Students transferring into Texas A&M University-Texarkana in 2019 will be assisted by a new program designed specifically to help transfer students succeed. A&M-Texarkana’s new Transfer Student Services office (TSS) will help students transitioning from other institutions of higher education to TAMUT with the primary goal of offering support for the students as they work toward their academic and career objectives.
The program originally began in 2017 when TAMUT and Northeast Texas Community College (NTCC) received a Title V grant from the US Department of Education. Grant funds were used to hire completion coaches who specialized in building success plans for low income and/or Hispanic students to help them to complete degrees in a timely manner. In addition to assisting low income and/or Hispanic students, the completion coaches are now providing support services to all TAMUT transfer students. “Our team is here to provide academic, professional, and personal support for transfer students at TAMUT,” said program director Sarah Johnson. “We’re helping them to successfully navigate the transfer pathways so that they can complete their degrees.”
TAMUT’s Transfer Student Services office is made up of Johnson and a staff of three completion coaches. Daisy Bates is a completion coached based on the TAMUT campus at NTCC, and Kristina Jones and Jenny Walker work from A&M-Texarkana’s main campus. The program also has a peer mentor, Trevor Stevens, an electrical engineering major who transferred to A&M-Texarkana from Cossatot Community College. Trevor has recently organized the Eagle Transfer Association, a new student organization geared towards helping transfer students become involved on campus.
The Transfer Student Services team has several events planned for the fall semester, including workshops, mixers to meet faculty and staff, and attending athletic and community events together. For additional information on Transfer Student Services at TAMUT contact Sarah Johnson at 903.334.6697 or sjohnson@tamut.edu.
