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Chancellor Robinson featured in social mobility e-book

Chancellor Elwood L. Robinson (center) greets WSSU graduates before the 2018 Commencement Ceremony on May 18, 2018. 

Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) Chancellor Elwood L. Robinson is one of four higher-education leaders featured in a new e-book that offers best practices for student success and social mobility.

The e-book, "Social Mobility through Higher Education – Best Practices for Student Success," is published by CollegeNET, a provider of web-based technologies for higher education and the developer of the Social Mobility Index (SMI).

Robinson's chapter examines how WSSU focuses on the entire educational experience.

“While scholarship funding is essential, students, particularly first-generation and those from low-income families, also require an educational experience that integrates academic guidance, mentoring, support services and a caring community," Robinson writes. "This will help us produce well-rounded and well-prepared graduates who are critical thinkers, analytical problem solvers, effective communicators, and innovative and creative collaborators.”

The e-book also includes best practices from: Dr. Mitchel Wallerstein, president of Baruch College; Dr. Michael Dennin, vice provost for teaching and learning at University of California, Irvine; and Dr. Jaye Padgett, vice provost for student success at University of California, Santa Cruz.

“Each contributor to this publication clearly understands that the current economic trends limiting access to higher education have no place in a country that has historically touted economic opportunity, sought to broadly optimize its citizens’ potential and prepare them for participation in our democracy,” says Jim Wolfston, CEO of CollegeNET.

WSSU is one of only five colleges and universities in the nation, and the only one on the East Coast, to rank in the top 20 each year of CollegeNET’s SMI rankings. In February 2017, CollegeNET recognized WSSU’s innovative practices by naming the university a “social mobility innovator.”

Robinson became WSSU's 13th chancellor in 2015 after three decades of experience as a faculty mentor, dean, department chair and provost.

About Winston-Salem State University
Winston-Salem State University fosters the creative thinking, analytical problem-solving, and depth of character needed to transform the world. Rooted in liberal education, WSSU’s curriculum prepares students to be thought leaders who have the skills and knowledge needed to develop innovative solutions to complex problems. Founded in 1892, WSSU is a historically Black constituent institution of the University of North Carolina with a rich tradition of contributing to the social, cultural, intellectual, and economic growth of North Carolina, the region and beyond. Guided by the motto, “Enter to Learn, Depart to Serve,” WSSU develops leaders who advance social justice by serving the world with compassion and commitment.

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