Main Content

Inclusive Excellence in Academics

To ensure success in our students’ careers and lives, we expand their worldview to encompass diverse cultures, ideas, thoughts, lived experiences and more.

 

Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs

Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs Reginald A. Wilburn collaborates with the Office of the Dean of Students and Student Affairs to champion undergraduate student success and support undergraduate education for the future. Provost Dahlberg created this position in 2022 to support the continuous enhancement of undergraduate student education and experience, especially in providing equity in education and experience to students across demographics.

  • Equitable Student Success – An Equitable Student Success advisory board was established in September 2023, comprised of faculty and staff from each college and school, to review data on student performance, participation and perception to identify gaps and discern how best to mitigate and eliminate those gaps. They are designing and developing processes for 100% compliance in submitting “U” grades each semester; providing all students digital copies of syllabi; seeking D2L compliance of all faculty for all courses; and establishing a reasonable turnaround time for graded assignments.
  • Test-Optional Pilot – In April 2020, requiring SAT and ACT exams for admissions was made optional during the pandemic. In July 2022, Provost Dahlberg extended it to include 2023 and 2024 high school graduates. During Fall 2023, the test-optional pilot is being monitored to assess its impact on students’ academic performance and success across multiple demographic populations. A faculty survey was administered in early fall, with results to be shared with Faculty Senate in November to assist in determining the next steps. The Provost will reevaluate the option when the TCU class of 2024 graduates.
  • Title IX – Academic Affairs is staying informed on new state and federal Title IX legislation governing the academic rights and entitlements of expectant parents to include post-natal concerns.
  • Associations and Affinity Groups – The AP for Undergraduate Affairs serves as the advisor for the Black Student Association and serves on the organizational leadership team for Brothers Reaching Brothers professional affinity group.

 

Associate Vice Provost for Student Success

Associate Vice Provost Annorah Moorman oversees Academic Advising and Student Access and Accommodation. Provost Dahlberg created this position in Fall 2019 to be a bridge between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs to maintain excellence in TCU students’ education and experience.

  • Stellic, a new academic advising platform – This integrated platform provides faculty and advisors with a cohesive means to support students and enhance and standardize the academic advising process campus-wide. Stellic provides both advisors and students with degree pathways and allows more time for mentorships and holistic advising. Stellic was piloted in spring 2023 and implemented campus-wide in fall 2023.
  • Student Progression Ad Hoc Committee – To facilitate the academic progression of all students, particularly transfer students, the Provost convened an ad hoc committee chaired by the Associate Vice Provost for Student Success to consider and make proposals to remove barriers for our students while maintaining the integrity of a TCU degree. The committee convened in April 2022 and provided four proposals to the Provost and then to the Undergraduate Council and Faculty Senate for review in 2023.
  • Centralized Accommodated Testing Spaces – The Office of Student Access and Accommodation initiated a pilot program in Spring 2023 to provide additional support to undergraduate and graduate students who are registered with Student Access and Accommodation and have a documented need for accommodated testing. After the successful pilot period, Centralized Accommodated Testing Spaces, located in Sadler Hall, were implemented campus-wide in Fall 2023.
  • Peer2Peer Tutoring – In Fall 2020, Provost Dahlberg funded a new program to train 39 exceptional TCU students to be tutors beginning Spring 2021, including evening and weekend hours. Peer2Peer Tutors complete 10 hours of Level 1 training in accordance with the College Reading and Learning Association. Six Meta-Tutors complete an extra 10 hours of Level 2 training to provide additional support in study strategies, study skills, time management and goal setting.

 

Finding Ourselves in Community – TCU’s Quality Enhancement Plan

A five-year Quality Enhancement Plan was implemented in 2023 as a crucial part of TCU’s 10-year reaffirmation and reaccreditation by the SACSCOC. Our Quality Enhancement Plan, Finding Ourselves in Community (FSC), helps students achieve greater social self-awareness of themselves as unique individuals within diverse communities by embedding this learning into their academic coursework. Academic Affairs provides faculty with workshops and incentives to support them in adjusting their courses to help students develop skills for interacting with people who are different from them. These courses are offered throughout the curriculum across all majors and disciplines. Assessing learning outcomes will determine how well students define key concepts associated with identity and the formation of social identities; explain how values, norms, biases and practices continually shape identity; and illustrate how one’s developing identity informs community relationships. The FSC implementation team is led by Dr. Frank Hernandez, dean of the College of Education.

 

Introduction to University Life

Introduction to University Life is a one-credit, graded course for students in their first semester at TCU. The course provides knowledge, skills and strategies to flourish in the academic community, and addresses fundamental questions about how to succeed as a college learner through goal-setting, understanding resources, managing stress, self-care, critical and reflective thinking, diversity and inclusion, academic and personal integrity, and other topics. Each section of the course is led by an instructor and a student Peer Guide. Provost Dahlberg has led a course, as have other TCU leaders, as a way to engage with new students and amplify TCU’s culture of connectivity.

 

STEM Scholars

This academic scholarship program supports the best and brightest historically underrepresented students in Fort Worth who come to TCU to pursue degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM). The STEM Scholar program covers the full cost of TCU attendance for four years and is designed to enrich the TCU learning experience while bringing diverse populations together.