Empowering Colleges and Universities to Achieve More
The NISS is founded on three core principles.
First, institutions inadvertently hinder their students’ success through policies, practices, and structures that are among the key drivers of equity gaps. Second, institutions can use data to identify and to understand these institutionally-created barriers to completion. Third, action-oriented institutions with the right coaching and support can create more equitable enrollment, retention, and graduation outcomes.

What We Strive For
The National Institute for Student Success helps colleges and universities identify and resolve institutional barriers to equity and college completion by increasing their capacity to implement proven student-success systems.




Our Team
The NISS Leadership and Coaching teams are supported by a group of practitioners with diverse educational and professional backgrounds as well as Senior Consultants who comprise leadership roles in the Division of Student Success at Georgia State University.
Jessica Rowland Williams, PhD.
Senior Director of Client Service Delivery
Quiana Gordon
Senior Program Advisor
Tyler Walsh
Senior Program Advisor
Jeremy Toulon
Senior Program Advisor
Caroline King
Business Manager
Monique Farone
Data Analyst
Julie Fowkes
Lead Educational Technology Specialist
Allison Calhoun-Brown
Senior Vice President for Student Success
Darryl Stephens
Grants Manager
Carol Cohen
Associate Vice President of the University Advisement Center
Crystal Mitchell
Director, University Advisement Center
Lindsey Fifield
Senior Program Advisor
Scott Burke
Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Admissions and Housing
Jennifer Lee
Assistant Director University Advisement Center
Atia Lindley
Director Student Financial Management Center
Holly Joseph
Lead Educational Technology Specialist
Andy Fentem, PhD
Program Advisor
Matthew Dischinger, PhD
Program Advisor
Ben Brandon
Senior Director of Student Success Analytics
Sade Tramble
Program Advisor
Briana Dayton
Program Advisor
Stefanie Wright
Program Advisor
Skip Spriggs
Human Resources Business Partner
Aditi Kar
Data Analyst
Sandra Bethea
Grants Officer
Kelly Koch
Program Advisor
Genesis Thigpen
Project Director: NISS Fellow
Timothy M. Renick, PhD
Founding Executive Director
Ryan Z. Maltese, PhD
Director of Partnerships and Client Engagement
Angela M. Christie, PhD
Director of Educational Programs and Learning Platforms and Faculty Director, QEP: College to Career
Ben Brandon
Director of Research
Cary Claiborne
Director for Diagnostics
John Smith
Senior Program Advisor

Our Core Values
Equity
We believe that access to higher education and the benefits that come with it can and must be equitable.
Impact
We seek to improve the student success outcomes for hundreds of thousands of college students nationally.
Innovation
We conduct and share research that promotes the best practices in student success.
Leadership
We bring institutions across the nation together to support and align student success strategies.