Ivy Tech Kokomo Chosen for National Program
(IIB Photo)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowTashona Jones has been named director of Student Success and Retention at Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo. Jones will direct a new program, Scaling Up Community College Efforts for Student Success, that aims to boost graduation rates for traditionally underserved students.
The program is being developed by research organization MDRC with support from Arnold Ventures and the Lumina Foundation.
Ivy Tech Kokomo is one of three Ivy Tech campuses and six other colleges spread across California, New Jersey, and Ohio that will participate in SUCCESS.
The program focuses on establishing financially sustainable programs that increase graduation rates. Ivy Tech Kokomo will receive a $120,000 grant to support the project.
As the director of the new Success and Retention office, Jones will be working with students throughout Ivy Tech’s Kokomo Service Area, which includes Cass, Fulton, Howard, Miami, and Tipton counties with campuses or instructional sites in Kokomo, Logansport, and Peru.
“I want to help students navigate their way in higher education,” said Jones in a news release. “I have a passion for students who may be first-generation college students, ones who don’t have family members who understand the system. My goal is to ease that anxiety – through workshops, seminars, advising, and bringing similar students together so they know they aren’t the only ones going through this and can support each other.”