Student Success

metal abstract sculpture, located in front of the Engineering Building

Student Lifecycle Communications

Program Status: Discovery

Portland State University has launched a comprehensive, university-wide Student Communications Review in partnership with Carnegie. This initiative is designed to strengthen student success, strengthen operational effectiveness and alignment, and implement recommendations for strategic institutional student-facing communications. The absence of a unified, campus-wide strategy for timely, actionable information negatively impacts  the student experience and contributes to elevated attrition. The objective is to develop a coordinated communication strategy that reduces friction, supports student success, and improves retention and graduation outcomes for first-year and transfer students from admission through graduation, spanning the student lifecycle.
 

Accomplished

  • Completed virtual interviews and provided discovery materials from VPSS, Enrollment Management, Student Affairs units, University Communications, and Student Financial Services. 
  • The vendor has provided all materials requested for the campus visit on January 13/14.
  • Emerging Themes report from vendor has been distributed to VPSS.
  • The Project Team has continually provided feedback to the vendor throughout the discovery process.

In Progress

  • Analyzing qualitative data and additional discovery materials found from the Campus Visit focus groups
  • Receiving a final Process Map from the vendor, overviewing a workflow of student communications. 
  • Follow up presentations with key campus stakeholders, post campus visit.
  • Reviewing the final Priorities and Recommendations, informed by the discovery phase, to inform Phase 2 scheduled to begin in February 2026.

Project Health

  • The project timeline is highly dependent on the vendor’s timely review of PSU materials. Recent vendor delays with select deliverables resulted in missing agreed-upon deadlines. To improve alignment, Project Leads and the vendor’s Director of Client Success have established monthly check-ins to support adherence to the project timeline and reinforce mutual expectations.
  • The project is remaining aligned with the projected timeline as we remain on track for the Campus Visit and approach the end of Phase 1.

Project Team

Sponsors: Sheila Martin, Myla Edmonds
Leads: Julie Smith, Andrea Garrity
Project Manager: Brenna Whitton
Project Team: Anna Ruby, Luke Norman, Francisco Valdez, Chloe Hays, Nathanial Garrod