The Vice Provost for Student Success, Erica Wagner, would like to introduce the Student Success Fellows for the 2023/2024 academic year. Miranda Mosier, Pronoy Rai, Erin Shortlidge, Michael Smith, and Mathew Uretsky have partnered with Erica to provide leadership on projects for Student Success.
MichaeMMiranda Mosier-Puentes
Student Success Fellow
Assistant Professor
This fellowship is focused on Child, Youth, and Family Studies (CYFS) students and their experiences engaging in conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion with members of their home communities (i.e., a family member, friend, neighbor, co-worker). CYFS student participants will select a community member as a co-participant, who will also participate in a phenomenological interview about the experience of having a conversation related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
This study is informed by earlier research with first-generation students at PSU who identified conversations with family about social justice-related topics as a site of struggle in their attempts to remain connected to family. Research has shown us that maintaining connections to one’s home community and culture is a critical aspect of retention, particularly for Black, indigenous and people of color, and/or first-generation students. In a time when these conversations are increasingly restricted through the proliferation of legislation that bans conversations in the classroom about race and social justice issues, it is critical that we seek an understanding of how these conversations are experienced by our students as well as members of their community who are not students at Portland State.
MichaeM
Pronoy Rai
Student Success Fellow
Associate Professor
Pronoy Rai is an associate professor and the curriculum chair of Geography in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a Student Success Fellow leading the Student Voices Initiative (SVI) for the Office of Student Success (OSS). SVI is a collaboration between Motivate Lab at the University of Virginia, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and the College System of Tennessee. SVI at Portland State is a research project that utilizes student-run focus groups as a method to understand undergraduate student experience, especially barriers to academic and social belonging at Portland State. The SVI research team at Portland State includes Dr. Rowanna Carpenter (Director of University Studies Assessment and Research), Rianna Piatt (OSS Project Coordinator), Delaney Ybarra (Project Manager and Special Assistant for the Vice Provost for Student Success), and Andrea Garrity (Executive Director of Student Success). Pronoy Rai received a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Illinois, and he has served as a faculty at Portland State since 2018.
Erin Shortlidge
Student Success Fellow
Associate Professor of Biology and Biology Education
As a Student Success Fellow, Dr. Shortlidge is looking forward to working with a team to develop and host Professional Development (PD) workshops for faculty and graduate students to increase best practices in inclusive pedagogy. This work directly aligns with EPIC@PSU (Elevating Pedagogy with Inclusive Courses) initiatives.
There are national calls for universities to adopt high-impact practices to ultimately improve the undergraduate experience such that students want to persist to graduation. Understanding and facilitating excellence in teaching at PSU is a nuanced yet critical piece of improving the learning environment. Having the chance to learn about and practice feasible inclusive, evidence-based teaching strategies must be a priority for instructors of all ranks - from graduate teaching assistants to tenured faculty. Instructors must also feel supported and incentivized to invest their time and energy into such practices. This work aims to support, facilitate and encourage instructors at PSU as they endeavor to engage PSU’s diverse student population and provide them with a quality experience at PSU.
MichaeMMichael Smith
Student Success Fellow
Associate Director, Office of Institutional Research and Planning
Michael Smith is a fifteen-year veteran of institutional research with a career-long interest in applying data and analysis to solve student success questions. He also teaches a class in data analysis and visualization at PSU's School of Business. Michael's work as a Student Success Fellow includes the design and implementation of the Office of Student Success's Data Champions program, and collaborating with fellow Fellow Dr. Uretsky on his research.
Mathew Uretsky
Student Success Fellow
Associate Professor
Dr. Uretsky, an applied social scientist with expertise in quantitative research methods and linked administrative data systems, brings over a decade of practical experience working with youth and families in both school and community settings. Dr. Uretsky's overarching research objective is to contribute to positive academic, behavioral, and economic outcomes for youth as they transition into adulthood. His scholarly pursuits revolve around understanding how individual, community, and ecological systems contribute to inequalities in academic, behavioral, and labor market outcomes, with the aim of informing both practice and policy. Dr. Uretsky is currently leading a fellowship project aimed at understanding obstacles to success for undergraduates in the early stages of their academic journeys. Building on prior work at PSU, the project seeks to identify key points and effective interventions to enhance retention and progression toward degree attainment among at-risk college students. The research focuses on patterns of engagement, disengagement, and reengagement among PSU students. The project aims to (1) identify experiences of first-time PSU undergraduate students who maintain enrollment compared to those who leave early; and (2) to distinguish experiences of those who make meaningful progress toward degree completion from those who do not.
Back to the top