Introducing Keisha James – PHENND’s College Success Network Intern

Posted by PHENND on July 3, 2018

Keisha James is currently a Master of Public Administration student at Villanova University. She is pursuing a concentration in Nonprofit Management and for her internship experience, she has joined PHENND as the College Success Network Intern.

PHENND is in the beginning stages of implementing a network of institutional partners and community constituents aimed at improving college retention rates for students who are low-income, first generation, or have other marginalized identity markers. As the College Success Intern, Keisha is conducting research to identify best practices in higher education retention. With this research, she will organize working groups focused on varying facets of the higher education experience and provide implementation plans for college retention programming. These working groups will cover topics such as: teaching and learning strategies, food scarcity on college campuses, financial aid structures and more. Keisha hopes her working groups will prove mutually beneficial to higher education institutions and community partners by providing a space where innovative program reform can be discussed, and external college preparatory staff can learn how best to advise their marginalized students for successful college completion.

Keisha is a graduate of Roberts Wesleyan College where she received a B.A. in Communication with a double major in Psychology. She spent two more years at Roberts Wesleyan working as an Undergraduate Admissions Counselor and then as an Event and Visit Coordinator, before receiving a Fellowship award at Villanova University. Here at PHENND, Keisha is aligned with the organization’s value of inter-institutional collaboration. With her internship and research, she hopes to delve deeper into the concept of collaboration and better understand it, what kind of impact it makes, and how to enhance the effectiveness of these partnerships.