Meet the Educator and Entrepreneur Who Helps Underserved Students Get to College and Graduate

by Kathy Grear 03/24/2023

Through serving as an educator for over 20 years, Dr. Ezella McPherson has devoted her career to helping underserved students (e.g., Black, Indigenous People, Latinx, first-generation, low-income, students with disabilities) get to college and to help them to graduate. Currently, Dr. McPherson is Manager of College Access at the Detroit Regional Chamber where she co-develops college access programs, including summer bridge and summer melt. In these programs, she makes sure that underserved high school students successfully transition to college.

In her prior higher education work experiences, Dr. McPherson had an excellent record of supporting underserved students at colleges and universities. For instance, at the University of Illinois, 95% of the undergraduate Black women, Latinas, and Asian women that she mentored and advised graduated from college. Another example was that within a year at Wayne State University, she certified 7 (6 Black men, 1 Black woman) Electrical Engineering undergraduate degrees.

Additionally, at Wayne State University, Dr. McPherson developed and managed a proactive advising program to retain 95% of declared and 84% of undeclared Electrical Engineering advisees. A final example of her commitment to mentoring and advising underserved students was her service at Indiana University South Bend (IUSB). As the inaugural director of the IUSB Titan Success Center team, Dr. McPherson’s first-year check-in program yielded an 82% retention rate for underserved college freshmen in the Fall 2016. The success of this program was mainly due to the IUSB Titan Success Center team’s efforts and commitment to retaining first year students.

Equally as important is that she currently serves as the founder of a company, Dr. McPherson Coaching, LLC which is an education firm that specializes in:

• .Assisting colleges with increasing student retention rates.
• Offers professional coaching in higher education.
• Writing grants for businesses and non-profit organizations.
• Helping organizations with strategic planning and program evaluation.
• Holding virtual workshops.

Additionally, Dr. McPherson has published two best-selling books, Real Outreach: A Practical Guide to Retaining and Graduating College Students (ISBN: 978-1737273103) and Dream On!: Supporting and Graduating African American Girls and Women in STEM (ISBN: 978-1737273127) centered on student retention and graduation.

The book, Real Outreach is about helping high school students, college students, and their families to understand the unique successes, challenges, and current needs of college students from freshman year through graduation.

The book, Dream On! is about African American girls and women continuing to pursue their dreams of obtaining undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields despite enduring obstacles at predominantly white institutions. Readers will obtain recommendations for succeeding and graduating with undergraduate STEM degrees.

About
Founded in 2021 by Dr. Ezella McPherson, Dr. McPherson Coaching, LLC supports the retention and graduation of college students through writing grants, program evaluation, strategic planning, and professional coaching in higher education. Dr. McPherson Coaching, LLC envisions millions of underserved college students becoming college graduates. For additional information on the company, please visit DrMcPhersonCoaching.com