By Kristen A. Renn, Ph.D., University Distinguished Scholar of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education, Michigan State University

As a longtime member of the Promoting At-Promise Student Success (PASS) Advisory Board, I’ve had a front row seat to one of the most ambitious and exciting research projects in higher education and student affairs. I’ve watched as the knowledge and theory generated through the project have shaped the contours of the field and contributed substantively to the intellectual base of the student success movement. PASS offers the rare example of a longitudinal study that entails sophisticated methods across paradigms and theories at institutional, intra-organizational, and individual levels.

When thinking about the scholarly contributions of the PASS project, several topical areas come to mind. I highlight four here that have shifted scholarship and theory in the area of student success. Go to the PASS website to locate publications and read more. 

First, PASS has generated a wealth of new knowledge on the experiences of low-income and first-generation students. For example, in one component of the project, researchers used experience sampling to understand how students spend their time, and developed an anti-deficit framework that counters the long-held idea that “fixing” students’ time management skills will help them overcome a suite of challenges to their academic, financial, and personal wellbeing. Other parts of the study yielded important findings related to career development, peer influence, social class identity, and sense of belonging.

Second, the project has contributed substantively to student development and student success theory. Examining student experiences within the university environment, PASS researchers iterated a model of ecological validation that stands on its own as a theoretical contribution. Versions of it across the years of the study built the connection from individual student experiences to organizational culture and behaviors, demonstrating a critical link between student development and organizational theories. Often, student development theories end with the student and don’t demonstrate how organizational transformation might facilitate that development. Empirical evidence supporting ecological validation theory shows where and how that transformation can work.

Third, and related to ecological validation, the PASS project has contributed to understanding how professional learning communities can function to transform institutions for the purposes of improving student success. Understanding the role of peers in learning new ways to do professional work in service of holistic student success provides guideposts for spreading the philosophy of an ecological validation model. The PASS project engaged professionals as partners in action research that has yielded a number of valuable insights that can be adapted and adopted at other institutions seeking to improve both student outcomes and staff experiences.

Finally, the PASS project has made major contributions to understanding comprehensive college transition programs, how they work, how they might work better, and how cohorts of students make their way in and through college. Scholarship on this topic is rooted in theory but focuses effectively on practice, with lessons learned from PASS about how to create and improve college transition programs for low-income, first-generation, and minoritized students. College transition programs, whether federally funded like TRIO or institutionally supported like many summer bridge or pathway programs, represent substantial investments of capital and human resources. PASS publications shine a light on one program that can reflect out to illuminate others doing this important work.

In addition to these topical areas, the PASS project stands as a model for higher education and student affairs research. As I look at this remarkable achievement, I draw lessons that I can use on a smaller scale in my own work:

• Centering humanity, humane-ness, and humility. Over a decade, Drs. Adrianna Kezar and Zoë Corwin led this project with evident humanity and humane practices both in the implementation of PASS and within the research team.
• Being ambitious. They didn’t cut off possibilities before exploring their potential.
• Opening doors wide to knowledge, theory, and scholars from a broad range of areas that could inform a project. Understanding that big challenges like student success require multi- and interdisciplinary approaches, the team cultivated relationships with scholars outside the field of higher education studies.
• Engaging generosity and curiosity. Leaders and members of the PASS team engaged generosity and curiosity as part of the research and implementation process.

I take these four lessons — along with the knowledge and theory generated by the PASS project — into my own work as a scholar. How can I build research teams based on humanity, humility, bold thinking, inclusive theorizing, generosity, and curiosity? That model, as much as the substantial impact of the project itself, will be an enduring contribution to the field.