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Student Success
Helping students reach their full potential
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Enhancing student success is one of UT Arlington’s top priorities. It’s our responsibility to provide students with a supportive environment where they can flourish as scholars and citizens. To that end, we’ve created easier access to vital resources, expanded our academic offerings, and instituted new initiatives to ensure that our students have every opportunity to succeed and graduate. We’re preparing these next-generation leaders to become part of the globally competitive work force our region and nation demand. 

Michael Moore, senior vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies; Dawn Remmers, university college executive director; Donal Bobbitt, provost and vice president for academic affairs
A place to flourish

Life can be challenging for college freshmen. Managing time, completing assignments, feeling homesick—all are potential roadblocks to success. Donald Bobbitt, right, Dawn Remmers, and Michael Moore believe the recently launched University College will help freshmen succeed by pulling together services previously scattered across campus. “This initiative is part of the University’s larger effort to recruit top scholars, improve retention, and help more students graduate in a timely manner,” says Dr. Bobbitt, provost and vice president for academic affairs. The one-stop shop for academic advising, tutoring, supplemental instruction, and a range of counseling services is designed for first-year students, whether freshmen or transfers, but is available to all students. “University College provides the academic support services necessary for all students to achieve their goal of earning a degree,” says Dr. Moore, senior vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies. University College is located in Ransom Hall, which opened in 1919 and is the oldest building on campus. But a $1.7 million remodeling has given it a modern feel. A large conference room accommodates group sessions, while private tutoring and counseling suites provide space for one-on-one interaction. “Students are saying how easy it is to find everything,” says Dr. Remmers, University College executive director. “And the advisers feel good knowing that the student is not getting lost along the way.”

alumnus Jakki Opollo

HEALTHY DETERMINATION

The seed was planted at UT Arlington; the roots now encompass the world. A nursing supervisor in the Progressive Care Unit at Medical City Dallas, Jakki Opollo is determined to spread her knowledge and skills across the globe. The nursing Ph.D. student received the 2010 Stephen Latte Award for research excellence after attending the 2010 International Nurse Researchers Internship in Jamaica. Opollo’s research focuses on the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the nursing work force in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sophomore Rhema Pollone

PROGRAMMED FOR SUCCESS

Sophomore Rhema Pollone has found an excellent support system and greater academic motivation in the Maverick Scholars program, a shared living-learning experience aimed at boosting retention. The nursing major was involved in the program as a freshman and is now a peer academic leader (PAL). “It has helped me gain more confidence in myself and the path I’m pursuing,” she says. “And as PALs, we are equipped with the tools needed to help shape new students—that alone is powerful. We will be impacting so many lives!”

Shannon Brunskill works on art

CRYSTAL CLEAR ARTISTRY

Graduate student Shannon Brunskill isn’t your typical artist. Rather than paint and brush or camera and lens, she works with glass and childhood toys. Her work recently earned her international recognition in e-merge 2010, a kiln-formed glass competition for emerging artists. Her winning piece, “Things We Collect,” is a complex creation of cracked, crystal-clear glass within the frame of a discarded child-sized wagon. Brunskill, a student in the College of Liberal Arts’ Master of Fine Arts program, took third place in the competition, which boasted more than 1,200 entries.

Andrew Palacios studies an item in a lab

EXCEEDING YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Biology major Andrew Palacios, a first-generation college student, sees his future as limitless thanks in part to the McNair Scholars Program. “McNair surrounds me with peers who are just as committed as I am to the pursuit of excellence in academia,” he says. The program fosters success among academically talented but disadvantaged undergraduates, enabling them to continue their education beyond the baccalaureate. It provides guidance, mentoring, academic support, and research and scholarly activities culminating in the Ph.D. and a career as a professor.