Lindsey Wilson College joins “Transforming the Foundational Postsecondary Experience” initiative

Lindsey Wilson College is one of nine institutions invited to join the new cohort of schools participating in the Gardner Institute’s Transforming the Foundational Postsecondary Experience initiative, which first launched in 2023 with 11 participating schools. The initiative is designed to close performance gaps and improve student success outcomes.

According to an article on Lindsey Wilson College’s website, the school’s Vice President for Academic Affairs Ray Lutgring is quoted as saying of the initiative, “Lindsey Wilson is proud to be working with the Gardner Institute to improve our student success efforts. Our mission calls for us to ensure that every Lindsey Wilson student has the opportunity to be successful, no matter the challenges they face. The Gardner Institute will help us identify and remove any roadblocks preventing our students from graduating.”

Over the next five years, participating schools will implement plans to foster better academic success among all students, with guidance from the Gardner Institute. According to the Gardner Institution’s website, it aims to “increase institutional responsibility for improving outcomes associated with teaching, learning, retention, and completion. Through its efforts, the Institute will strive to advance higher education’s larger goal of achieving equity and social justice.”

Of the nine new schools that have joined the initiative, five including Lindsey Wilson College are in Kentucky. Along with the work being done through this initiative, the five Kentucky schools, which include Bellarmine University, Kentucky State University, Simmons College of Kentucky, and Thomas More University, will also be participating in similar efforts with the Kentucky Student Success Collaborative.

Drew Koch, the CEO of the Gardner Institute, said, “Colleges and universities must have high expectations for their students. They must also have high expectations for how they teach and support the students they serve. These nine institutions join the 11 colleges and universities in the first cohort in making a long-term commitment to focusing on what they control, who they serve, and building a more effective undergraduate experience where every student they admit can thrive. By the end of the initiative, institutions are expected to be well on their way to removing demographics and zip codes as the primary determinants of who succeeds in and graduates from college.”

For more information about Lindsey Wilson College, visit the school’s website.