AUGUST 22, 2022 — As a new academic year begins, UTSA students will find a more comprehensive and connected network of academic support services that advance career-engaged learning, digital fluency, belonging, wellbeing and academic success university-wide and within their academic colleges.
Over the past year, each academic college has worked closely with the Student Success academic support division to open or expand its College Student Success Center. These new facilities, which are part of the Academic Success District, raise awareness of UTSA’s student support programs and connect the dots between a college’s resources and university-wide initiatives using a hub-and-spoke model.
For example, as the "hub," the division of Student Success offers academic support such as tutoring and student success coaching that broadly supports all students regardless of their major. As a "spoke," the college success center may offer academic support for major-specific courses and experiential learning opportunities connected to fields of study and career pathways.
“The hub-and-spoke student success model promotes the alignment of shared goals, funding, initiatives, assessment, and research with students at the center,” said Amy Buechler-Steubing, UTSA’s senior director of student success strategic planning and administration and director of student success initiatives. “Colleges and academic support divisions are working together to help students more easily access resources, implement effective university-wide initiatives, promote student success best practices and harness our collective creativity and expertise.”
Buechler-Steubing and staff from the College Student Success Centers frequently meet to share new resources, review data and align efforts. The networked approach among the centers allows them to focus on the broader strategic priorities of their respective areas while establishing basic standards of care, consistency in services and effective assessment approaches across the university. As a result, students can more easily navigate support services and find tailored assistance.
These centers complement the existing hubs located throughout the Academic Success District. For example, students can address all their advising needs, from enrollment through graduation, in the University Student Success Center. The Tomás Rivera Center for Academic Excellence is the central location for tutoring and success coaching. Students seeking supplemental instruction can find it in the Collaborative Learning Hub. First-gen and transfer students will find customized support programs through the Mentoring Hub.
“Through these efforts, we cultivate an inclusive and collaborative ecosystem of support that connects, empowers, and equips students to be lifelong learners and active citizens,” said Tammy Wyatt, UTSA vice provost for student success. “The Academic Success District and College Student Success Centers demonstrate UTSA’s commitment to responding to students’ evolving needs and ensuring they can access these resources as easily as possible.”
Additional support on the horizon
The division of Student Success is also expanding the integration of TutorMe, an online tutoring platform. First launched in 2020, TutorMe is a free service with live academic support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. TutorMe provides access to highly qualified tutors from the best universities around the globe. This fall, over 100 courses across more than 650 sections will have TutorMe as an available academic support resource. The multitude of options allows students to choose the services that meet their personal academic needs on their own time.
The Student Success team has also partnered with the division of Academic Innovation on several special projects. For example, this fall, the divisions will launch the Undergraduate Adobe Institute, which includes a series of short projects that provide students with an opportunity to produce work that enhances their digital literacy skills. Students will have access to graduate assistants and digital fluency coaches throughout the experience.
The divisions will also resume the First-Year Experience and Faculty Engagement Mini-Grant program which provides funding to deepen engagement between students and faculty outside of the classroom. The divisions will distribute $30,000 in funding, more than twice the amount offered in spring 2022. Applications will open to faculty on September 6.
“Our students each have a unique journey to UTSA and we understand that no two students have exactly the same needs,” said Wyatt. “We have mobilized our services across academic affairs to provide a robust set of services that will support students’ success at every point in their academic journey.”
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Come celebrate the doctoral students graduating this commencement season.
H-E-B Student Union Ballrooms, UTSA Main CampusCelebrate the accomplishments of the graduates of the College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences.
Alamodome, 100 Montana St, San Antonio, TX 78203Celebrate the accomplishments of the graduates of the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and University College.
Alamodome, 100 Montana St, San Antonio, TX 78203First Friday Stargazing gives anyone free access to the night sky using university telescopes and teaching equipment. Weather permitting, experienced astronomers will provide a handful of telescopes of varying designs, give training on how each operates, and point to various astronomical objects that may appear in the sky for that given time of the year. If you have a telescope and do not know how to operate it, feel free to bring it and get instructions on its use.
4th Floor of Flawn Science Building, Main CampusThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
