Southwestern Michigan College Dean of the School of Business and Advanced Technology Dr. Karen Reilly won second place and $5,000 in a recent statewide innovative idea pitch competition.

Reilly was announced as a winner in the inaugural competition by the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN) at its 13th annual conference at Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant.

In the spring, MCAN launched the Take Flight: Sixty by 30 Pitch Competition, receiving more than 50 interest forms from across the state. More than 30 video applications were completed, then the four finalists presented their pitches at the conference.

Sixty by 30 refers to increasing the number of working-age adults with a skill certificate or college degree from 51.1 percent today to 60 percent by 2030.

MCAN encouraged applicants to share their most innovative idea or best practice related to pathways and transitions, college-going culture, credential completion, college affordability and/or adult student attainment.

Reilly pitched The First Five schedule, “a catalyst for college credential completion.” This initiative focuses on strategic course enrollment for a fulltime student's first college term or part-time student’s first year.

Her idea draws on the importance of students passing the first five courses on their first attempt and the benefits of students engaging early in a course in their major.

Her framework proposes a basic math course, a student success course, an introductory course in the major, a general education course and a gen ed or intro course in the major.

“If students take math with student success at the same time, they pass math 85 percent of the time,” Reilly said. “Five courses have been shown to be a predictor of how successful college students will be. If a student completes the first five courses successfully, they have a 60-percent chance of graduating.”

“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. This gave me a forum,” Riley said. “While it was shared that I was from SMC, I did this independently, as did the other contestants. The initiative has not been implemented at SMC as our current parameters don’t fit, but Dr. Joe (Odenwald, president) and (Vice President for the Student Experience Dr.) Katie (Hannah) and I have discussed it. Part of it comes from my Ph.D. dissertation. My research was on a three-credit version of student success paired with a math course. Ours is seven weeks long for one credit.”

“It was a good experience,” Reilly said, “and a lot more rigorous than I would have thought. They paid for us to come to the conference. We were in rehearsals every day. They wanted a big, entertaining, Shark Tank production.  We had a lot of coaching” for their five-minute presentations.

“MCAN was excited to see the traction behind the Take Flight: Sixty by 30 Pitch Competition. This was a great medium to showcase the dedication and creativity of our partners across the state in improving college attainment and completion,” said Ryan Fewins-Bliss, MCAN executive director. “Each finalist put great effort over many months into developing these innovative pitches, which will support college attainment and student success across the state.”

The pitch session was sponsored by Michigan Virtual, an online learning platform dedicated to advancing K-12 education through digital learning, research, innovation, policy and partnerships.

Michigan Virtual worked collaboratively with MCAN to support and coach each finalist ahead of the conference.

“It was such an honor to be a part of the Take Flight: Sixty by 30 Pitch Competition with MCAN. The four finalists were outstanding; from what we saw a few weeks ago when we started coaching to today, they’ve made such amazing strides and it’s no surprise they had some great pitches,” said Scott Watkins, senior director of business strategy at Michigan Virtual. “They’re all incredible educators, deeply talented and deeply dedicated. What’s most exciting is what’s to come – this isn’t the end for their ideas, they’re going to make a great impact.”

“I have had organizations reach out and ask if I would present,” Reilly said. “Whatever I can do to enhance student success.”

Reilly came full circle joining SMC in the summer of 2020 from Florida’s Valencia College as dean of learning support since 2012. Before that she was dean of academic skills advancement at Ivy Tech for eight years.

She holds a Ph.D. from Indiana State University in postsecondary curriculum and instruction; a master of public affairs in public management; and a bachelor of arts in biology. 

A Dowagiac native, the former Karen Sarabyn earned her associate degree from SMC.