Transforming the Graduate Student Experience: A Call to Expand the Student Success Imperative is an edited volume that calls for greater attention to how institutions design and support graduate education. Drawing on research and practitioner-authored chapters from institutions across the United States, the book argues that the graduate student experience has not kept pace with the needs of today’s diverse learners, programs, and delivery modes.

The chapters examine graduate education across master’s degrees, professional doctorates, and research pathways, addressing challenges related to data use, institutional coordination, student support, and degree completion. Designed for deans, department chairs, faculty, and administrators, the book offers practical strategies and real-world examples that strengthen student learning, well-being, persistence, and career readiness.

Intended as a resource for a national effort to improve graduate education, this volume provides a practitioner-focused guide to expanding how institutions define and support graduate student success beyond a narrow academic focus.

With nearly 50 contributors from institutions across the US, this book spans breath and depth. The editorial team includes:

EDITORS:

John N. Gardner, Co-Founder and Executive Chair, Gardner Institute, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow, University of South Carolina at Columbia. While at USC, he was the founder of the First-Year Experience movement, and founding executive director of the National Resource Center for the First Year Experience and Students in Transition. In addition to coauthoring nine professional books on higher education, he has also co-authored a series of textbooks for college student success courses with his wife, Betsy O. Barefoot, who is also co-founder of the Institute.

Andrew (Drew) K. Koch, Chief Executive Officer, Gardner Institute. Prior to joining the institute fourteen years ago, he spent two decades working in both independent and public postsecondary institutions. That work included teaching graduate student courses and participation in thesis and dissertation committees. He has served as the principal or coprincipal investigator on more than two dozen grant-funded research and education improvement projects with support coming from sources such as Ascendium Education Philanthropies, ECMC Foundation, the National Science Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Lilly Endowment, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Co-editor of The Transfer Experience (Stylus, 2021), his newest book, Transforming the Gateway Course Experience: A Call to Action for Higher Education is from Routledge, 2025.

April Perry, Professor in the M.Ed. Higher Education Student Affairs program, and Department Head/Chair for Human Services at Western Carolina University. She is the co-editor of the recent, award-winning book A Practitioner’s Guide to Supporting Graduate and Professional Students (Routledge, 2022). She has served in various leadership roles in the academy such as Department Head, Assistant Department Head, Interim Associate Dean of the Grad School, and Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) Graduate Program Director. In 2016, April received the WCU Graduate School’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring. In 2017, she was named Outstanding Professional in Graduate and Professional Student Services by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Administrators in Graduate and Professional Student Services (AGAPSS) Knowledge Community. In 2022, she was honored with NASPA AGAPSS’ Outstanding Contribution to Research and the Profession Award, and also in 2022 received NASPA Faculty Council’s Outstanding Support for Graduate Students Award. In 2024, her co-edited book was selected as the Outstanding Publication from NASPA’s Faculty Council.

Additional Editorial Support:

David Brightman, Fellow and Editor, Gardner Institute. Prior to joining the Institute, Brightman spent 15 years as lead editor of higher education books for Jossey-Bass, followed by eight years as senior editor with Stylus Publishing, which was the only independent publisher devoted entirely to books on higher education. His extensive experience includes working on previous works with both John Gardner and Drew Koch.

Alicia Morey, Chief of Staff, Gardner Institute. Prior to joining the institute, Morey spent over 20 years working in higher education and student affairs at Purdue University, Florida State University, and the Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering. Her professional experiences have included student success initiatives such as summer bridge programs, living-learning communities, and teaching FYE courses. She has also served in leadership positions for University Housing, Information Management, and Student Services and Undergraduate Affairs. Morey was involved in the planning and execution of the first Graduate Student Experience conference, and also works with Gardner and Koch on many of their other writing projects.

Updatate: February 2, 2026 Katie Locke