Tag Archives: Tiffany Bellafant Steward

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TSU’s Tiffany Steward Selected to State’s Higher Education Leadership Team

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tiffany Bellafant Steward, TSU’s assistant vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Success, is a member of the 2019-2020 cohort of the Complete Tennessee Leadership Institute.

Stewart was one of only 28 leaders from higher education, K-12 education, government, business and industry selected by the State Collaborative on Reforming Education, or SCORE, for the fourth cohort of CTLI.

“It is an honor to be selected as one of 28 leaders from across the state to participate in the Complete Tennessee Leadership Institute,” Steward said. “I look forward to contributing to postsecondary student success and making an impact on access to higher education across the state of Tennessee.”

Since 2016, the Complete Tennessee Leadership Institute has been strengthening leadership capacity to increase higher education completion rates, fostering partnerships to build actionable coalitions, and exploring innovative solutions to local and statewide collaboration and student success. 

To build on the foundation of the program, SCORE will partner with The Hunt Institute. The Hunt Institute, recognized as a national leader in the movement to transform public education, will assist in designing learning opportunities, facilitating sessions as an expert out-of-state voice and developing strategies to help participants translate their learning into action.

“The Complete Tennessee Leadership Institute is focused on educating and engaging Tennessee leaders about education opportunities and challenges in Tennessee post-secondary education,” SCORE President and CEO David Mansouri said. “SCORE is excited to build on the program’s foundation and explore with the new cohort how we can push for quality and equity in education so all Tennessee students are able to earn the post-secondary credentials and degrees needed for successful careers.”

According to a SCORE news release, over the course of a year, Steward and her fellow cohorts will explore higher education and economic issues at the local level, witness best practices and policies to tackle real challenges, and build professional relationships with a group of strong leaders advocating for change across Tennessee.

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Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a  premier, historically black university and land-grant institution offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs, and seven doctoral degrees.  TSU is a comprehensive research intensive institution with a R-2 Carnegie designation, and has a graduate school on its downtown Avon Williams Campus, along with the Otis Floyd Nursery Research Center in McMinnville, Tennessee.  With a commitment to excellence, Tennessee State University provides students  with a quality education in a nurturing and innovative environment that prepares them as alumni to be global leaders in every facet of society. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.

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TSU Summer Bridge Program Receives $80,000 in Funding to Provide Learning Support for Incoming First-Time Freshmen

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – A TSU summer bridge program that helps first-time freshmen brush up on math, reading and writing, has received an $80,000 boost from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

The Summer Completion Academy, a rigorous one-week program designed to ensure student success, will use the grant to give 300 students in the academy the opportunity to satisfy learning support requirements prior to their first semester of enrollment.

The program will run over two sessions between June 23-29, and July 14-20, 2019. Students participating in the program have already been accepted to TSU for the fall semester.

“Our focus for the grant is to work with students who are at risk,” said Tiffany Bellafant Steward, assistant vice president of Enrollment Management and Student Success. “These are students who are not prepared for college-level work who would go into our learning support areas of math, reading and writing.”

She said participants will receive learning support such as additional lab sessions, extra days in class, as well as “engagement activities,” including pre- and post-tests to measure their achievement level.

According to Steward, the academy, now in its third year, has a “huge” success rate.

“We are thrilled to be in a position to offer a program like this to students, which could take up to three classes off their fall schedule,” Steward said.

Tyren Griffin, a business administration major, now in her second semester at TSU, participated in the SCA as an in-coming freshman. She said the program helped her be better prepared for her college work.

“I really enjoyed my SCA experience,” said Griffin, a Chicago native. “In addition to helping me be better prepared for my academic work, the program definitely benefited me because I was able to get to know people that had similar goals for success.”

For more information on the Summer Completion Academy, go to https://bit.ly/2vWQkgj.

