UIA Projects at UIC

The UIA’s Academic Recovery project seeks to address the lack of clear, scalable solutions to diagnosing and addressing DFW bottlenecks at universities, and in so doing, to improve academic progression rates for low income students and students of color in higher education.

Summer Edge, UIC’s Academic Recovery Project, launched in summer 2023 with dedicated sections of CHEM 122 – General Chemistry and MATH 180 – Calculus 1.

ENGL 161 was added in Summer 2024.

The Academic Recovery project is funded by Ascendium and DeLuca.

Summer Edge Project Partners

The following campus partners work with the UIA Fellow to coordinate, implement, and assess Summer Edge, UIC’s Academic Recovery program.

Program Coordinators
Lindsey Back, PhD, Director, Office for Research on Student Success
Natalie Kokorudz, Associate Director, UIC Summer Session

Program Assessment
Darima Butitova, PhD, Assistant Director, Office for Research on Student Success
Jessica Wrona, Undergraduate Affairs Data Analyst, Office for Research on Student Success
Lakshita Malik, Graduate Research Assistant, Office for Research on Student Success

• View UIA’s Academic Recovery Lightning Talk presentations
• View the Summer Edge Mixed- Methods Lecture Series presentation

UIA’s Student Centered Redesign project began in 2020 as its institutions publicly recommitted to racial equity in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Campuses worked to identify areas that they could improve with thoughtfully designed, innovative projects.

The UIC Black Student Success Initiative seeks to improve persistence rates of Black students through a data-informed coaching process that provides community and connects students with academic and financial resources.

The Student Centered Redesign project is funded by the Dell Foundation.

UIA’s Learning Innovation project is a faculty-centered initiative to improve course outcomes in gateway STEM courses that affect students’ likelihood of successful degree progression.

Martina Bode, Ph.D., Director of Calculus and Ginevra Clark, PhD., Clinical Assistant Professor of Chemistry are UIC’s Faculty Fellows for the Learning Innovations project.

Dr. Bode’s project is “Digital Accessibility of Course Materials for Calculus I and Calculus II”. Dr. Clark’s project is “Chemistry Demonstration Active Learning Worksheets” for Chemistry 122 (General Chemistry I).

The Learning Innovation project is funded by Axim Collaborative.

UIC Learning Innovation Project Team

UIC’s Learning Innovation Project Team includes the UIA Liaisons, UIA Fellow, Faculty Fellows and a representative from the Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence. Team members provide support and guidance to the Faculty Fellows as they develop and implement their innovation projects.

UIA Faculty Fellows

• Martina Bode, Ph.D., Clinical Professor and Director of Calculus
  Innovation Project – “Digital Accesslbility of Course Materials for Calculus I and Calculus II”.
• Ginevra Clark, Ph.D., Clinical Associate Professor
  Innovation Project – “Chemistry Demonstration Active Learning Worksheets” for Chemistry 122 (General Chemistry I).

The Instructional Design & Media Production Studio

• Chris Blakesley, Executive Director