The Entering Student Experience supports UTEP students in their first 45 credit hours to build a foundation for their academic excellence and professional success. ESE fosters an inclusive environment to ensure students from diverse backgrounds have a meaningful transition to UTEP.

DELIVERY FORMAT: The program is in-person only.

PROGRAM SCALE: Large-scale (reaches more than 25 percent of its intended target population)

PROGRAM OUTCOMES: The impact of UNIV 1301 is greater on the first-term retentions of students. The impact is that students who take UNIV 1301 are 1.37 times more likely to be retained for high risk students.

DEPARTMENT(S) OVERSEEING PROGRAM: Office of the Provost

CONTACT FOR MORE INFO: Denise Lujan, Ed.D. at cdlujan@utep.edu or (915) 747-6521

Financial and Social Support Services (FSSS) is a component of UTEP’s holistic advising model designed to foster financial literacy and wellness by increasing fiscal awareness, and empowering students to make more sound financial decisions.

Master of Social Work (MSW) graduate interns provide students with personalized financial and social support. MSW Interns employ financial social work theories and practices to help students recognize and assess their financial circumstances, with the ultimate goal of identifying methods to establish healthier money habits that lead to improved financial wellness.

FSSS offers services to all UTEP students, regardless of major or classification. The majority of students served are UTEP undergraduates with 0-60 earned credit hours. These students often face a variety of challenges upon entering a four-year institution and adapting to a system that is drastically different from high school or community college. MSW interns are exceptionally equipped to support and assist students with overcoming financial challenges to academic success. This includes, but is not limited to, guiding students on resources to pay for college, managing life expenses, building a budget, establishing credit, understanding financial risks, and strategies for making well-informed financial decisions in the context of each student’s unique circumstances.

FSSS works closely with the Foster Homeless Adopted Resources (FHAR) program, which connects foster, homeless and adopted students with resources to provide support along the path to degree completion.

DELIVERY FORMAT: The program has a hybrid format.

PROGRAM SCALE: Medium-scale (reaches between 10 and 25 percent of its target population)

APPROXIMATE PARTICIPANTS SERVED IN 2021-22: 580

HOW TO ENROLL: All stakeholders have access to this program. As such, there is no enrollment process

EVALUATION STATUS: Data related to program outcomes are currently being internally collected

DEPARTMENT(S) OVERSEEING PROGRAM: Advising and Student Services

CONTACT FOR MORE INFO: Heather Smith at hsmith@utep.edu or 9157475668

Foster Homeless Adopted Resources (FHAR) is a component of UTEP's holistic advising model designed to provide comprehensive academic and social wellness services to students who were adopted or aged out of foster care or are experiencing housing insecurity.

FHAR staff members assess students needs for social wellness services, address basic needs insecurities (food, housing, and transportation), provide crisis intervention and connect students to appropriate resources on campus and in the community.

UTEP students in crisis must manage various challenges that conflict with academic responsibilities. The FHAR program facilitates immediate, holistic institutional support, to ensure these students persist through to degree completion.

DELIVERY FORMAT: The program has a hybrid format.

PROGRAM SCALE: Large-scale (reaches more than 25 percent of its intended target population)

APPROXIMATE PARTICIPANTS SERVED IN 2021-22: 90

HOW TO ENROLL: All stakeholders have access to this program. As such, there is no enrollment process

EVALUATION STATUS: Data related to program outcomes are currently being internally collected

DEPARTMENT(S) OVERSEEING PROGRAM: Advising and Student Services

CONTACT FOR MORE INFO: Heather Smith at hsmith@utep.edu or 9157475668

Service-learning is utilized as a teaching method by faculty at UTEP as a way to help students meet class learning objectives, and to practice what they learn in the classroom out in the community. It is also utilized to help students develop professional preparedness skills, civic engagement mindset and social responsibility, and personal development awareness. Service-learning helps students persist through their education and to develop a sense of self in society.

Service-learning is integrated in over 400 course sections at UTEP and is adopted by over 300 faculty. At least one course in each department is community engaged or a service-learning course. Students in these courses are granted academic credit for their learning and participation in the experiences. Programming support for students and faculty is offered through the university's Center for Community Engagement which has existed since 1998.

DELIVERY FORMAT: The program has a hybrid format.

PROGRAM SCALE: Large-scale (reaches more than 25 percent of its intended target population)

APPROXIMATE PARTICIPANTS SERVED IN 2021-22: 6000

HOW TO ENROLL: Participants enrolled in certain courses are automatically enrolled in the program or practice

EVALUATION STATUS: Data related to program outcomes have been internally and externally collected in the past

DEPARTMENT(S) OVERSEEING PROGRAM: Center for Community Engagement

CONTACT FOR MORE INFO: Azuri Gonzalez at azurig@utep.edu or 9157477969

The UTEP Edge is UTEP's cross-campus framework for holistic student success. The Edge is significant because it builds on student strengths, actively engages students in learning to gain a competitive advantage and creates a shared understanding and responsibility for student success. The UTEP Edge Fellows, then, are a select group of faculty AND staff committed to this model of holistic student success who collaborate to improve student success with broad implementation of the Edge through a multi-level transformational effort.

DELIVERY FORMAT: The program is in-person only.

PROGRAM SCALE: Small-scale (reaches fewer than 10 percent of its target population)

APPROXIMATE PARTICIPANTS SERVED IN 2021-22: 23

HOW TO ENROLL: Participants must apply to enroll in this program

WEBSITE TO APPLY: https://www.utep.edu/edge/faculty-and-staff/edge-fellows.html

EVALUATION STATUS: No data related to outcomes have been collected from this program

DEPARTMENT(S) OVERSEEING PROGRAM: Office of the Provost / Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs

CONTACT FOR MORE INFO: Louie Rodriguez at lrodriguez35@utep.edu or (915) 747-7485