While summer often brings a temporary slowdown in direct student engagement across college campuses and postsecondary education systems, education leaders across the country remain deeply committed to improving student outcomes. The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) Annual Meeting served as a crucial forum where state higher education executive officers gathered to discuss the most pressing priorities in postsecondary education and share ideas for advancement.
This July, state higher education leaders convened in the nation’s capital to discuss a broad range of policy topics including state funding adequacy, the impact of artificial intelligence, and workforce development. Among these, the role of state higher education agencies and institutional leaders in influencing student success was a major focus. One of the standout sessions, “Scaling Transformational Student Success Through State and Campus Collaboration,” hosted by Dr. John Lane, SHEEO Vice President for Academic Affairs and Equity Initiatives, highlighted an innovative project led by Sova. This project, Pursuing Alignment through Student Success (PASS), brings together leaders from Wyoming, Louisiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina to collectively advance student success goals. The panel featured leaders from Sova and Dr. Ben Moritz, Executive Director of the Wyoming Community College Commission, as they introduced this new project to state higher education leaders and shared preliminary insights.
Aligning State and Institution Efforts for Student Success
The primary goal of PASS is to demonstrate that fostering collaboration between state agencies, institutional Chief Academic Officers (CAOs), and campus leaders can better align transformation efforts and scale student success across education systems. The project creates a formalized and networked approach through engagement opportunities that include shared goal setting, state and institution-level programming support, and student success curriculum delivered to participating campuses. Key curricular elements and critical outcomes of this deep campus-level work include direct peer engagement, and campus-level engagement centered on issues related to equity, data, teaching and learning, and leadership mindset. A critical outcome of this campus-level work is the advancement of campus student success efforts within the realm of academic affairs.
This approach has resonated strongly with state partners by deepening engagement between state higher education offices and institutions. Dr. Lane emphasizes that PASS “strengthens the strategic ties between transformational student success work on campuses and the higher education policy priorities of states.” It offers an opportunity for each state, and their institutional stakeholders to work together across sectors. Brian Merritt, Sr. Vice President and Chief Academic Officer for the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) agrees. “The participation of North Carolina in the PASS project presents an excellent and timely opportunity to more intentionally engage with CAOs across our System to seek their perspectives and input about our path forward with implementing our new funding model, PropelNC.” In ongoing intentionality to align the policy priorities driving student success within states, each PASS partner has also identified its own policy levers useful in driving this work and looks to collaborate with institution leaders to align efforts and implementation around shared goals.
Recognizing the Essential Role of Chief Academic Officers
A core component of the PASS project is the recognition that CAOs play a critical leadership role in student success efforts. “Because everything about the academic aspect of the institution enterprise is ultimately the responsibility of the CAO, the role of the CAO in advancing student success must be reconceptualized as a critical leader in student success,” says George Mehaffy, Sova Project Director and former Vice President of Academic Leadership and Change at American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). The project has outlined key ways in which CAOs can take a lead role in driving student success while providing them with professional development and peer networking opportunities through student success academies.
CAOs are not only institutional leaders but also key stakeholders in shaping state-level policy. Their insights are crucial to fostering rewarding, inclusive pathways for all students. Merritt reminds us that “as we consider what student success looks like and how to measure it with a changing student population, our CAOs will provide key input.” He believes that CAO “guidance is critical to help create and modernize our state-level policies and decision-making processes that will help create dynamic and effective systems so our colleges can create pathways for all students to thrive and create better futures for their families.”
Navigating Challenges and Sustaining Momentum
Despite the promising potential, collaboration between state agencies and institutions is not without challenges. Competing priorities, varying governance structures, and shifts in state policy environments can all pose obstacles to scaling student success efforts. However, by focusing on durable, collaborative strategies, PASS seeks to create conditions where transformation becomes standard practice.
Melissa Welker, Sova Project Director, speaks to the importance of anchoring lasting challenges in institutional culture with the CAOs at the helm of this important work. “Given that much of the academic enterprise is governed at the institutional level, the culture shift must start there, led by the CAO. When that change is championed, areas such as hiring, teaching, learning, and student support evolve alongside it.” PASS-SHEEO participants agree that the partnership between state agencies and institutions promotes statewide attainment and ensures that transformation efforts remain durable through changes in the policy environment to become normative practice.
Looking Forward
As participating state leaders and CAOs continue to engage through the PASS project, the results are both pioneering and promising. Participants have reported deeper collaboration, shared learning, and a renewed focus on student success. One CAO reflected, “I’m grateful for this group and the opportunity to openly reflect on what I’m learning and struggling with. I look forward to continuing this journey.”
At Sova and SHEEO, we are excited about this unprecedented focus on academic officers’ engagement and its potential to promote equitable student success at scale. By deepening relationships between state agencies and institutional academic officers, the PASS project is building a model for sustainable, long-term progress that goes beyond regulatory or reporting obligations and builds collaboration that can support institutional and statewide transformation.
For more information regarding this project, please contact Dr. Molly Sarubbi, Project Director, molly.sarubbi@sova.org.