Information on other summer programs at TSU is available at http://www.tnstate.edu/events/camps.aspx

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TSU Administrators Attend National Leadership Institute of HBCU Leaders

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Two Tennessee State University administrators were among a cohort of 24 mid- to senior-level administrators from historically black colleges and universities across the nation who attended a four-day leadership workshop in Austin, Texas.

Tiffany Bellafant Stewart, assistant vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Success, and Dr. Erin Lynch, research director for the Center of Excellence for Learning Sciences, participated in the Higher Education Leadership Foundation Institute at Huston-Tillotson University from December 13 – 16.

Called the “Theta cohort,” participants received an intimate, interactive, professional, and personal development experience that provided each fellow with a unique and valuable opportunity to assess personal vocation and leadership skill. The institute also allowed fellows to reaffirm a continuing commitment to HBCUs and identify and enhance the essential qualities for a successful tenure as a principled and effective leader and senior administrator.

Tiffany Bellafant Stewart, left, and Dr. Erin Lynch were among 24 cohorts who attended the HELF institute in Austin, Texas. (Courtesy Photo)

“The Higher Education Leadership Foundation institute was a transformative experience, both personally and professionally,” said Stewart. “The knowledge and wisdom shared by current and past presidents of historically black colleges and universities was enlightening and motivational in moving the needle forward to support students in their pursuit of obtaining college degrees from HBCUs.”

For Lynch, she said to be surrounded by colleagues who also deeply believe in the role and value of HBCUs in higher education reminded her “there is still much work to be done for our students.”

“During the four-day program, we were challenged with learning new ways to approach our collective missions as HBCUs,” she said. “We were reminded that as a collective, we are more impactful on student learning than as individuals.”

Steward and Lynch said TSU students will directly benefit from relationships developed at the institute by augmenting partnerships for external funding opportunities through research engagement and scholarship funding.

“Those relationships and experience reinvigorated my passion for HBCUs and fortified my commitment to excellence for TSU students,” Stewart added.

For more information on Enrollment Management, and the Center of Excellence for Learning Sciences, go to http://www.tnstate.edu/emss/ and http://www.tnstate.edu/learningsciences/

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 7,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs and seven doctoral degrees. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.

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Tennessee State University Learning Support Program Receives International Certification

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – A key Tennessee State University student help program has received national and international recognition.

The Learning Support Centers, which provide help to students in math, writing and reading, have received the College Reading and Learning Association certification.

More than 1,000 college tutor-training programs around the globe have received CRLA certification under its international tutor-training program.

The Learning Support Centers average about 700 appointments a month from students who need help. (Courtesy Photo)

The certification provides recognition for program credibility, as well as sets professional standards of skills and training for tutors and mentors. This also ensures accountability, TSU officials say. Both the center and tutors are evaluated annually to ensure continued CRLA high standards.

“It is important that we have professional standards and training for our tutors that are within the guidelines of best practices,” says Tiffany Bellafant Steward, assistant vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Success.

She says although the university positively reinforces the work of staff and peer tutors, the CRLA certification provides them additional opportunities to excel at what they do and “to provide exceptional service to our students.”

Olivia Watson, left, a peer tutor in the Math Center, reviews work with Parisa Bastian, a junior mechanical engineering major. (photo by Emmanuel Freeman, TSU Media Relations)

The TSU CRLA certification, which was granted in September, came after a review process of every aspect of the Learning Support Centers. The LSCs include a math center, a reading center, and a writing center.

Olivia Watson, a senior criminal justice major with a minor in sociology, from St. Louis, Missouri, has been a peer tutor in the Math Center for the last two years. She tutors college algebra and also helps with English.

Students receive help from staff tutors in the Writing Center. (Photo by Emmanuel Freeman, TSU Media Relations)

“Being certified makes me feel a lot better because now I have something to show students if I have to tutor them,” says Watson. “This is something I can even take outside the university to help others because now I am certified. It kind of adds to my value.”

