The HEDS Student Success Champions Program supports people at colleges and universities who lead student success projects and helps develop their leadership and change management skills.
Applications for the 2026 cohort of Student Success Champions will open on June 2, 2025.
We created the HEDS Student Success Champions Program to advance student success efforts at colleges and universities and to help participants develop leadership and change management skills.
Student Success Champions will work with, support, and learn from an interdisciplinary community of practice focused on student success. The community of practice includes other Student Success Champions, the HEDS Directors and staff, HEDS Board members, and leaders with experience in institutional improvement.
Champions will develop their skills as they design and/or implement a student success initiative at their institution. Champions will gain confidence in their leadership abilities and build resilience to work through challenges that threaten to derail institutional change efforts.
Applications for the 2026 cohort of Student Success Champions will open on June 2.
The program is open to any employee at a 2-year or 4-year, public or private, non-profit higher education institution—including, but not limited to, faculty, student affairs professionals, administrators, assessment professionals, and institutional researchers—who is, or will soon be, leading a student success project and has support from their institution.
Each Student Success Champion will participate in the program for a two-year term. We expect Champions to attend four meetings each year (two face-to-face and two virtual).
If your institution is a member of HEDS, we do not charge a program fee to participate; your institution will only be responsible for the cost of your travel, food, and lodging for the two face-to-face meetings each year. If your institution does not belong to HEDS, we charge a $1,000 program fee for each year of the program as well as the cost of your travel, food, and lodging for the two face-to-face meetings each year.
The cost of each face-to-face meeting, which covers three nights of lodging, food, and transportation between the Indianapolis International Airport and Wabash College, will be around $950 (not including airfare). We can provide additional nights of lodging to accommodate flight schedules at the current hotel rate, generally $125-$150 per night.
- Two face-to-face meetings each year that focus on helping Student Success Champions develop practical leadership skills: including approaches to engaging the support of academic leaders, using evidence to advance projects, building coalitions, working with challenging faculty and staff, and keeping projects moving forward in dynamic institutional environments.
- Two one-hour virtual check-ins each year between small groups of Champions and HEDS leaders for updates on their projects, troubleshooting obstacles, and honing plans for next steps.
- Ongoing consultations that will focus on real-time troubleshooting to help the Champions sharpen their projects and overcome barriers.
The HEDS Student Success Champions Program offers a great professional development and networking opportunity. Sharing ideas with this amazing group of people with a shared dedication to student success has been so productive, enriching, and enjoyable. My campus is already seeing the benefits of this collaboration, and I’m so glad that I pursued it!
Being a part of the HEDS Student Success Champions Program has been an incredible way to connect with like-minded professionals, in the area of Student Success, across the country. When I was applying, I was unsure of what to expect or what I was going to get out of it. However, now being a part of the cohort and attending the meetings at Wabash College, I feel really grateful for the opportunity to grow professionally, learn more about student success, and work together with a cohort of wonderful people.
In higher education, we are often flooded with programs for professional development, and it is challenging to prioritize which ones to engage in based on limited resources and time. The HEDs Student Success Champions program is worth your financial investment and time commitment. The program is organized, reflective, relationship-driven, and designed to provide guidance and feedback on a project. Take this opportunity to immerse yourself with colleagues who understand the challenges you are facing, the value of the liberal arts, and a willingness to share resources. You will leave with friendships, a project timeline for your next steps, and validation of your value and contributions to supporting your students.
My advice to anyone who is considering applying would be to dive in headfirst! I was nervous when I first applied because I didn’t have a full concept of what I wanted to work on yet, I just knew that I wanted to create more opportunities for students on campus. I’m so grateful to have pushed those worries aside because this program has been incredibly uplifting and inspiring. It is so much more than just project focus. There is something really special about getting to see the work being done on other campuses and meeting with other individuals who share a passion for student success.
If you have the opportunity to do this program, do it! It has allowed me time to focus on my project and work with peers to get new ideas and perspectives to help me meet my goals. My project has transformed since the beginning, and I can’t wait to get back to the group this summer to share the direction it has gone and to get feedback. Being able to work with a cohort of like-minded professionals who challenged me, gave invaluable feedback, and allowed me to let my ideas and goals soar was a great professional development experience. I highly recommend the program and quite frankly I’m sad that it is only 2 years.
I confess to some hesitation when applying for the HEDS Student Success Champions program so soon after beginning a new job at a new institution, but I soon learned that I should have lunged at the opportunity instead! What better move than to be connected with remarkable colleagues from across the nation who are wrestling with similar questions to my own. Learning that many of them were in newly created student success roles made it even better! If you are hesitant, I get it, but don’t let the opportunity pass you by.
The HEDS experience has been extremely helpful in allowing for the time needed away from campus to focus on developing and finalizing a retention action plan for my institution. It has been great to ask questions of colleagues from other institutions who have successful initiatives and receive constructive feedback about how to improve our plans. People share resources for best practices and offer to meet in between our residency for accountability and to maintain progress. I’m also excited to share what I’ve learned with others to help them advance their initiatives.
One hesitation I had when applying was that I didn’t know exactly what project I wanted to focus on or whether any project would be worthy enough for two years worth of a program. There ended up being no reason to worry about this at all, because the program is so much more than providing time and support to focus on a single project, and that was apparent right away. The opportunity to meet new people and hear about their experiences and projects has been great, and the program really does feel like it is about the Champions and not necessarily the project itself. And that being said, I also quickly realized the various directions my project could take, and I credit the Student Success Champions Program for helping open my eyes to that.
To apply, please download the program description and application by clicking on the red button above.
The application process will consist of answering questions about your interest in the program and the project you’d like to work on and providing a letter of support from an administrator at your institution.
The deadline to apply for the 2026 cohort of Student Success Champions will be September 19, 2025. We will be announcing this cohort on November 14, 2025 and their two-year term will start in January 2026.
We open applications for a new cohort every year in early summer.
If you have questions about the program please email Charlie Blaich and Kathy Wise.
Important Dates
June 2, 2025 – Call for applications for 2026 Cohort opens
July 29-August 1, 2025 – 2024 and 2025 Cohorts meeting at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN
September 19, 2025 – Application deadline for 2026 Cohort
October 2025 – 2024 and 2025 Cohorts virtual update meetings – hour-long, individually scheduled small groups
November 14, 2025 – 2026 Cohort is announced
January 7-10, 2026 – 2025 and 2026 Cohorts meeting at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN
April and/or May 2026 – 2025 and 2026 Cohorts virtual update meetings – hour-long, individually scheduled small groups
July 2026 (TBD) – 2025 and 2026 Cohorts meeting at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN
October 2026 – 2025 and 2026 Cohorts virtual update meetings – hour-long, individually scheduled small groups