Change Leadership Toolkit
Forsyth Technical Community College
Authors: USC Pullias Center for Higher Education
Publication Date: 2024
Format: Case Study (PDF)
Lay the GroundworkStart the ProcessSharpen the Focus
Advising Reform
Catalytic LeadershipStrategic Data UseStudent-Centered Mission
Senior Leaders
This case study highlights how Forsyth Technical Community College redesigned its advising and support services through the Student Experience of Onboarding Project, launched under the leadership of a new president. At the start of her tenure, three-year completion rates were just 19%, with significant racial equity gaps, only 12% of Hispanic/Latino students and 6% of Black students completed in the same timeframe. By aligning strategic planning with a cross-functional redesign effort, the president partnered with faculty, staff, the Board, and external organizations to improve onboarding, enrollment, and advising. As a result, overall completion rates rose to 31%, the gap for Black students narrowed by 15 percentage points, and Hispanic/Latino students began completing at higher rates than White students. This case demonstrates how bold leadership, shared ownership, and structured planning can drive transformational outcomes for students.
Connections to the Transformation Journey
and How Institutions Transform
Stages of Transformation
Lay the GroundworkStart the ProcessSharpen the Focus
- Lay the Groundwork: This case study illustrates how Forsyth Tech’s new president worked with faculty and staff across campus to develop a shared vision for change. By presenting internal data on completion rates alongside national benchmarks and showcasing promising practices from peer institutions, the president built urgency and alignment around the need to improve student onboarding and close equity gaps.
- Start the Process: This resource shows how the institution began operationalizing its vision by breaking down silos between departments and divisions. A newly appointed Vice President for Student Success Services was tasked with leading the effort, assembling an Action Team of faculty and staff to guide the creation of a new strategic plan.
- Sharpen the Focus: This case study highlights how Forsyth Tech’s strategic plan translated into concrete reforms in student support services. A new holistic support model was implemented, and partnerships with external support organizations were leveraged to accelerate change and strengthen cross-campus coordination.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Evidence-Based Practices
Advising Reform
- Advising Reform: This case study documents the implementation of a new holistic advising model that increased advisor staffing, adopted a case-management approach, and emphasized proactive student support. Advisors were trained using NACADA resources, and the institution advocated for higher compensation to ensure these roles were valued and sustainable.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Core Institutional Capacities
Catalytic LeadershipStrategic Data UseStudent-Centered Mission
- Catalytic Leadership: This case study highlights how the president immediately engaged stakeholders across campus to better understand the institution’s low success rates and equity gaps. These conversations laid the groundwork for a strategy to redesign student onboarding and advising, embedded within broader institutional goals for retention and completion. Intentional collaboration across departments promoted buy-in and helped translate vision into action, ultimately leading to measurable improvements in student outcomes.
- Student-Centered Mission: Forsyth Tech’s transformation centered on aligning institutional practices with its open-access mission. The president led efforts to redefine the college’s vision through an equity lens, ensuring that student support systems were designed to meet the needs of all learners. This reframing positioned the institution to adapt in ways that better supported students, rather than placing the burden of change on students themselves.
- Strategic Use of Data: Recognizing limited capacity and inconsistent data use, the president led a series of workshops to share institutional data on persistence, completion, and racial equity gaps, helping to build shared understanding and urgency for change. She also strengthened internal data systems by combining IR, IE, and IT functions, while leveraging partnerships to improve campus-wide data literacy and use.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Continuous Improvement
This resource is most relevant to the following cross-functional roles:
- Senior Leaders: This resource illustrates how senior leaders can drive meaningful change by building a culture of transparency, aligning mission with strategy, and fostering collaboration across campus. The president’s leadership demonstrates how to bring the full institution along in pursuit of equitable student success.
