The AZ HSI Consortium is pleased to announce the Blue Chip Leadership Experience as an AZ HSI Evidence Based Practice. After careful review from colleagues across the state of AZ, the Blue Chip Leadership Experience was shown to be an effective program in moving the needle towards greater college access, persistence, retention, transfer, and degree attainment for Latinx students in Arizona.
Please read below to learn more about the Blue Chip Leadership Experience at the University of Arizona.
Overview of Institution
The University of Arizona (UA) is located in Tucson, Arizona, about 60 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Founded in 1885 as a land-grant institution, UA serves approximately 53,000 students. It holds the distinctive status of being one of the few R1 research universities in the country that is also designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).
Currently, Blue Chip supports 588 students, with around 445 of them in their first year. Unlike many leadership or co-curricular programs, the majority of Blue Chip participants identify as students of color, with 70% to 80% of participants over the past three years identifying as such. Roughly 41% of our students identify as Hispanic or Latinx, and about 13% as Black or African American—both of which are higher than the overall campus demographics. Additionally, about 50% of Blue Chip students are first-generation college students, and around 50% come from low-income households.
The first-year experience serves as the flagship component of Blue Chip, accounting for the majority of participants. This year, 445 first-year students are organized into 26 small teams, each led by a peer mentor. In Year 2, we have 95 students, followed by 31 students in Year 3 and 17 students in Year 4, providing a multi-year pathway for leadership growth and community impact.
Overview of Program
In the fall of 1999, about 200 first-year students joined Blue Chip. Participants developed leadership skills in classes, workshops and a leadership camp. As juniors and seniors, students taught conferences and workshops to younger members.
“Leaders come from all walks of life,” founding coordinator Terry Thompson said. “Our intent is to help every student. They will get a much more intensive direction on how to survive the first year.”
Today, Blue Chip Leadership Experience supports around 600 students per year. Each semester, students take an engaging leadership class with other students in their Blue Chip year. Those classes are paired with events that help to build friendships and connections to our campus. We embed career development and internship resources that allow students to distinguish themselves and prepare for what comes after college.
The name Blue Chip comes from the stock market where market leaders, with a long history of success and excellent reputations are known as blue chips. Our program, students, and alumni embody those same characteristics.
The mission of Blue Chip is to "empower and inspire the next generation of leaders by providing a supportive and inclusive environment for students to hone their leadership skills, discover their strengths, and make a positive impact in their communities. Through collaborative classes, events, mentorship, and community engagement, we strive to foster a culture of connection, growth, and excellence for all."
Areas program seeks to make an impact and how
Enrollment - Blue Chip works closely with Enrollment Management and participates in AZ Wildcat Days and other recruitment events. We also send out recruitment packages and emails to encourage students to attend U of A. While our main focus is to encourage students to sign up for Blue Chip, our target audience is students from historically marginalized backgrounds. We want them to feel that we see their potential as young leaders. We send 11 recruitment emails to all 50,000+ admitted students with U of A messaging and an additional 4,500 recruitment brochures to admitted students. We're currently assessing the impact of this messaging.
Retention and Completion- Students that participate in Blue Chip are more likely to retain past their first year and persist through to graduation. We incorporate a number of high impact practices including peer mentorship and a cohort-based model. Over the last six years, Blue Chip student retention rates are 9 percentage points higher than their campus peer comparison group. Further information from a first-time full-time peer comparison analysis of students who participated in Blue Chip versus campus peer comparison groups, First-generation students (84%) are 10 percentage points higher than their campus peer comparison group (74%); Pell recipients are (85%) are 6 percentage points higher than their campus peer comparison group (79%); Arizona residents (88%) are 7 percentage points higher than their campus peer comparison group(81%); Black or African American students (89%) are 21 percentage points higher than their campus peer comparison group (68%); Hispanic/Latinx students (85%) are 9 percentage points higher than their campus peer comparison group (76%); men of color (85%) are 8 percentage points higher than their campus peer comparison group (77%). Further, second year to third year persistence among men of color that participate in Blue Chip (89%) is 21 percentage points higher than the persistence rate for men of color at the University of Arizona (68%).
Transfer - Blue Chip does a lot of outreach to incoming transfer students. Those that sign up for Blue Chip are added to our courses and placed into a team of 20 other students in Year 2 of our program. Through this team-based model, Blue Chip creates a space for students to build community and a safe space to be themselves. They meet with this team bi-weekly and are led by a staff member through a values exploration and other activities throughout the year.
Blue Chip also embeds career development and internship training throughout each year of the program and graduate school information sessions in Year 3 and Year 4.
How does this program center servingness?
Blue Chip is centered on servingness by intentionally supporting a diverse student body through high-impact practices such as peer mentorship, cohort-based learning, and culturally affirming leadership development. Our inclusive approach emphasizes that leadership is for everyone, creating an environment where students from various backgrounds see themselves as leaders. We encourage students to build authentic leadership identities based on integrity, adaptability, compassion, and the power of inclusion.
Blue Chip’s peer-mentor-led teams create a sense of belonging and connection that helps students navigate their first year at the University of Arizona. By pairing first-year students with mentors who understand their cultural experiences, we offer a validating and supportive entry to the U of A. Many Blue Chip students identify as first-generation college students, students of color, or come from low-income households, so having a diverse group of peer mentors and teammates reinforces a sense of belonging and encourages help-seeking behaviors.
Our programming includes career development throughout each year of Blue Chip. Based on clear student feedback, we know that our students expect a return on their investment at the University of Arizona. We want them to enter their next steps after the U of A with the skillset and the confidence to succeed in their goals.
With 70-80% of Blue Chip students identifying as students of color, the program reflects has built an inclusive community. We empower our students to be leaders who positively impact their communities and embody the values of servingness.