effort. 

“Being part of UIA is breaking down barriers and allowing us to look holistically at our processes so that we are changemakers for the greater good,” said Accavallo. “Many of the challenges universities face in higher education are too complex or resource intensive for institutions to address in isolation. As part of the UIA, we openly share data, strategies and results to learn from each other. Our membership in the UIA helps Temple learn faster, scale more effectively and contribute to national conversations about student success.”