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Motivation, Momentum, Meaning: An Intentional Framework for Student Engagement

October 13, 2026 | 2:00 p.m. EDT
60 mins

A practical framework for designing student engagement around motivation, momentum, and meaning, featuring real-world insight from Fairmont State University on moving from tracked activity to intentional architecture.


Most campuses tell you how many students showed up. Few can tell you whether those students are actually moving forward.

This session introduces a framework built on three drivers of engagement: motivation, momentum, and meaning. Instead of treating co-curricular involvement as a series of disconnected events, it helps institutions design an engagement architecture, one that shows where students are progressing, where they're stalling, and what moves them from first exposure to lasting commitment.

Jessica Duvall, Director of Product Management at Encoura, will walk through the framework and a practical model for moving from tracking activity to designing intentional pathways. Justin Rader, Ed.D., Director of Student Life and Assessment at Fairmont State University, will share how his team is applying it on the ground, aligning engagement with institutional priorities and cross-campus collaboration.

Attendees will leave with a model for evaluating their own engagement ecosystem and questions to bring back to campus.


Presenters