This resource connects to the following phase(s) of the PRPAM framework:
- Reflect: Forsyth Tech engaged in a broad and inclusive process to understand its equity gaps and student success challenges. The president led campus-wide workshops, focus groups, and data summits that brought together faculty, staff, students, and community members to make meaning of disaggregated data and reframe the college’s approach to student support.
- Act: These insights led to the design and launch of a new holistic advising model, including increased staffing, proactive case management, and equity-minded changes to policies and structures. Reforms were embedded into the institution’s strategic plan and implemented through cross-functional collaboration, shifting the culture toward shared responsibility for student success.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Stages of Transformation
Lay the GroundworkStart the ProcessSharpen the Focus
- Lay the Groundwork: This case study illustrates how Forsyth Tech’s new president worked with faculty and staff across campus to develop a shared vision for change. By presenting internal data on completion rates alongside national benchmarks and showcasing promising practices from peer institutions, the president built urgency and alignment around the need to improve student onboarding and close equity gaps.
- Start the Process: This resource shows how the institution began operationalizing its vision by breaking down silos between departments and divisions. A newly appointed Vice President for Student Success Services was tasked with leading the effort, assembling an Action Team of faculty and staff to guide the creation of a new strategic plan.
- Sharpen the Focus: This case study highlights how Forsyth Tech’s strategic plan translated into concrete reforms in student support services. A new holistic support model was implemented, and partnerships with external support organizations were leveraged to accelerate change and strengthen cross-campus coordination.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Evidence-Based Practices
Advising Reform
- Advising Reform: This case study documents the implementation of a new holistic advising model that increased advisor staffing, adopted a case-management approach, and emphasized proactive student support. Advisors were trained using NACADA resources, and the institution advocated for higher compensation to ensure these roles were valued and sustainable.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Core Institutional Capacities
Catalytic LeadershipStrategic Data UseStudent-Centered Mission
- Catalytic Leadership: This case study highlights how the president immediately engaged stakeholders across campus to better understand the institution’s low success rates and equity gaps. These conversations laid the groundwork for a strategy to redesign student onboarding and advising, embedded within broader institutional goals for retention and completion. Intentional collaboration across departments promoted buy-in and helped translate vision into action, ultimately leading to measurable improvements in student outcomes.
- Student-Centered Mission: Forsyth Tech’s transformation centered on aligning institutional practices with its open-access mission. The president led efforts to redefine the college’s vision through an equity lens, ensuring that student support systems were designed to meet the needs of all learners. This reframing positioned the institution to adapt in ways that better supported students, rather than placing the burden of change on students themselves.
- Strategic Use of Data: Recognizing limited capacity and inconsistent data use, the president led a series of workshops to share institutional data on persistence, completion, and racial equity gaps, helping to build shared understanding and urgency for change. She also strengthened internal data systems by combining IR, IE, and IT functions, while leveraging partnerships to improve campus-wide data literacy and use.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Continuous Improvement
This resource is most relevant to the following cross-functional roles:
- Senior Leaders: This resource illustrates how senior leaders can drive meaningful change by building a culture of transparency, aligning mission with strategy, and fostering collaboration across campus. The president’s leadership demonstrates how to bring the full institution along in pursuit of equitable student success.
This resource connects to the following phase(s) of the PRPAM framework:
- Reflect: Forsyth Tech engaged in a broad and inclusive process to understand its equity gaps and student success challenges. The president led campus-wide workshops, focus groups, and data summits that brought together faculty, staff, students, and community members to make meaning of disaggregated data and reframe the college’s approach to student support.
- Act: These insights led to the design and launch of a new holistic advising model, including increased staffing, proactive case management, and equity-minded changes to policies and structures. Reforms were embedded into the institution’s strategic plan and implemented through cross-functional collaboration, shifting the culture toward shared responsibility for student success.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Recommended Citation: Holcombe, E., & de Jesus Gonzalez, Á. (2024). Change Leadership Toolkit: Forsyth Technical Community College. Pullias Center for Higher Education.
