For more than a decade, Elaine Lewis has found her calling in higher education.

She has worked in student retention at colleges and universities across the country, but the Pittsburgh native had been hoping to move closer to her home region. That’s when she found the perfect opportunity at Towson University.

This spring, Lewis started at TU as the inaugural assistant vice president for academic success in the Division of Enrollment Management.

And while she’s excited to be closer to home, she’s also excited to work at a university whose mission has a focus on leadership for the public good.

“I think higher education is an important access piece for students and a school like TU provides that opportunity,” Lewis says. “Educational experiences can foundationally change lives. And providing those resources to individuals in your local community who may not have had an opportunity to pursue education is a fantastic thing.”

Through her position, Lewis’ main goal is to foster academic achievement and enhance student success outcomes. She will supervise TU’s Tutoring & Learning Center, the TU Writing Center and the Academic Advising, Retention & Completion Office.

“When we talk about success at college, every other positive experience that you have is shaped by your ability to succeed in the classroom,” Lewis says. “You can love your university, be involved in everything that you want and feel like you belong, but if you can't pass the courses, there is a significant roadblock there.”

In fact, it was her realization of the degree to which educational opportunity shapes lives is why Lewis got into higher education. She received her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Pittsburgh, but her college experience led her to get her master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of South Carolina.

I saw how the work I did in academic support services really mattered in moving students forward toward successful degree completion and graduation.

Elaine Lewis, assistant vice president for academic success

Her first experience working in student retention was at South Carolina, which let her experience first-hand how receiving academic help transformed their college careers.

“That's something that really spoke to me. I realized that's where I felt like I could make a difference,” Lewis says. “I saw how the work I did in academic support services really mattered in moving students forward toward successful degree completion and graduation.”

And yet, watching students receive their diplomas is not the best part of her job.

She says it’s the little things she appreciates. Like helping a student overcome an experience they think is going to completely derail their college experience or build study strategies they can apply throughout their entire time on campus.

“Having that first test that they did really well on, that's the win for me,” Lewis says. “Because it builds this level of confidence in a student they didn't have before, and that confidence level is what's going to get them to graduation.”

While she has been at TU just a short time, she’s already seen how much the rest of the university agrees with her passion about helping students. She says that in most of her interactions with her new colleagues, student success is at the heart of the conversation.

In fact, another of Lewis’ goals is to elevate the great work that is already happening at TU. She also wants to provide opportunities for her team to find new way to innovate their work and evolve as higher education evolves. 

“Students are constantly changing, and I think we have a real responsibility at the university level to constantly change with them,” Lewis says. “The students not being afraid to change and innovate is a really powerful thing, and I'm excited to help continue to foster that environment with those around me.”