Committee Members
- Domonic Cobb, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
- Gio Guerra Perez, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Beth Hoag, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
- Melissa Kisubika, Office of the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
- Kathy Martensen, Office of the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
- Nidia Ruedas-Gracia, College of Education
- Alexis Thompson, Graduate College
- Nick Vance, Office of the Chief Information Officer
Charge Letter
Dear Student Success @ Illinois Steering Team,
Student Success @ Illinois (SS@I) has focused on the experience of first-year students since its inception, originally launching First-Year Experience as one of its initial four task groups.
Senior leaders from Enrollment Management and Student Success, Inclusion, and Belonging are working to implement the recommendations of the SS@I First-Year Experience Task Group and Implementation Team. The work of the SS@I groups, carried out by these functional offices, has spanned six years. While notable progress has been made, achieving a truly integrated and campus-wide orientation experience requires a more formalized and coordinated approach. To continue this momentum, two parallel efforts are being launched.
- The Office of New Student and Family Experiences (NSFE), under the direction of Vice Chancellor Brown Young and Domonic Cobb, will lead the implementation of a comprehensive and inclusive first-year orientation program for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
- The SS@I Steering Team is being formally charged to partner with NSFE in this effort. Your role will be to identify and facilitate connections with key campus stakeholders, ensuring that orientation efforts are aligned, collaborative, and embedded within the broader fabric of campus operations.
Together, these efforts will help ensure that every new student at Illinois is welcomed into a community that is supportive, inclusive and designed for their success from Day One through cohesive, collaborative efforts by Student Affairs and Academic Affairs.
NSFE will be providing status reports to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs by April 15, 2026 and August 31, 2026, with a final report due January 15, 2027. We ask that you, the SS@I Steering Team, provides us with complementary reporting that focuses on the Steering Team’s contributions to the collaboration with NSFE.
Sincerely,
John Coleman
Provost
Danita M. Brown Young
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs