On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College, Career, and Life

Skip Downing is an international consultant in the field of faculty development and student success strategies. Dr. Downing has earned degrees from Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Santa Monica and Carnegie Mellon University. He holds advanced degrees in English and counseling psychology. He was a professor of English at Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) for 32 years. In addition to his role as an academic instructor, Dr. Downing created and coordinated BCCC's Student Success and Learning Community Programs. These programs teach students how to apply proven success strategies to achieve their full potential in college and in life. The College Success Program resulted in a significant increase in both student academic success and retention. Dr. Downing has made numerous presentations at national conferences and conducted faculty development workshops at many two- and four-year colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, Bermuda and the Virgin Islands. Dr. Downing's teaching, writing and consulting are all guided by his belief that the greatest mission of any educational institution is to empower its students to live rich, fulfilling lives. From 1996–2016, he facilitated the On Course Workshops, intensive four-day retreats for college educators focusing on proven strategies for helping students become active, responsible partners in their education and achieve greater success in college and in life.

Dr. Brennan has a PhD in Comparative Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley, an EdD in Educational Leadership and Change (Fielding Graduate University), an MA in English (UC Berkeley) and an MS in Cognitive Psychology (USM). In the last three decades, he has focused his research on higher education leadership, best practices in non-cognitive learner competencies, virtual and AI learning and the intersection between race, culture, equity and access to education. Dr. Brennan is a faculty member and former chair of the English Department at Mission College in Santa Clara, California. He designed and coordinated an On Course Program at Mission College that significantly improved the retention and academic success rate of students in English, Mathematics, Reading and ESL. He was voted Faculty of the Year at Mission College in 2000 and was awarded a NISOD Teaching Excellence Award. In 2005, he was awarded the Stanback-Stroud Diversity award from the California State Academic Senate, and in 2008, the California State Hayward Award for Excellence in Education. Since 2006, he has served as Chair of the On Course National Conference and is currently Editor of the On Course student success newsletter which has nearly 150,000 subscribers worldwide. He has facilitated workshops on improving student engagement and learning for over 6,000 faculty from colleges and universities across North America. Dr. Brennan is the author of the forthcoming, LEARNING WITH CHATGPT, DALL-E and AI GENERATIVE TOOLS: AN EDUCATORS’ GUIDE TO AI AND EFFECTIVE STUDENT LEARNING. His other titles include ENGAGING LEARNERS THROUGH ZOOM, CHOOSING A GOOD ROAD (High School Success), WHEN BRER RABBIT MEETS COYOTE (African-Native American Literature) and MIXED RACE LITERATURE. Dr. Brennan’s teaching, writing, keynotes and workshops are guided by his belief that all students deserve an opportunity to find their passion for lifelong learning and accomplish their academic, career and life goals.