APLU & USU Name Wichita State University Winner of Inaugural Accelerate Pitch Competition

Washington, DC- Seeking to spur and support the adoption of research-backed approaches to student success, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and (APLU) Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) today announced Wichita State University as the inaugural Accelerate Pitch Competition winner.

Wichita State will use the $10,000 grant to fund an initiative to ensure adult learners have a smooth and seamless transition into the university through an adult learner-specific summer bridge program. Participating students will complete online coursework covering core components of wellness that are critical to student success. The program also pairs students with peer adult mentors to help them navigate the transition to the University. Wichita State produced a video pitch for the competition. Throughout the pilot, the university will track student participation and performance.

“Wichita State’s submission to the Accelerate Pitch competition illustrates a beautiful combination of theory, existing research on teaching and learning and holistic student support, and best practices in the areas of supporting adult learner needs, use of peer mentors, and technological interventions,” said Dr. Jennifer Keup, the Executive Director for USU and Vice President of Urban Initiatives for APLU. “The initiative represents an important contribution to the WSU campus community as well as a model of adult learner bridge programs for other urban-serving universities.”

This spring, USU hosted the inaugural Accelerate Pitch Competition to fund innovative and research-backed ideas to sustain or scale an initiative at a USU-member institution. This year’s competition focused on initiatives supporting adult learners, generally defined as students over 25 earning their first bachelor’s degree. Participants were asked to submit a short video detailing the initiative and were judged on their innovation, integration of research, feasibility of implementation, and potential for positive impact.

In addition, four universities were named as finalists for Accelerate Pitch Competition:

• Portland State University
• Virginia Commonwealth University
• University of North Texas
• Wayne State University

“We are thrilled to have garnered so much interest in the first year of the Accelerate Pitch Competition and it was wonderful to see the creative ideas put forward by all participants,” said Jimmy McClellan, the Associate Director for USU. “Research shows us that adult learner populations are continuing to grow at institutions, particularly urban-serving research universities, across the country, so it is wonderful to see that our members are interested in advancing the work to ensure adult learners are successful in their higher education journeys.”

The Accelerate Pitch Competition was funded through generous support from the Lumina Foundation, which invested in the Partnerships for Adult Learner Success grant led by the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities and Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. For more information on the Partnerships for Adult Learner Success grant, visit www.usucoalition.org.