Academic and Career Engagement Communities
Academic and Career Engagement (ACE) Communities at Tarleton State University provide first-time-in-college (FTIC) students clear and well supported pathways to degree completion. ACE Communities are organized by meta-major, are which cluster groups of degree programs that share general characteristics of marketable skills within a career area. ACE Communities enable FTIC students to better align their academic interests with their career goals and engage in career development opportunities that are connected to their major and related areas of study.
Essential Components of ACE Communities
First-Year Seminar
All FTIC students will enroll in a FYS course linked to their meta-major. Tarleton’s FYS is one semester credit hour in the Component Area Option of the Texas General Education Core Curriculum. FYS supports students academically and socially during their transition to the university environment. FYS instructors addresses curricular components in a broad manner, as well as through the lens of their discipline and associated meta-major, during weekly in-class sessions and out-of-class learning activities. FYS intellectually challenges students, introduces students to academic resources and student services, develops desirable learning behaviors and skills, and reinforces a sense of belonging.
Living Learning Communities (LLCs)
FTIC students who live in housing on campus will be assigned to residence halls based upon their meta-major. Within these LLCs, residential leaders will use student-developed curriculum to hold FYS labs that extend learning associated with the FYS curricular components into the residence halls.
Peer Mentors
All FTIC students will have an assigned peer mentor. Peer mentors are undergraduate student workers who use a semi-structured approach to disseminate information, make connections, and share personal experiences that offer academic support and social connectedness to students in their caseload. Each peer mentor will carry a caseload of 60-80 students and perform in-person or virtual outreach on a weekly basis.
Career Coaches
Every FTIC student will have an assigned career coach. Career coaches are undergraduate student workers who plan, develop, and implement a wide range of career- and major-related activities as co-curricular programming to encourage major exploration, provide guidance with career goal setting, and share occupational information.
