Celebrating the PERSIST 2026 Award Winners

Earlier this month, EdSights hosted its fifth annual PERSIST Summit in San Diego, the largest yet! Nearly 300 college and university leaders came together around this year’s theme, student voice as a compass. Over two days, partners demonstrated what it looks like to follow it. The common thread was simple. When students are asked early and often, and teams act on what they hear, more students stay enrolled and on track to finish.

Among the many campuses leading the way, 12 took home PERSIST 2026 Awards at Monday night’s ceremony. Here is a look at this year’s winners and what set each one apart!

Impact Awards

• Leadership in Persistence - Hutchinson Community College
• Leadership in Enrollment - Wayne State College
• Rising Star - University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Smooth Operator - Florida A&M University
• Maverick Mover - Southern Utah University
• Excellence in Execution - Murray State University
• Community Connector - Dean College

‍Student Voice Score® Awards

• SVS® Nationwide - Columbia Southern University 
• SVS® 4-Year Public - University of West Georgia 
• SVS® 4-Year Private - Columbia Southern University 
• SVS® 2-Year Public - Arkansas Northeastern College 
• SVS® Unicorn Award  - CUNY Black Male Initiative 
• SVS® Breakthrough Award - Jacksonville University 

Leadership in Persistence: Hutchinson Community College

This award honors a partner who achieved remarkable results in improving student persistence through their unwavering commitment to student success.

Hutchinson saw a 2.3% increase in Fall-to-Fall retention. They have a retention goal they want to hit by 2028, and they are already just 0.1% away. They credit that progress to 23 tracked initiatives since launching EdSights in January 2024.

Leadership in Enrollment: Wayne State College

This award honors a partner who demonstrated exceptional strategy in engaging prospective students before Day 1, using creative and thoughtful approaches to support their enrollment goals.

Wayne State used custom campaigns to build a sense of belonging and community for prospective students. The result was a 3% increase in yield from enrolled to opening day.

Rising Star: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

This award honors a newer partner that quickly made EdSights part of how their campus supports students, and saw early results.

UNL set a high bar for their first year. Here is how they did it:

• Built strong habits from day one, with regular check-ins with their EdSights team and a shared Teams channel for quick questions.
• Made sure no student who needs help falls through the cracks. Every alert has a clear owner and a clear next step, and campus offices agreed up front on who handles what.
• Shared what they learned through a monthly campus newsletter and a summit for other EdSights partners in their state and system.

Smooth Operator: Florida A&M University

This award recognizes the partner with the smoothest launch, from onboarding to getting people across campus on board.

FAMU earned trust from senior leaders to students along the way. Here is what stood out:

• Went live in just seven weeks.
• Started at the top by presenting to the President’s Cabinet, so leaders understood how EdSights would be used.
• Brought student government into the rollout and shaped it with their feedback, and students kept responding long after launch.

Maverick Mover: Southern Utah University

This award celebrates the partner that gets creative in how they connect with students, using thoughtful, personal messages to build real relationships.

SUU sends some of the most creative custom text campaigns, and they put what students say to work. Here is how:

• Uses student feedback to drive change on campus.
• Brings multiple departments together, so what they hear from students shapes decisions across the university.
• Reached students before they arrived, surveying them on belonging at freshman orientation and building a scavenger hunt that pointed them to campus resources. More than three years in, students still respond at exceptionally high rates.

Excellence in Execution: Murray State University

This award recognizes the partner that made student feedback a core part of how they support students.

Murray State launched quickly, then built a process to match. Here is what that looked like:

• Set up a clear plan for acting on what students share.
• Brought the right people to every follow-up meeting from the first week.
• Within four months, shared results with the Board of Trustees, so leaders at every level were working toward the same goals.

Community Connector: Dean College

This award recognizes a partner that brings people together across the whole institution, turning what individual teams know into shared progress.

Dean College built connections well beyond their own team. Here is what they did:

• Created a new department and role focused entirely on retention, so teams work toward shared goals.
• Brought research and everyday practice together, with committees built around the four core areas of student risk from Dr. Tinto’s research.
• Hosted an event this fall for Massachusetts EdSights partners to share their work.

Student Voice Score® Awards

These awards celebrate the institutions with the highest student satisfaction, measured by our annual Student Voice Score®.

SVS Nationwide: Columbia Southern University

SVS 4-Year Public: University of West Georgia

SVS 4-Year Private: Columbia Southern University

SVS 2-Year Public: Arkansas Northeastern College

SVS Unicorn Award: CUNY Black Male Initiative

SVS Breakthrough Award: Jacksonville University 

Congratulations once again to this year’s PERSIST 2026 award recipients. Each of these teams has shown what happens when an institution listens to their students and follows through on what they hear. We are proud to partner with these leaders, and we look forward to seeing their continued impact on student persistence and success. Here’s to another year of making meaningful change!

Interested in leading the way with student voice? Learn more here!