Tepera R. Holman, B.A. ’07, M.Ed. ’09

Credit: Vivian Abagiu

Director of the Texas Interdisciplinary Plan (TIP) and Rhome Staff Excellence Award winner. Interviewed by Esther Robards-Forbes.

The TIP program has been shown to help students succeed. How does it work?
The hope is to make the transition from high school to college smoother for the students. Most of our students were very high-performing in high school, but coming to college is just a different experience. We want to make sure that students have the resources to be successful. We provide a community when students get here so they have examples of how to navigate the university system. In-house advisors work really hard to get to know all their students and what they are going through. We also have peer mentors, collaborative study sessions and a small classroom environment.

What are some of the common challenges that you see TIP Scholars facing?
We often see students can dig themselves in a hole, because they’ve been too afraid to ask for help. They feel like, “Everyone else around me has it together. I don’t have it together.” But a lot of their peers feel exactly the same way. We are here to make sure that they have encouragement to ask for help early and to be successful.

How does your own background inform or influence your work?
I was a TIP Scholar when I came to UT from a small town in East Texas, back when the program first started. I see myself a lot in our students. Many of our students are coming from areas that may not be highly represented at the university, and they face struggles along the way. But I’m a Longhorn through and through and received both my degrees here. I bleed burnt orange. My wife was a TIP Scholar, and we met in a class in the TIP program. Now, we’re married with two little boys who we hope will be future TIP Scholars.

What has TIP discovered that other universities might learn from?
Over the years, we’ve worked to change the perspective of a sink-or-swim mentality with rigorous courses. From the beginning, TIP included students who had historically struggled in natural sciences courses. And we learned these students can and do succeed in rigorous courses with the right instruction, with the right support.

What’s next on the horizon?
We want to provide summer experiential learning support for TIP Scholars to maybe study abroad or do a two-week fellowship or research opportunity. So in honor of [TIP founder] Dr. David Laude, we have a campaign to establish the Laude Scholars, which would let students take advantage of these learning opportunities and connect with jobs, graduate schools or whatever’s next.

“We often see students can dig themselves in a hole, because they’ve been too afraid to ask for help. ...But a lot of their peers feel exactly the same way.”

Find more in an interview with TIP founder David Laude on the keys to students’ college success, and make a gift to the Laude Scholars.