Share of $4 Million USDE Grant to Increase First-Year Student Success at Salisbury University

Salisbury University will receive $216,000 over the next four years to increase retention and success for first-year students, thanks to a nearly $4 million Postsecondary Student Success Grant from the U.S. Department of Education to the University System of Maryland (USM). Its share of the grant is dubbed “Maryland’s ABCs for Student Success: Advising, Belonging and Coaching.” The university will train a corps of peer mentors to help connect students from a variety of backgrounds with pre-existing campus resources, including the University’s Academic Advising Center, Center for Student Achievement, and Charles A. Wight Multicultural Center for Equity, Justice and Inclusion. The program is expected to support two new staff roles at SU, including a data analyst and a peer mentor coordinator. Dr. Melissa Boog, SU associate vice president of academic affairs says the university welcomes students from diverse backgrounds, and not all of them come ready to navigate a college campus, adding that they want to pair them with experienced students, focusing on the retention of students who are coming to them with specific needs. With that goal in mind, SU officials will work out details of the new initiative in the coming months.