Success Connect: An Appreciative Approach to Early Alert at a Large Flagship University

Abstract

Early warning systems are in use at colleges and universities across the country. By inviting faculty and instructors to submit referrals for first- and second-year students who display early warning signs of academic distress, the staff of the Success Connect initiative at the University of South Carolina Student Success Center attempts to provide targeted interventions to students at risk of attrition.  This paper explores the Success Connect staff’s use of intrusive outreach and the Appreciative Advising theory-to-practice framework in conducting one-on-one targeted interventions.