CASA expands resources with SUCCESS grant

By Bella Grimaldi News Editor A portion of a $1.3 million grant awarded to the University was used to expand the Center for Academic Success and Achievement (CASA), according to LaDonna Bridges, dean of Student Success and Persistence. Over the summer, CASA used the grant money to expand into the Peirce Annex and add four new success coaches, said Bridges. She said the $1.3 million Supporting Urgent Community College Equity through Student Services (SUCCESS) grant funded the renovation and the new success coaches. According to Robert Totino, vice president of Finance, Technology, and Administration, Gov. Maura Healey's office announced in December 2024 that the nine state universities would receive the SUCCESS grant. According to President Nancy Niemi, this is the first year this grant is being offered to state universities. She said, “It’s the first of what we understand is a three-year funding. So what we’re applying for now would be year two, and we’ve made some modifications.” According to Totino, the guidelines for the FY25 funding required that 50% of the grant be allocated to payroll benefits. Totino said $300,000 of the grant went to the hiring of the new success coaches. According to Bridges, success coaches are staff at CASA who work with students to develop goals and help them make academic plans to reach success. Bridges said success coaches help connect students to resources outside of CASA. She added they focus on eight areas for intervention, including academics, commitment to degree completion, health and emotional support, and finances. “One of the things we needed to do was to look at our staffing issues. … The work that needs to be done toward retention and persistence is very high-touch, and you need more people to do that,” she said. Bridges added two of the coaches were hired in March and the other two were hired in June. She said CASA was able to add these positions and needed space to put the new coaches. According to Bridges, the renovation created five new offices and a conference room. Totino said the renovation of the second floor of the Peirce Annex started at the end of May and concluded at the end of August. The renovation cost approximately $290,000, according to Totino. He said the main contractor to complete the renovation was One Source Construction, a general contracting company based out of Framingham. “There were some other smaller type groups which have specialization in other areas, but the largest contractor was One Source Construction,” Totino said. Bridges said before the new spaces were constructed, almost every office in CASA was shared by two people. “If I had a private conversation as one of those people, with the students, someone had to leave the office,” she said. Totino said the new offices are “going to be just a great space for students because we’re going to be able to have more employees interfacing with our Framingham State students. … It’s been well received and it’s going to be well utilized by all of the folks here at Framingham State.” According to Bridges, the grant was also used to pay for 15 employees to participate in the Foundations of Coaching certification training through InsideTrack coaching. She said the coaching sessions occur once a month until April 2026. This training costs upward of $70,000, according to Bridges. InsideTrack is a nonprofit coaching company founded in 2001. According to the firm’s website, “InsideTrack coaches work directly with your learners, on your behalf, helping them identify, address and overcome barriers in order to achieve their educational and career goals.” Bridges said the training wasn’t exclusive to CASA staff. Maribeth Ford, senior financial aid counselor, and Carey Eggen, deputy director of Athletics, have participated. Bridges said, “We worked with InsideTrack on intensive work over the summer, and then every month, we meet with them throughout this year to make sure that we are honing our skills on this very specific approach to student coaching or success coaching.” She added she, among the other participants, recently took part in a strategy session with InsideTrack where they worked on listening skills, thinking about the way to ask questions, and how to get students to co-create the steps they need to accomplish. She said, “It’s not about us doing [it] for the students. It’s about helping us help students with their own agency to solve their own problems.” Junior Diego Abzun said he has had a positive experience with CASA and its services. He said, “They helped me by accepting my IEP, which is accommodations for when I take tests.” He added the accommodations CASA provides are one of the qualities that drew him to the University. Abzun said he believes the addition of CASA resources will be helpful to his peers and the accommodations they need. Sophomore Emma Schor said, “My freshman year, I went in for some math tutoring and some writing tutoring. And this year, I’m a Rams Peer Mentor, so I work for [CASA].” They added the expansion was good but believes there are other accommodations that could be put in place to help some of their friends. One of the accommodations they said was making sure students have a note taker and a note taker that does their job well. Junior Jimmy Driscoll said he has used CASA’s services once. “The people there gave a good impression when I went. It’s a service that I think is valuable to the students,” said Driscoll. He added, “I didn’t know [the expansion] happened, but I figure it’s a good use of school resources.” Junior Elaina Cardenas said, “For my academic accommodations, they’ve been very helpful and I think that’s what they’re more well versed in.” Sophomore David Forgione said he has used CASA to help with math assignments and preparing for math quizzes. He said he believes it was a great idea for CASA to expand and that all students should use CASA’s resources. Forgione added, “And I think expanding it will only help the students have more time, like one on one or in groups, to study and to work on assignments they’re struggling with.”