The Texas Interdisciplinary Plan is a collection of selective academic programs that has operated jointly out of the College of Natural Sciences and College of Liberal Arts since 2002. The Texas Interdisciplinary Plan's mission is to transform the learning experience for its students by creating small academic communities that first promotes academic excellence and then encourages intellectual investment. The main programs housed in the Texas Interdisciplinary Plan include TIP Scholars, the TIP Fellows and, the TIP Academic Peer Mentor Academy. Together, these programs will serve approximately 900 students each year. Many students participate in all programs and therefore, are served all 4 years of their college career.

TIP Scholars

The TIP Scholars program provides a small-college experience to approximately 325 freshmen each year through linked classes, a critical thinking course, tutoring, dedicated advising and peer mentoring and support continues into their second year. TIP Scholars targets students who have excelled in high school even in the face of adversity. Students must apply and be selected to the program.

TIP Fellows

TIP Fellows are given the rare opportunity to personalize their degrees by designing a curricular plan around an interdisciplinary topic of their choice. The program is open to any undergraduate in good academic standing. In addition, students are provided scholarship support for research, internships or study-abroad opportunities related to their topic. At the completion of the course work, each student enrolls in the Capstone Seminar to write a major research paper for publication.

TIP Mentor Academy (TMA)

This nationally certified mentoring and tutoring program selects and trains academically successful undergraduates from the Colleges of Natural Sciences, Liberal Arts, and Education to mentor and tutor TIP scholars. Mentor selection is highly competitive. Mentors work with a small group of four to six freshmen and may tutor one or more academic subjects in the TIP Scholars Learning Lab.  Mentor training is completed by enrolling in NSC 321:  Introduction to Peer Mentoring and Leadership.  This course focuses on issues of ethics, leadership, and student identity development theory within the scope of the undergraduate experience and is based on current literature and research in the field.

TIP Staff