LCU recognizes that students often face significant challenges that have the potential to derail them and prevent them from fulfilling their dreams of completing a college education. Challenges that hinder students’ success were identified during the 2016–2017 QEP (Quality Enhancement Plan) topic selection process conducted by a committee of LCU faculty and staff. Consequently, a determined focus toward addressing these challenges was made a priority by the university in an effort to serve the needs of our students and strengthen the mission of the university, preparing students for lives of purpose and service. To do so we recognized that we must purposefully attend to factors that affect students’ potential for success and their ability to persevere through adversity. Based on this ideal, we determined that the purpose of our QEP would be to instill and foster academic tenacity among beginning undergraduate students in order to both establish and bolster persistence.
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Dr. Cathy Box is the Director for the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship (CTLS) at Lubbock Christian University where she also serves as the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Director, and formerly served as the founding Program Coordinator for the Curriculum and Instruction Master’s Program in the Graduate School of Education. She has been at LCU since the fall of 2008, serving as an Associate Professor in the School of Education before assuming her role as Director of the CTLS. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, a Master of Science in Multidisciplinary Science, and a Bachelor of Science from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. In her duties at Lubbock Christian University she provides faculty development and enrichment programs for all faculty, she leads the EquipLCU Learning Scholars as they find ways to enhance learning in their college courses, and she teaches graduate courses that focus on enhancing instruction and assessment practices in the classroom. Dr. Box is the author of the book Formative Assessment in United States Classrooms: Changing the Landscape of Teaching and Learning, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2018 and serves as a consultant for schools, teachers, and faculty at the local, state, and national level.