Won’t Lose This Dream: How an Upstart Urban University Rewrote the Rules of a Broken System

by Andrew Gumbel

The extraordinary story of how Georgia State University tore up the rulebook for educating lower-income students

"Georgia State . . . has been reimagined—amid a moral awakening and a raft of data-driven experimentation—as one of the South's more innovative engines of social mobility."
—The New York Times

Once just another unglamorous urban university, Georgia State University has become a place of miracles and wonders in the heart of Atlanta, the city that spawned the civil rights movement. GSU is a living experiment in the education of lower income students and a crucible in which the promise of social advancement through talent and hard work, the essence of the American Dream, is being rekindled in an age of deep inequality and political crisis.

More than any other institution in the country, Georgia State has overturned the assumption that poorer students are doomed to fail. Won’t Lose This Dream describes how the architects of Georgia State’s success harnessed the power of evolving data technologies, a “moneyball” strategy that helped them recognize and remove the obstacles that have held poor students back. Veteran journalist Andrew Gumbel uncovers the human stories behind these innovations, tracing real students as they realize lifelong dreams of graduating from college.

Today, a Georgia State freshman who arrives homeless and hungry is no less likely to succeed than the daughter of a billionaire. African American, Hispanic, and low-income students now graduate from GSU at rates equal to or higher than those of other students. In fact, GSU has raised its graduation rate to 55 percent in 2018 from 32 percent in 2003 and, since 2014, has awarded more bachelor’s degrees to African Americans than any other nonprofit college or university in the country. More than just a story about higher education, Won’t Lose This Dream is a tale that points the way to wholesale societal transformation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, History, Social Justice, Politics, Philosophy, Southern

336 pages, Hardcover

Published May 26, 2020

About the author

Journalist who has worked as foreign correspondent for The Guardian, Independent, The Los Angeles Times and The Atlantic.

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Gumbel has written a tale of hope for the U.S. higher education system that is all the more uplifting because the transformation it describes - of Georgia State University - is repeatable, scaleable and based on hard data. Once a somnolent, good-ole-boy Atlanta commuter college, Georgia State has become an engine of growth and opportunity for young people often treated, in Gumbel's clear-eyed telling, as an inconvenience to the university system more than an asset: kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, usually minorities, often the first of their family to aspire to university, talented enough to succeed in large numbers but stymied by admissions and teaching setups that, consciously or not, work against them. How Georgia State has done this is a compelling story, well told by the author even when the nitty-gritty details - developing granular databases to track student progress, narrowing advisor-to-student ratios, winning academic power struggles in committee rooms - could be turgid in lesser hands. Above all, the personal stories of students overcoming huge odds to prosper via the Georgia State system soar and lift the heart. "Won't Lose This Dream" is an instructive and inspiring read.
(Disclosure: the reviewer trained as a Reuters journalist with the author in the late 1980s.)

[Justin Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent look at how a university completely overhauled its approach, using predictive statistics, gutsy against-the-grain ideas and sticking with a plan in the face of mounting internal criticism. Gumbel is an excellent writer. The book had a great flow and you felt empathy and heartbreak for some of these kids who come from nothing and then see the deck stacked against them just when they thought hope was around the corner.

It was like reading Michael Lewis in the way Gumbel would weave the stories within the story, setting up a connection early to deliver on it 3 chapters later. If you liked Moneyball for sports, you'll love Won't Lose This Dream for education.

[Sacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

This was recommended by a colleague recently. I enjoyed the specific case study, many student examples, and details relating to tangible steps and actions these folks took to enact change. An informative and inspiring read for the end of the semester.

[Angela Go · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure, I'm an employee of the university featured in this book, so I heard some of the stories before and knew a couple of the students included in the book. Still, it's an interesting look at how Georgia State University became a national model for student success.

The story is really about Dr. Tim Renick and his passion for helping students of all backgrounds to succeed in college. It's told using data to backup the students' success rates and also features a university president, Dr. Mark Becker, who was willing to try radical techniques to improve first generation college student graduation rates. The two also tackled overall graduation rates and student retention among those with financial, not academic, challenges.

Other internal Georgia State supporters included Dr. Alison Calhoun-Brown, vice president of students, who fully shared Dr. Renick's vision. Detractors included Dr. Fenwick Huss, the dean of the business college and Dr. Risa Palm, the university provost.

In the style of character-driven non-fiction, author Andrew Gumbel follows nearly a dozen students and young alumni to demonstrate Dr. Becker and Dr. Renick's plans and how each person's experience unfolds to reach their success.

