The UW System Board of Regents attended to the progress of a call to action at their monthly board meeting at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Thursday morning during a presentation of “Give the Students a Compass.”

“Give Students a Compass: A Tri-State Partnership for College Learning, General Education and Underserved Student Success,” was presented by Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Rebecca Martin.

According to Regent Jeff Bartell, the morning session of the meeting held presentations by UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich and UW-Eau Claire students on high-impact practices of higher education.

“The Compass project is part of a three-year collaboration by UW-Eau Claire, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Milwaukee that involves identifying ‘high-impact practices,’ such as study abroad programs, internships and community service projects,” Bartell said. “The program is the image the System is using to try and show students a direction and road map to success.”

He added that these practices would have a high impact on first year students to convince them to take their education seriously and come back a second year. With these practices, students become very passionate about higher education when they see it has an application to real life.

As one of UW System’s signature projects, Compass works with the Association of American Colleges & Universities on the Liberal Education and America’s Promise Campaign, according to the website.

“This is an effort from around the country to see how we can better serve the populations and improve graduation and retention rates,” Board of Regents President Chuck Pruitt said. “The program helps students get through the system more effective(ly). There are three pilot programs looking, analyzing and updating us on the progress that’s been made going forward.”

He added that these practices identify ways that help students and have the greatest effect for learning.

As far as being on the UW-Eau Claire campus, Pruitt said a big part of being back to the campus after eight years was being able to look at the campus in terms of its programs, academics, building programs and progress.

State Superintendent and Regent Anthony Evers agreed the first day went well, and he was pleased at how each of the campuses is stepping up to the plate in education.

“We heard how UW-Eau Claire is focusing on non-traditional students in the next few years to meet their needs,” Evers said. “The other campuses are doing quite well with meeting those needs, too.”

Bartlett said other agenda items for the meeting included the committees of Education, Business, Finance and Audit, the Capital Planning and Budget meeting, and going over proposals and programs that will be addressed tomorrow.

Bartlett and Pruitt both said they were looking forward to the presentation by Michael McPherson, president of the Spencer Foundation and co-author of “Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities.”