{"id":52355,"date":"2025-09-18T11:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T16:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=52355"},"modified":"2025-09-18T10:50:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T15:50:36","slug":"acc-chancellor-russell-lowery-hart-calls-for-redefining-student-success-at-chronicle-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/09\/18\/acc-chancellor-russell-lowery-hart-calls-for-redefining-student-success-at-chronicle-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"ACC Chancellor Russell Lowery-Hart Calls for Redefining Student Success at Chronicle Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-responsive  embed-responsive-16by9\">\n<div class=\"iframe-container\">\n<div class=\"iframe-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embed-responsive-item\"   class=\"embed-responsive-item\"   title=\"Chronicle of Higher Education | What It Takes to Support Students Now\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8oX8y34eRaQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Austin Community College District (ACC) Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart helped open the Chronicle Festival 2025 on Tuesday, September 16, joining a national leadership panel on \u201cWhat It Takes to Support Students Now\u201d He was joined by Dr. DeRionne P. Pollard, president of the American Association of Community Colleges, with Jasper Smith, staff reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education, serving as moderator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo change performance gaps, you have to change the systems that created them. Historically, what we have done is use disaggregated data to train the students how to navigate colleges. That is the wrong approach. Our job is to use the disaggregated data to know how we need to change and adapt to our students. There are some core things that we know help performance gaps across the board, which ACC is tackling through our Theory of Change,\u201d said Lowery-Hart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The session brought together higher education leaders to examine how colleges can better serve students amid the unique challenges they face today. As one of only two higher education leaders featured in the festival\u2019s opening panel, Lowery-Hart spotlighted ACC\u2019s role in supporting both traditional and adult learners and the importance of community colleges in shaping the future of higher education.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Shifting the Definition of Success<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lowery-Hart emphasized that student success today must go beyond enrollment and graduation:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow we are defining success as completing with a degree or certificate that leads to a family-sustaining wage. Community college students are the hope of this country. They are smart, ambitious, and capable, but their challenges are different, and our systems must adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Building Systems, Not One-Off Solutions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both leaders called for systemic change in how institutions support students, urging colleges to replace \u201cepisodic\u201d responses with sustainable systems grounded in data and student voices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have to redesign the system for and with all students. That doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re ignoring what past students bring to the conversation, it means you\u2019re building systems for the masses, ike required advising, basic needs, tutoring. The way we execute those allows you to see the individuality of your students and acknowledge the different journeys that brought them here,\u201d said Lowery-Hart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cStudents want to be seen, and to be seen means we have to bring them to the table to help make decisions within our institution. We have to listen when they say things that make us uncomfortable and not dismiss them. Colleges have to be much more thoughtful and willing to challenge our own discomfort around students\u2019 needs,\u201d said Pollard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Scaling What Works with Equity in Mind<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lowery-Hart pointed to advising, tutoring, accelerated courses, and basic needs support as proven practices that must be expanded equitably.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe core things they need from us: they\u2019re working part-time, but they can\u2019t take seven years to get an associate degree and transfer. They need accelerated eight-week classes. They\u2019re working two part-time jobs while living in the warzone of poverty, and they need help with emergency aid, child care, transportation, housing, and food \u2014 which is an epidemic in higher education. They need tutoring support integrated in the class, and classes offered beyond the 9-to-5 window. Our students have told us that directly and have been a part of the Theory of Change that is redesigning Austin Community College.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conversation also touched on faculty development, the role of technology like AI, and the importance of designing colleges around today\u2019s students rather than outdated models.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pollard urged higher education leaders to move forward with urgency:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have to stop talking about what it looks like and get busy doing the work. At the end of the day, students want to be seen, heard, and valued. We need leaders to do the hard work that Russell is doing on campus right now. We need our student voices not to get lost in the cacophony of folks who think they know who our students are and tell them what their experience should be. We have to learn how to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lowery-Hart closed with a call for unity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt a moment where our country seems so divided, community colleges can be unifiers. We can love our communities together by loving our students to success. When we double down on who our students are and what the economy needs from them, we can do this\u2014 we just have to do it more boldly, more strategically, and with more unity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Chronicle Festival annually draws 3,000\u20135,000 higher education professionals nationwide. Chancellor Lowery-Hart\u2019s participation positioned ACC on the national stage as a thought leader in advancing student success and equity in higher education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Austin Community College District (ACC) Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart helped open the Chronicle Festival 2025 on Tuesday, September 16, joining a national leadership panel on \u201cWhat It Takes to Support Students Now\u201d He was joined &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/09\/18\/acc-chancellor-russell-lowery-hart-calls-for-redefining-student-success-at-chronicle-festival\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3930,"featured_media":47067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,15,17,19,1],"tags":[2340,4255,2299,179,4256],"class_list":["post-52355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-students","category-facstaff-news","category-news-and-announcements","category-students-and-alumni","category-updates","tag-acc-chancellor","tag-chronicle-festival","tag-dr-russell-lowery-hart","tag-student-success","tag-systems"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3930"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}