Early chapters of the book air some dirty laundry of the university and don't paint Dr. Palm in the best light. But the stories of individual students and alum Princeton Nelson, Gabriel Woods, Tyler Mulvenna, Sharon Semple and Fortune Onwuzunike bring the otherwise dry narrative to life and inject human warmth.

Moderately recommend for those familiar with the university, Atlanta or have college age children. Recommend for those interested in reforming higher education.

[Kmacke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten years ago, I retired from working a private university at which point I was quite jaded with higher education. In my career there, I was a technocrat in the registrar's office for ten years, undergraduate admissions for five years. Specifically, I was dismayed with the debt that underserved undergrads were forced to take on, especially for those large numbers that were unable to complete their degree. And at the time, the leadership was a mean-spirited disaster in the making.

Thus, every word of Gumbel's narrative struck me to the bone. But if it weren't for Gumbel's excellent writing, I never would have considered this book. He does come across as star struck by Georgia's State's leadership but I will testify that it matters greatly and they deserve the kudos. And I am thrilled to say that the university from which I retired has made great strides since they installed a terrific president who embodies the change that Georgia State pioneered.

[Rebecca E. Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book because I am a new Georgia State University employee, and I loved it. It gave me great context about the history of the University (some of what I was loosely aware of as I am a lifelong Atlantan/Georgian) and a ton of information on the student success philosophy and outcomes (and how they were developed / hard-fought and hard-won), as well as hope for the future - not just for GSU, but for students everywhere and the education sector as a whole. I’m here to recommend this book for anyone who is interested in equity and how you can achieve both ROI AND moral justice as well economic growth AND social mobility; history; Georgia politics; leadership; data; and innovation. Access to opportunity is something I care deeply about and am so proud to be working at Georgia State, who is recognized on the national stage for access & excellence.

[Naomi Seligman · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is the incredible story of a University's drive for equity, told with both passion and data. It is not only a book of the moment, but a book that will help anyone who wants to better understand how higher education can do more for those students who are fighting tooth and nail to move forward -- because Georgia State did it.

The breathtaking stories of the young men and women who have had to navigate the toughest of obstacles will move you to tears (and hopefully, action). If you want to believe we can turn our country around and build a foundation for those who deserve a real chance at success, this is your book.

[kevin moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly fascinating read. Difficult to imagine that a story of institutional changes in higher education could hold one’s attention...but this author, like the institution, achieves the impossible.

While the story is about significant policy and process changes, the narrative rides on the illustrative situations faced by individual students and the creative force of will of key Georgia State leaders. Not in the least another dry higher ed policy wonk treatise.

All the competing elements of higher ed are at play. Faculty division and intransigence, political influence, race and class, identification of root cause and the influence of big data at the ground level.

[Kevin Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I knew most of the Georgia State success story, but this book goes much deeper into the huge obstacles and challenges facing any university trying to improve student success. If you're in university administration, a nonprofit working on student success, or just interested in the challenges facing many students in college today, this book is worth a read.

None of the changes featured in the book are easy, and especially in a large public institution, but I found it encouraging to learn more about Georgia States's journey. Many themes in the book resonated such as-

Data is important and vital to making better decisions, but a student's future is at the heart of that data which is critical to building a relationship and trust with each student. Sometimes one phone call, email, or text with a struggling student can give them the encouragement they need to stay enrolled.
Maintaining the status quo is not going to accomplish much, and it's key to get non-traditionalists into the traditional system to be successful with innovations. No one likes change, but everyone likes progress.
The importance of meeting students where they are, not where they should be, and providing the support each student needs to succeed. There's no single fix or one size fits all. It's scores of big and small innovations that gets more students to a degree.

While incredibly complicated and challenging, it is inspiring to see that many more students can be successful in college with a different support model and provide literally life changing benefits not only for that student, but their families.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intimate look at how an overlooked university in the heart of downtown Atlanta, turned the mirror back on itself to understand what it was going to take to provide the support and opportunities for the students they serve to be successful. As someone who benefited from that, I can wholeheartedly attest to what is written in this book. Georgia State University doesn't just talk the talk, they back the talk up with action and results. The data doesn't lie.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book because I work in higher education and saw so many overlaps with UNLV's student population. If you also work for a college or university, I would highly recommend this read. Even if you don't work for a college or university, I would recommend this read. The individuals at the forefront of GSU's change were inspiring, norm challenging, data-driven, and risk-taking.

[Relena_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciated how this was simultaneously specific go the Georgia State situation and went to pains to ensure we knew the most replicable portions of their success. All public universities should have these safety nets.