University of Memphis President M. David Rudd will be in Washington, D.C. Thursday to testify before a U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor subcommittee.

During a hearing titled “The Cost of Non-Completion: Improving Student Outcomes in Higher Education,” Rudd will share examples of U of M initiatives that have improved graduation rates with the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment.

Rudd will offer testimony about the U of M’s successful efforts to increase retention and graduation rates among vulnerable student populations to congressional leaders who are exploring federal policies to raise post-secondary completion rates across the country.

At the inaugural Partner Forum last month, Rudd revealed to senior executives from partner organizations that the U of M recently reorganized its administration and created a new unit focused on “student success." 

U of M defines ‘success’ by partnering with private industry

“Not only have we innovated more over the course of the last few years than we have in decades, we’ve done that while containing costs,” he said. “We’ve had the lowest cost increases in the state of Tennessee in the last five years. What’s fascinating about that is it’s coupled with the greatest gains in graduation and retention rates in the state. If you look at why we’ve been able to contain costs, it really is pretty simple. The better our students do, the better we do.”

Through those corporate partnerships, the U of M has created on-campus, white-collar jobs for its students including call centers for both FedEx Corp. and ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The on-campus jobs, with an average wage of $1,000 a month, are meant to reduce what Rudd refers to as students’ No. 1 challenge to getting their degree — finances.

Rudd will be joined by higher education administrators from the University of Michigan, the University of Utah and Bunker Hill Community College in Boston.