Student Success Champion Profile - Katie Stanutz, Ph.D.

January 16, 2024

Katie Stanutz and a student posing with hands on their hips. Katie Stanutz, Ph.D., has been a student advocate and supporter throughout her five years at Ohio State, first as the Undergraduate Studies Program Manager in the Department of English, and now as the STEM Student Success Program Manager. During her time in English, she advocated for curricular changes which have streamlined the degree, provided students with more options, and removed barriers. Her favorite part of that job was connecting directly with students, including creating fun community experiences, providing writing workshops and mentorship, and supporting them through hard times. Her work in English won her the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Staff Award in 2022 and Department of English Staff Member of the Year Award for 2020-2021, as well as a place in The Women’s Place Staff Leadership Series 2022-23 cohort.

“Working with them was one of the biggest privileges of my entire career, getting to mentor those students.”

This summer, Dr. Stanutz transitioned to the role of STEM Student Success Program Manager under the JobsOhio grant, which aims to increase STEM degree production for specific high-demand fields within the state. To kick off her work in this role, Dr. Stanutz created connections with faculty and staff across the university to gain an understanding of the issues and challenges facing STEM students across all Jobs Ohio fields of study. In her first semester, she completed what she calls the “Great Department Tour,” where she met with faculty and staff individually or in small groups to ask:

What are your successes? What are things in your department that you’re really proud of, or that you think are working well in terms of student success?
What are the challenges that you face?
How can we help?

This systematic inventory across departments and programs highlighted both local and global concerns that can now be systemically addressed moving forward. It also helped forge cross-unit connections, as Dr. Stanutz has helped identify ways that units can help one another by leveraging resources and effective practices that some units have already implemented. It also helps identify and highlight the amazing student success work that is already occurring across many units. For example, Dr. Stanutz described Welding Engineering’s open house as “one of the coolest events,” which she tells others about whenever she can.

For students, she has two pieces of advice. The first, a multi-part piece of advice, is to take ownership of your education, be an intentional actor in your educational experience, and set a learning goal for each class, even if it’s simply asking “what do I want to get out of this class?” The other simple piece of advice comes from her father: “Work hard, have fun!”

Katie Stanutz and another staff member wearing Halloween costumes standing next to a decorated door.

Photo 1: Katie Stanutz (right) with a student during Spirit Week.
Photo 2: Katie Stanutz (right) with a colleague during Halloween.