The UTD Mercury

Media Credit: Barrett DeCutler Electrical engineering junior Murtaza Joher (left) and software engineering sophomore Ben Wright (right) work at the Academic Bridge Program lab in Green Hall.

The road to higher education is different for everyone, though not all students have the same opportunities on the way to college. For some students, the Academic Bridge Program (ABP) at UTD is making that road smoother.

Students like software engineering sophomore Ben Wright ease their transition from high school to college while completing some of their initial coursework before the fall semester. Supplementary tutoring and other services through ABP give students a running start in college, keeping them on the path to graduation.

"It really helps you get through college," Wright said.

For two months during the summer, ABP freshmen move into campus apartments and begin tackling core classes. Students in the ABP take seven or nine hours of freshman-level courses, including math and rhetoric. Students in engineering and computer science majors can take a two-hour introductory engineering course, said George W. Fair, dean of the School of General Studies and founder of the ABP.

Besides living and studying at UTD, students in the ABP have access to experiences that augment their in-class education, such as tutoring, trips and social events on campus. All students are required to attend tutoring each week as well as a meeting with Soli Ghirmai, the director of ABP, and others., said Fair.

"It really helps you get through college," Wright said.

Ghirmai called the program "a big family."

Students in the ABP also participate in community service activities and go on trips during the summer, said Fair. They visit such local venues as Six Flags Over Texas and Fair Park for the Dallas Summer Musicals series and attend social events on campus every week. Every year, the ABP hosts a civil rights tour during spring break in which students tour museums and historic sites in Selma, Ala.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Memphis, Tenn.

Due to the extensive support students in ABP receive, only a small group is accepted each year. They are selected thorough an interview process, Fair said. Although students in the ABP typically score 200 points lower on their SATs and have greater eligibility for financial aid than the average entering freshman at UTD, selection for the program is based largely on non-academic factors, Fair said.

Criteria focuses on what are called five Cs, Fair said. Each of the five Cs represents an aspect leaders of the program said are important to success in college: competence, character, confidence, commitment and caring.

"Good character means people that think about other people," Fair said.

Students come from a variety of ethnic and social backgrounds, but do not set themselves apart from other UTD students in general, said Fair.

"Not all the people in the Academic Bridge Program would definitely say, 'I am disadvantaged,'" Fair said.

The purpose of the ABP is to provide extra opportunities for students who may be unfamiliar with the college experience or are the first in their families to attend college, said Fair. He developed the idea for the program in 1999, when students from southern Dallas County, especially students from the Dallas, Lancaster, DeSoto, and Duncanville school districts "were underrepresented," he said.

Fair petitioned the Texas Legislature to provide special funding for a program that would eventually become the Academic Bridge Program. More than a year later, the first 30 ABP students began at UTD. The program has grown to include 42 students this summer, said Fair.

The program's growth and success have been noticed by UTD administration. In the May 2008 issue of The President's Viewpoint, UTD president David Daniel lauded the success of the ABP, citing a 70-percent graduation rate, "an average well above the university, state, and national averages," Daniel stated. "Most remarkable to me is that the graduation rate for Bridge students is competitive with the overall graduation rate for the best universities in the state."

Some students become Orientation Team Mentors (OTMs) and Multicultural Peer Advocates (MPAs), while others tutor younger students in Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), a middle school and high school college-preparatory program not unlike ABP, Ghirmai said.

According to Wright, close interaction among students in the ABP as well as their relationships with professors keep them grounded during their first year. Wright, who participated in the program last year, highlighted the importance of peer relationships to academic success.

"I know there's always a support network," he said.

"The program offers quite a lot of guidance, and the instructors have been so far relatively easy to approach," said Thai Cao, a biology freshman in the program this summer. "The instructors try to keep everyone on the same page as much as possible."

Some students who perform well in the program become tutors after their freshman year, which helps to improve camaraderie between present and past members of ABP, said Wright, who now works as a tutor in the ABP.

"They can feel more comfortable talking to someone who's gone through that," Wright said.

In addition to improving the effectiveness of the tutoring, this position helps graduating Bridge students market themselves for jobs after college, said Wright.

"It always looks good on a résumé if you've tutored while studying," Wright said.

Article Tools