OCTOBER 31, 2022 — The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has named UTSA one of four finalists for the 2022 Degree Completion Award. The annual award identifies, recognizes and rewards institutions that employ innovative approaches to increase degree completion rates while ensuring educational quality.
The award demonstrates UTSA’s continuous efforts to become an exemplary Hispanic thriving institution where students from all backgrounds can excel.
“Academic advisors play an essential role in a student’s college journey, and the strategic adjustments that UTSA has made to its advising services are helping our students thrive academically and minimizing barriers to degree completion,” said Tammy Wyatt, UTSA vice provost for student success. “This university-wide effort has improved the number of students that are staying at UTSA from year to year and ultimately crossing the stage at commencement. We’re excited to build on this progress of supporting all Roadrunners on their unique paths to graduation.”
Using a multi-phased approach, UTSA transformed its academic advising model to better serve students—particularly underrepresented and first-generation students—which in turn improved retention and degree completion rates. This new model had a discernible and positive impact on student success compared to baseline data from 2013:
UTSA began restructuring its academic advising services in 2014 to align with data-driven best practices, shifting from a college-based model with little standardization to a centralized model with uniform policies, procedures and communication across the university. The restructuring significantly improved advisor availability and stabilized the caseload of advisors while promoting the development of stronger mentoring relationships between advisors and their students.
Additionally, the university adopted a new student success technology platform with predictive analytics and degree-mapping tools into academic advising’s daily operations. The platform gives advisors a holistic view of each student’s academic progress and their engagement in the university’s learning management system. It also offers insight into their participation in campus activities and services. The data is used in real time to identify students who may need additional support, or who may need to tailor their degree path to better suit their needs.
UTSA also created specialized advisor positions to proactively support at-risk students through the Resilience and Retention Advising Program, and established the Graduation Help Desk, a virtual one-stop resource designed to help students resolve roadblocks to timely graduation.
Also named as finalists were Florida Atlantic University, the University of South Alabama and Virginia Commonwealth University.
APLU will announce the winner at its annual meeting on November 6.
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A fun night for UTSA students to relax and play loteria. Student Success Centers will also have recourses for students to learn more about programs and services.
Denman Ballroom (SU 2.01.28,) Main CampusCome play a game of Loteria sponsored by the UTSA College of Education and Human Development (COEHD), UTSA College of Liberal and Fine Arts (COLFA) and UTSA Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design.
Willow Room (SU 2.02.12,) Main CampusJoin in on the fun and celebrate the beginning of High School Voter Registration Week & National Voter Education Week! This FREE event is open to high school students, UTSA students/faculty/staff, and the greater San Antonio community.
UTSA Downtown CampusJoin us for a culinary celebration on the lawn at UTSA’s Westside Community Center. UTSA Libraries will be collecting recipes and food memories and food trucks will be on hand selling bites inspired by UTSA's Mexican Cookbook Collection.
UTSA Westside Community Center, 1310 Guadalupe St San Antonio, TX 78207Participants will discuss this pervasive problem in academic publishing and how to spot the red flags through real-life examples. You will learn about legitimate open access publishing practices and how to find a high-quality open access journal.
Virtual EventDon’t miss this great opportunity to network and recruit students and alumni from 14 of the leading Hispanic Serving Institutions in the country.
Handshake (virtual fair platform)Are you on ResearchGate or Academia.edu? Do you need an ORCID? Join us for this hands-on session for early career scholars on how to communicate the impact of your research online, find collaborators, and ensure correct attribution of your work.
Virtual EventThe 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.
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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.