And that is exactly the goal for the CRLA recognition – to add value to what peer tutors do and to hold them accountable, says Thomas Hrycyk, coordinator of Tutoring Services in the TSU Student Success Center.

“A CRLA certification means there is a certain level of accountability to make sure what you are doing as peer tutors is providing the necessary help for the student you are tutoring,” says Hrycyk. “It means that there is an added level of expectation. If you want to come in and work with student A, that student can expect to have the same level of assistance as from anyone else she works with currently or in the future.”

The Writing Center is one of the three components that make up the Learning Support Centers. (Photo by Emmanuel Freeman, TSU Media Relations)

Currently, the LSCs have 12 peer tutors and 14 staff tutors. Staff tutors, who are also certified, are either center staff or university professors, says Hrycyk. Although visitors seen at the center are generally freshmen, students up to graduate level are welcome.

“We turn nobody away if we feel we can help them out,” says Hrycyk.

Before students receive CRLA certification to be peer tutors, they undergo 10 hours of training that includes shadowing staff or senior peer tutors for a minimum of three hours. They also spend 25 hours of evaluated time tutoring students to become certified. To be accepted in the program, Hrycyk says, an applicant must have 30 or more credit hours with a 3.0 or higher grade point average, and have an A or B grade in the class or subject they want to tutor.

This level of preparation for peer tutoring is very assuring for Khasia Perry, a first-year economics and finance major, from St. Louis Missouri, who gets help in math.

“Knowing that the person helping me went through all this training makes me feel more comfortable and sure that I am getting the help that I need,” says Perry. “It is very important to me that I can trust this person and know what they are saying to me is based on knowing that they are also being monitored.”

According to Hrycyk, peer tutors are anonymously surveyed periodically throughout the year to get student evaluation of their work. He said the LSCs average about 700 appointments a month from students who need help.

For more information on the TSU Learning Support Centers, go to http://www.tnstate.edu/aeao/learning-support-centers.aspx

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 7,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 38 bachelor’s degree programs, 24 master’s degree programs and seven doctoral degrees. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.

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TSU’s Tiffany Steward Named Maxine Smith Fellow of the Tennessee Board of Regents

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tiffany Bellafant Steward, director of New Student Orientation and First-Year Students at Tennessee State University, has been named a Maxine Smith Fellow with the Tennessee Board of Regents. As a Maxine Smith Fellow, Steward will have the opportunity to experience how decisions are made at the TBR senior administrative and governing board levels.

Tiffany Steward
Tiffany Steward

The fellowship, established in 2002 as a TBR central office Geier initiative, is designed to provide African-American TBR employees the opportunity to participate in a working and learning environment that enhances work experience and career development. The objective is to increase the academic and professional credentials of the fellows, as well as help to increase the number of qualified applicants from underrepresented groups for senior-level administrative positions at TBR institutions.

“It is a great honor to be selected as a Maxine Smith Fellow to represent Tennessee State University,” said Steward, who was nominated by TSU President Glenda Glover.  “This opportunity will prepare me for future career aspirations in higher education and help to impact student success on my campus.”

Dr. Maxine Smith, a pioneer in the civil rights movement in Tennessee, after whom the fellowship is named, was executive secretary of the Memphis Branch of the NAACP from 1962 to 1995. In 1971, she became the first African American to be elected to the Memphis Board of Education. In 2003, Dr. Smith and former President Bill Clinton received the prestigious Freedom Award by the National Civil Rights Museum.

“I thank President Glover for nominating me for this prestigious professional development program,” Steward said after receiving her fellowship.

Other former TSU Maxine Smith Fellows are Dr. Cheryl Green, assistant vice president for Student Affairs; and Tiffany Cox, director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, who were members of the Classes of 2014 and 2013, respectively.

 

 

Department of Media Relations

Tennessee State University
3500 John Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331

About Tennessee State University

With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university, and is a comprehensive, urban, co-educational, land-grant university offering 45 undergraduate, 24 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top universities in the country by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University celebrated 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu.