SAGE Success Grant: Peer-to-Peer Initiatives
-
Learning Assistants -
Academic Coaching -
Peer Advising
With its main campus in Anchorage and four community campuses, UAA is the only public, state institution of higher education in its service area of 85,000 square miles. The 10,845 undergraduate student population at UAA (at the time of grant writing) is diverse (37% minority), and has 37.4% that are low income (per 34 CFR 607.7(e); UAA IR).
As an open enrollment Alaskan institution, UAA and its students students face a number of problems: historically excluded students with academic challenges, work and family responsibilities, and financial barriers; funding problems due to Alaska’s weak economy; COVID impacts; and a gap between operational realities and our mission to serve our students. UAA developed a proposal that addresses the problems outlined above, rooted in UAA planning processes and strategies.
The SAGE Success Grant is a five year Title III Strengthening Institutions (SIP) grant that aims to centralize 100% academic tutoring in the Learning Commons; establish Learning Commons success programs Learning Assistants, Academic Coaching, and peer advisors; and support retention and persistence of freshman-level students.
The project is based on building infrastructure that leverages the fiscal and student success impact of peer-to-peer programming, centralizing tutoring services, and supporting students enrolled in high-DFW gateway courses. These strategies reflect the institution’s strategic priorities, address chronic problems, and strengthen fiscal stability in the long term.
Year 2 just completed a strong external evaluation and made significant progress toward objectives. We look forward to updating you on Year 3!
Title III SAGE Programs
Learning Assistants
A Learning Assistant (LA) is a current student who is hired to support student learning during class. LAs usually support students in high-demand undergraduate courses that are an entry point to a major or subject area. During class, LAs facilitate discussions and support class activities. Outside of class, LAs attend ongoing training to learn research-based pedagogical best practices for working with students and faculty. LAs also meet with their Lead Faculty weekly to review upcoming content, discuss how the past sessions went, provide insight based on their student interactions and make recommendations.
Academic Coaches
An Academic Coach works one-on-one with students to build study skills, help navigate UAA software, set realistic goals and stay on track to achieve them.
- Building note-taking and study skills
- Getting past procrastination
- Setting achievable goals
- Developing a homework or study schedule
- Creating and prioritizing a to-do list
- Overcoming test anxiety
- Navigating online platforms like Google Docs, UAOnline, Blackboard or others
- How to talk to professors, stay organized, manage your time, balance work/school/family responsibilities and thrive in college!
Peer Advising
The UAA Peer Advising Team connects Seawolves with trained student mentors, known as Peer Advisors. They are trained UAA students helping their fellow students navigate their first year, understand academic processes, and foster a sense of belonging at UAA.
Peer Advisors help with course registration, introduce campus resources, and navigate students through university processes.
Grant Objectives
Grant objectives are updated for every grant year. The grant year runs from October 1-September 30.
- Year 3
Objective 1: By September 30, 2026, 75% of academic tutoring services will be available through the UAA Learning Commons (Baseline 62%, 2025).
Objective 2: By September 30, 2026, 60% of newly centralized tutoring services in the Learning Commons will be supported by appropriate policy, process, and funding structures (Baseline 40%, 2025).
Objective 3: By September 30, 2026, students enrolled in target high-DFW gateway courses will succeed (complete with a C or better) at a rate of 67% (Baseline 66%, 2025).
Objective 4: By September 30, 2026, 30% of freshman-level (up to 30 credits) students will participate in a SAGE Success program (Baseline 15%, 2024).
Objective 5: By September 30, 2026, UAA freshman-level (up to 30 credits) students persist to the following semester at a rate of 69% (Baseline 68%, 2025).
Objective 6: By September 30, 2026, 60% of Learning Commons SAGE Success programs incorporate, refine, and institutionalize rigorous assessment plan and practices (Baseline 40%, 2025).
Assessment Reports
Assessment reports for the grant's programs are created and shared annually.
Year 2 Annual Assessment Report