Background
At University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), staff faced a persistent challenge every semester: hundreds of unresolved holds that prevented students from registering for classes.
These holds—often for small, fixable issues like missing vaccination records—created unnecessary roadblocks, delaying progress and adding stress for students and staff alike.
Historically, UMES’s admissions and enrollment teams, led by Dr. Reginald Garcón and Darryl Isom, had no choice but to tackle the issue reactively, engaging in one-on-one outreach to as many students as possible. But with 500+ holds each term, this approach wasn’t scalable.
Then, Dr. Garcón teamed up with Dr. Greg Shirley at Mainstay to implement a unique strategy designed to build capacity and guide students to success.
A Willingness to Change
Dr. Garcón and his team saw an opportunity to transform the way they worked. Partnering with Dr. Greg Shirley, Mainstay’s Partner Success Manager, they crafted a strategy that would:
- Proactively engage every student with a hold, using AI-enhanced, research-backed text message conversations.
- Provide clear, timely next steps, helping students resolve issues before they escalated.
- Escalate complex cases to staff, ensuring that advisors focused on high-impact interventions.
This shift required more than just adopting a new tool—it demanded a new mindset. Instead of chasing down individual students at the last minute, UMES designed intentional moments of connection that ensured students received support early and often.
The Result:
From 500 Holds to Just 27
The impact was immediate:
✅ 500 unresolved holds dropped to just 27
✅ Staff were able to focus their time on high-need students.
✅ Students received personalized, proactive support—without overwhelming the enrollment team.
“In the past, we didn’t have the time to engage with all 500 students. Now, with AI, we reach every student early—giving them the smallest next step they need to persist.”
— Dr. Reginald Garcón
Beyond the Numbers: A Culture Shift
This was more than an operational success—it was a cultural shift. The integration of AI-powered engagement didn’t just make outreach more efficient; it fundamentally changed how UMES approached student success:
Scaling Personalized Support
AI didn’t replace advisors—it amplified their ability to focus on the students who needed them most.
Building Intentional Connections
Students weren’t just getting reminders; they were engaging in meaningful conversations that helped them move forward.
Expanding Institutional Capacity
Seeing the impact, UMES is now expanding AI-driven support to reach nontraditional and online students, ensuring no learner falls through the cracks.
What’s Next? Scaling AI-Enhanced Support
UMES isn’t stopping here. With four consecutive years of enrollment growth, Dr. Garcón and his team are now focused on:
- Expanding AI-powered outreach to online and nontraditional students.
- Enhancing support for prospective students, ensuring seamless engagement from recruitment through enrollment.
- Applying AI-driven insights to intervene when students indicate they may be leaving or transferring.
Key Takeaways
UMES’s success offers an important lesson for other institutions:
If you’re willing to change the way you work, you can take full advantage of what technology has to offer.
- AI isn’t just a tool—it’s a strategy. When paired with human expertise, it creates scalable, high-impact student support.
- Transformation requires both technology and mindset shifts. UMES embraced change, leading to a lasting impact on student success.
- Partnerships matter. Thanks to EdAdvancement, Blue Meridian Partners, and Mainstay, UMES had both the resources and guidance to turn an external grant into a long-term institutional strategy.
Here for the Journey
What started as a funded experiment became a fully institutionalized transformation at UMES. Today, Dr. Garcón and his team are championing AI-enhanced student support—not because they had to, but because they saw what was possible.
And this is just the beginning.
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