Elementor #17263
Partnerships
A Partnership Advancing the Graduate & Professional Student Experience
The Gardner Institute and Georgia Tech share a commitment to improving the graduate and professional student experience through research, institutional learning, innovation, and collaboration. This partnership brings together complementary expertise: the Gardner Institute’s experience advancing student success and institutional transformation with Georgia Tech’s leadership in graduate education and its work to develop innovative approaches that support graduate students.
Georgia Tech’s contributions to this work reflect a deep commitment to understanding and improving the experiences of graduate students. Through its efforts in areas such as holistic well-being, professional development, student support, and evolving approaches to graduate education, Georgia Tech is helping expand the national conversation about what institutions can do to better support graduate and professional students.
Together, the Gardner Institute and Georgia Tech are sharing knowledge, exploring emerging challenges, and advancing new approaches that connect research with institutional practice. This collaboration strengthens the broader Graduate & Professional Student Experience initiative by creating opportunities for institutions to learn from one another and develop strategies that help students thrive from prospect to professional.
Graduate and Professional Student Hub
Who Shapes the Graduate & Professional Student Experience?
Graduate & Professional Student Experience Advisory Group
The Graduate & Professional Student Experience Advisory Group brings together graduate education leaders, researchers, practitioners, institutional leaders, and partners who provide guidance and perspective as this initiative develops.
Stephanie J. Bannister, PhD
President, FirstGen Forward
David Brightman
Gardner Institute Fellow
Jaydale Codrington-Poyotte
Director of Strategic Operations, Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Georgia Tech
Jody Fournier
President, Baker University
John N. Gardner
Founder and Executive Chair, Gardner Institute
Drew Koch
Chief Executive Officer, Gardner Institute
Katie Locke
Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, Gardner Institute
Deirdre H. McMahon, PhD
Teaching Professor of English; Assistant Dean for Online Program Assessment, Drexel University
Alicia Morey
Chief of Staff, Gardner Institute
Claudia Petrescu
Associate Vice President for Graduate Education and Internationalization Initiatives, Illinois State University
April Perry
Professor, M.Ed. Higher Education Student Affairs Program, Western Carolina University
Teresa Rivenes
Senior Vice President, Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
Rob Rodier
Associate Vice President for Technology, Informatics, and Data Security
Sara Stein Koch
Institute Fellow and Senior Associate for Institutional Support, Gardner Institute
Valerie Shepard
Senior Content and Assessment Analyst, UCLA Recreation
Kelly Schrum
Assistant Provost for Graduate Academic Affairs; Professor in the Higher Education Program, George Mason University
Felita Williams
Senior Vice President for Programs, Gardner Institute
Ethan Williams
Senior Student Services Coordinator, Center for Student Life, UNT Health Fort Worth; Gardner Institute Intern
Anne Converse Willkomm, MFA
Associate Dean, Graduate College; Associate Teaching Professor of Communication, Drexel University
Deanna Wagner
Vice President for Student Affairs, Baker University
Dan Volchok
Gardner Institute Fellow
Why the Graduate & Professional Student Experience Matters?
Graduate and professional students represent a significant and growing share of institutional enrollment, yet they’re often left out of broader student success conversations. If graduate student success is to become the next evolution of the student success movement, institutions must move beyond assuming graduate students will simply “figure it out.” Just as higher education transformed the undergraduate experience through intentional design, graduate education deserves the same evidence-informed attention.
Investment in improving the graduate experience strengthens retention, persistence, timely degree completion, and post-graduation employment. It shapes both individual student success and institutional effectiveness. Institutions that lead on this work will be better positioned for the future of graduate education.