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.
Quiana Gordon
Senior Program Advisor
Tyler Walsh
Senior Program Advisor
Jeremy Toulon
Senior Program Advisor
Arnecia Watson
Lead Educational Technology Specialist
Monique Farone
Data Analyst
Darryl Stephens
Grants Manager
Lindsey Fifield
Senior Program Advisor
Andy Fentem, PhD
Program Advisor
Matthew Dischinger, PhD
Program Advisor
Sade Tramble
Program Advisor
Briana Dayton
Program Advisor
Stefanie Wright
Program Advisor
Aditi Kar
Data Analyst
Sandra Bethea
Grants Officer
Kelly Koch
Program Advisor
Genesis Thigpen
Project Director: NISS Fellow
Destiny Boyd
Business Manager
Kidist Daniel
Administrative Specialist
Tim Fulton
Senior Data Analyst
Priscilla Bell
Associate Director, NISS Incubator
Richard Singiser
UIA Project Director
Caroline King
Lead Educational Technology Specialist
Julie Fowkes
Associate Director, Educational Programs and Learning Platforms
Tanya Stuhr
Lead Educational Technology Specialist
Timothy M. Renick, PhD
Founding Executive Director
Allison Calhoun-Brown
Senior Vice President for Student Success
Jessica Rowland Williams, PhD
Senior Director of Client Service Delivery
Carol Cohen
Associate Vice President of the University Advisement Center
Angela M. Christie, PhD
Director of Educational Programs and Learning Platforms and Faculty Director, QEP: College to Career
Crystal Mitchell
Director, University Advisement Center
Ben Brandon
Director of Research
Catherine Neiner
Director, University Career Services
Scott Burke
Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Admissions and Housing
Jennifer Lee
Assistant Director University Advisement Center
Atia Lindley
Director Student Financial Management Center
Ben Brandon
Senior Director of Student Success Analytics
Ramona Simien
Director, University Career Services
Romina Torres
Director, Admissions
Winnie Tsang-Kosma
Director of Information Systems
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.