Partner Spotlight: Brandon Winningham from Louisiana State University Shreveport

When Brandon Winningham stepped into the role of Director of Academic Success at Louisiana State University Shreveport, he didn’t just take over student support services. He began reimagining its identity. At LSU Shreveport, where many students juggle various responsibilities, Brandon sees peer tutoring not as an add-on, but as an essential connector—linking students to the community, resources, and sense of purpose that keeps them coming back.

As the Knack Program Administrator at LSUS, Brandon has been instrumental in transforming tutoring from a transactional service to a relational, campus-wide strategy. His vision? A peer-powered support model that feels integral to the college experience and builds the kind of culture that students want to stay part of.

Knack: Tell us a little bit about yourself: where you’re from, what brought you to higher education, and what brought you to LSUS.

Brandon: I'm a Shreveport–Bossier City guy pretty much my whole life. We moved to Shreveport when I was five, and I went to Centenary College of Louisiana, a small private liberal arts school tied to the United Methodist Church. I studied psychology because I’ve always been interested in how people work. At the time I didn’t see myself as an educator, though I was already teaching martial arts, which fueled my interest in how students develop mentally, physically, and socially.

I met my wife at Centenary, and we married shortly after graduation. After spending a few years working at a local United Methodist Church, she started a graduate degree at LSU Shreveport while I earned my teaching certificate and spent about six years teaching high school English. When an opening came up at the Student Success Center, I applied and became assistant director, then interim, and soon after, permanent director.

After a great last semester teaching, I knew I didn’t want to be a principal or move into the district which would take me farther from students. This role lets me stay an educator while working with students, staff, and faculty, and lets me stretch as a systems thinker—improving processes and making things more efficient. It checks a lot of boxes for me. And I get to go back to college.

Knack: What motivates you day-to-day in your job as Director of Academic Success?

Brandon: I think we've done a really good job over the last few years of improving our data systems, at least the way we communicate and use data. Seeing those gains in real time and year over year really helps you see what's working really well and also what can improve, which kind of puts a spark underneath you.

What keeps me going is, like I mentioned, I still get to be a teacher in a way and supervise a lot of student workers. Getting to know them and getting to work with different faculty each year is exciting. That's just the nebulous nature of a university: lots of people moving in and out. There are always new partnerships and opportunities to fill gaps and to step up.

There are new aspects of my job that I find very motivating: How do we do this better next semester? How do we do this better next academic year? And as a manager now, I get to learn how I can be a better manager for the next group. How can I listen better? Plan better?

Knack: How do you engage with students and tutors to ensure a successful peer tutoring program or just a comfortable environment for students to want to participate?

Brandon: That was really item one on my list when I was given the keys, so to speak. We really saw the need to shift the identity and culture of the Student Success Center away from being a passive receptacle where student success happens to more of a nerve center. How do we get all of what we do out into the life of campus?

Part of that is just the general question of how we market and talk about things a little differently. But I also think it's about changing how we train and talk to our student staff about what they do, so they know that they are not just a tutor. They truly are student leaders on campus.

That shared vision is important. But let me back up a minute, because we know they are students too, right? My most important thing isn't necessarily their most important thing. At the end of the day, they wanted a student worker position. But the question for me is: how do we guide the energy in the right way so they buy into it?

I think part of that is being authentic and providing a safe, collaborative, and fun space. It's college; we want to have fun.

Knack: Is there a story or a moment that has affirmed the impact of your work in higher education?

Brandon: A couple of things come to mind. It's hard to keep up with all the little conversations we have, but some students stand out like those who went to the same undergrad I did and I’ve gotten to see them grow as graduate students.

We don't have a universally nerdy group, but we started something called PDD: Professional Development and Dragons. I'm a big fantasy nerd, and some coworkers played Dungeons & Dragons with me. After COVID there was a boom of interest with the younger generation, and as I talked about it openly, more students wanted to try it. They realized it's not just some weird basement thing.

It took on a life of its own with sometimes three people at a table, sometimes twelve. It's fun and vulnerable to be a different character, not take yourself too seriously, and tell a good story. You don’t have to know all the rules; we’ll help you. Great relationships and traditions have come from that.

Another tradition: during breaks a student brings a Nintendo Switch and we play Super Smash Bros. on the big TV. I got in once and it got pretty competitive, but we had a great time.

The next week I led a task force meeting in a suit, running whiteboards and strategy. A student who saw both moments said, “That didn’t even seem like my boss. My boss was the one jumping up and down playing Super Smash Bros. Who is this guy in a suit and tie?”

That really shows what college is: a space to figure out who you are and what you like. I told her the Smash Bros. Brandon is the one who keeps students around, and the meeting Brandon is the one who takes money home to the family. Those sides aren’t separate. I couldn’t do my job as well if I didn’t take time to pick up a controller with the student staff and show that different hats can come on and off without it being so cut and dry.

Knack: Is there anything that has surprised you about LSU Shreveport’s partnership with Knack?

Brandon: One thing I’ll say is that you all have been very transparent and communicative. It’s been a really good partnership. But I can contrast it with other EdTech experiences. In K–12 and now, I’m constantly bombarded with cold calls. Something I value here is that you’re selling human connection. Sure, there’s a dashboard and processes, but what you really provide is the human-to-human aspect of college.

That stands out, especially now when everyone is pushing an out-of-the-box AI product. I’m not anti-AI, but I try to ask if a tool lets me be more human to other humans. Does it free up bandwidth to do that? A lot of EdTech is trying to solve problems but can end up reducing real human contact.

This partnership reminds me not to take that for granted. Early on we talked about getting outside the walls of the Student Success Center. Our campus is very remote, with many online graduate and international students. The majority of our students, even undergrad, work 30+ hours a week. I couldn’t hire enough people to serve everyone, or cover the hours when students actually need help.

Professional tutoring services exist, but the authenticity of one college student working with another is what makes the difference. Students feel that and they keep coming back.

Knack: What is your long term vision for peer tutoring on your campus?

Brandon: We’re growing a lot of different programs right now: supplemental instruction, academic coaching, and more specific cohort-based programs. But going back to the idea that we’re a very global campus serving a wide demographic of students, LSUS has been in the news the last couple of years for leading Louisiana in social mobility. Our degree really does change lives.

All college degrees can change lives, but ours seems to do even more, probably because we’re serving students who often start with less. Right before this call, I was scheduling an appointment with freshman seminar students who interview my office for an assignment. They usually end with, “What advice would you give students to be successful?” My answer for a while now has been: go make a friend.

I can teach Cornell notes and time-management calendars, but when it gets hard, it’s the friends and connections that keep you coming back. That’s a huge marker of retention.

I see this program filling that need: connecting students with others who share the same drive for a better life, whether for themselves, their families, or their communities. Over the next few years, I want this to align with how we’ve been rebranding what we do. I want it to feel essential to being a student at LSU Shreveport. You’re paired with someone not just in your class, but in your walk of life, so you can find encouragement in that.

Brandon’s leadership reflects a growing recognition across higher education: academic support must be flexible, inclusive, and rooted in human connection. At a campus like LSU Shreveport, where many students arrive underprepared and overcommitted, peer tutoring offers more than content mastery. It builds community. It fuels persistence. And it affirms students’ belief that they belong.

Through his work with Knack, Brandon has helped elevate peer tutors as campus leaders, shift support from reactive to proactive, and make academic success feel accessible to all. His story is a testament to what’s possible when institutions invest in people-powered solutions—and when those leading the charge are just as committed to Super Smash Bros. as they are to strategic planning.