Verona Lambert, an enrollment management systems administrator at Southeast Missouri State University, has been named a finalist for the Excellence in Technology Administration Award with EAB’s 2024 Student Success Collaborative Awards.
Southeast uses EAB’s Starfish system, first introduced in 2018 and referred to on campus as SupportNET.
“I am excited that this nomination is recognizing Southeast as being on the cutting edge by utilizing Starfish,” Verona Lambert said. “Through this system, we have been able to connect the campus like never before, providing students, faculty, staff, and administrators with the capability to support individual students in a collaborative environment.”
The Southeast SupportNET system offers support to individual students, connecting them to faculty, staff, and peers. Students who utilize SupportNET features have a 98% completion rate in their courses.
According to Lambert, Southeast has been contacted by other institutions for guidance on utilizing the same technology.
“By providing the framework of a full success network, we’re empowering the campus community to engage on a higher level,” Lambert said. “Access to so many different resources and people all in one place eliminates the 'hunt and peck' for assistance.”
The Excellence in Technology Administration Award recognizes an individual who has shown exceptional dedication to improving their technology configurations and best practices, and who goes above and beyond in their commitment to student success through the help of EAB technology.
“Many of the students arriving on college campuses today were profoundly impacted by the pandemic, and staff have to innovate to ensure these students receive the support they need,” said EAB President of Technology, Scott Schirmeier. “The finalists for EAB’s Student Success Collaborative Awards are rising to the challenge, leading with empathy, and using technology in smarter ways to help students achieve their goal of earning a college degree.”
This is the tenth year that EAB has recognized outstanding achievements in student success. Finalists were chosen from among the colleges, universities, and individuals that use Navigate or Starfish, EAB’s student success management systems.
The winners of this year’s awards will be selected from among the list of finalists and will be recognized at CONNECTED24, a three-day gathering of thousands of student success leaders from progressive community colleges as well as four-year colleges and universities taking place this January. The 4 finalists were selected from the more than 850 colleges and universities with whom EAB works to support student success.