Learn about our Student Success Initiative

At Fort Lewis College, student success is at the heart of our work. As the first pillar in our FLC Strategic Plan, we emphasize Students at the Center, focusing on inclusive and equitable student support. 

Creating a culture of possibility

Academic Affairs is creating a new model of student success that focuses on creating a culture of possibility. Academic innovation can encourage transformative aspirations; we are building both an academic safety net and an academic inspiration framework. Our comprehensive plan has received approval from the Higher Learning Commission, our accrediting body. 

Our unique vision of student success

Proud to be the most diverse public liberal arts college in the country, FLC’s unique student body demands a unique vision of inclusive excellence.  Our vision emphasizes:

  • Community of care: we are integrating student support services to create a community defined by peer mentorship, student case management, and the values of kinship, kindness, and respect
  • Inspiration spaces: we are designing a “powered by place” approach to student success in which physical spaces are structured to welcome, connect, and inspire students
  • Experiential, inclusive learning in first and second year: we are building on our First Year Launch program via summer and sophomore courses that feature cohorts, peer support, and active, hands-on learning
  • Indigenous knowledge bridges: we are creating bridges between indigenous and academic knowledge systems, striving to honor our students’ ways of knowing

Our strategies for implementing student success

FLC is building a campus-wide infrastructure for student support, discovering new strategies for student success. Our key implementation strategies are:

  • Success Strategy 1:  Academic Hub
    • Inspiration spaces and support structures: FLC’s new Academic Hub centralizes our student success initiatives, providing a clear home for support offices and programs. The Hub features new spaces where friends connect for everything from tutoring to career coaching to undergraduate research.  The Hub emphasizes collaborative, inclusive, hands-on learning—in lively spaces designed for academic inspiration and academic support.      
  • Success Strategy 2:  Academic Care Team (ACT)
    • Academic safety net:  FLC is integrating our student services, creating a community of care comprised of tutors, mentors, advisors, and coaches. Our new Academic Care Team oversees a system of alerts and referrals, implements a new case management approach, and connects students to services ranging from Counseling to Financial Aid. This academic safety net catches students and connects them to services they need. Our integrated approach to student support is captured in our Resources for Student Success and Support guidebook.
  • Success Strategy 3:  First Year and Second Year Community-building Curriculum
    • Active, collaborative learning:  Our First Year Launch program fosters a sense of community by creating small cohorts of students engaged in active learning. Building on FY Launch, we are designing summer, sophomore, and Liberal Arts Core programs that feature our signature approach to lower-level learning. Our classes are active, experiential, and place-based—plus—they create inclusive, collaborative communities.
  • Success Strategy 4:  Center for Indigenous Research, Culture, and Language (CIRCL)
    • Frameworks for indigenous and academic learning. Our new Center for Indigenous Research, Culture, and Language (CIRCL) offers a home space for learning with and from our Indigenous students. CIRCL is creating projects and programs connected to language revitalization, social justice, storytelling and FLC’s own history. CIRCL encourages student, faculty, campus, and community networks.
  • Success Strategy 5:  Admission and Skyhawk Station Systems 
    • Integrated, streamlined systems: Our new enrollment management structure aligns the successful student services of Admission and Skyhawk Station.  Students will experience seamless, personalized approaches to communication, records, schedules, services, and “the business of being a student.”
  • Success Strategy 6:  Quantitative and Qualitative “Meaning Matters” Data
    • Meaning matters:  We are designing FLC-unique qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, implementing an equity-driven approach to student success information. Our new “meaning matters” approach to data features surveys and focus groups that generate insights into the larger meaning of a FLC education.