Interview with the Executive Director of the National Institute for Student Success at GSU, Tim Renick

Today we’re talking with the Executive Director of the National Institute for Student Success at GSU, Tim Renick.  Tim was voted one of the fifty greatest leaders in the world by Fortune Magazine.  Tim says it’s been a challenging year, but that he sees the light at the end of the tunnel.  He says plans for Fall look a lot more normal.  He just helped to launch the National Institute for Student Success last November and has had a steady stream of colleges coming to campus to learn about student success.  Not only that, but he says they use evidence based practices for removing barriers to success.

Tim has built his whole career on student success and on carrying that through higher education.  He’s had the opportunity to be a college president in the past, but says he turned it down because he thought he could make more of a difference in his current role.  Tim says he knows a lot about student success and if he were president only about 5% of his time would go into that.  He feels his voice would be a lot louder in his current position.  He does speaking engagements about 100 times a year and has had over 500 institutions visit GSU to learn from him.

Growing up, Tim lived in a wealthy community because that’s where his military father was stationed.  Tim’s family wasn’t really wealthy, though, so he didn’t feel like he fit in.  When he went to Princeton he felt more of the same, the kids around him lived in a world he’d never seen before.  Tim had to work in the dish room at Princeton to make ends meet.  It wasn’t until he came to GSU that he felt at home.  With 75% of students being non-white and 60% low income, everyone seemed to have to work to get through college.

The pandemic has changed a few things, some for the better.  While the pandemic has impaired some student success, it’s also shined a light on student services.  Tim says we need to be much more intentional in delivering services to students without them even having to ask.  When GSU received their Cares Act money, they gave out 20,000 micro grants.  While some students have applied for aid, he says there’s many they just put money in their account without them asking when they see a deficiency.