Provost fellow leads initiative to give Roadrunners an advantage in their careers

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023 — UTSA Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Heather Shipley today announced the appointment of Tammy Wyatt as provost fellow. Wyatt, who is senior vice provost for student success, will oversee an initiative to align all of the university’s offerings related to workforce credentials.

Workforce credentials encompass a diverse range of programs, including badges, licenses, certificates, certifications, and even certain degrees. They can help showcase a job candidate’s skillset and abilities in a broad number of disciplines and may even be essential for entering certain industries. These credentials support UTSA's mission to foster economic and social growth in San Antonio and Texas, while also benefiting potential employers by equipping students with career-ready skills.

“In conjunction with traditional undergraduate and graduate degree programs, credentials will play an increasingly pivotal role in preparing the future workforce, and UTSA aspires to lead the way in providing students with opportunities to attain credentials,” said Shipley.

“Credentials will play an increasingly pivotal role in preparing the future workforce, and UTSA aspires to lead the way in providing students with opportunities to attain credentials.”

In her role as senior vice provost for student success, Wyatt focuses on supporting Roadrunner students on their future career paths to make them competitive graduates. Notably, she and her team worked closely with each college to create or expand college-based student success centers to help connect university-wide initiatives to college resources.

“That hub-and-spoke model of the student success centers offers an ideal framework for seamlessly incorporating workforce-ready credentials into our curricular and co-curricular programs,” said Shipley.

In addition to working closely with the colleges, successfully aligning UTSA’s workforce credentials also depends on aid from academic support divisions including Academic Innovation, the Graduate School, Career-Engaged Learning, Student Affairs and others, said Wyatt.

As an example, Academic Innovation successfully launched a Google Project Management Certificate program in the fall of 2022, spanning 12 different courses in areas like Women's Studies, humanities, modern languages, and literatures. This comprehensive certificate program covered crucial aspects of project planning and management, fostering relationships with stakeholders, procurement and risk management. By seamlessly integrating certificate programs into their curricula, students can acquire valuable project management skills directly relevant to their chosen fields of study.

Additional examples include the UTSA Graduate School digital badges, which draw from various programs across UTSA to cater to the professional development needs of graduate students, faculty and staff. Moreover, the Grow With Google HSI Career Readiness Program, offered through the Honors College and Career Center, offers another avenue for UTSA students to enhance their career prospects.

“Workforce credentials enhance our students’ competitiveness in the job market compared to peers holding similar degrees or levels of experience. It is critical that we align our efforts around these efforts,” said Wyatt. “I am honored for this opportunity to further collaborate with my colleagues across the university to enhance UTSA’s education-to-workforce pipeline for the benefit of our students.”

Wyatt added that part of her efforts will be toward supporting Texas House Bill 3767, enacted in 2021, which calls for the establishment of a statewide database of credentials offered by public institutions and education/training programs to analyze education and workforce trends effectively.

JoAnn Browning previously served as provost fellow before assuming the role of interim vice president for research and economic development on June 1

“I am grateful to JoAnn for beginning this critical work and look forward to working with Tammy as she advances our efforts around workforce credentials,” said Shipley.

— Rebecca Luther