Tigers Excel: Empower through Experience 

Executive Summary for the University of Memphis Quality Enhancement Plan

The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Tigers Excel: Empower through Experience (Tigers Excel) aims to enhance undergraduate students’ career readiness by expanding experiential learning opportunities across the institution. Experiential learning was chosen as the QEP focus because research demonstrates that participation in such activities benefits students by improving problem-solving skills, critical thinking, career readiness, and overall engagement. Despite these benefits, gaps remain in the availability of such opportunities, particularly for historically underserved populations. At UofM, accessibility and support for underserved students are institutional priorities, with 44% and 45% of Fall 2024 undergraduates identifying as first-generation and Pell-eligible, respectively, reflecting a significant number of students from low-income and underserved backgrounds. Tigers Excel addresses these gaps by developing an infrastructure to cultivate and support a more diverse offering of experiential learning activities and increasing student awareness of how these activities connect to career competency development.

The focus of Tigers Excel is on broadening the scope of course-based experiential learning through faculty training and development, increasing opportunities for on-campus internships that include career competency development, and developing training resources, including a student toolkit and a Career Development Digital Pathway. These efforts will help students connect inside- and outside-the-classroom experiences to career-readiness competencies and career-related transferable skills. This QEP directly supports the goals and objectives of the University’s 2023-2028 Strategic Plan, Ascend, by addressing one of the institutional objectives to “prepare our students for the workforce, entrepreneurial ventures, and graduate school, and perhaps more importantly, preparing them for lifelong professional and career success” (UofM, 2023, p. 10). Tigers Excel aims to achieve this by creating an intentional learning environment where undergraduate students have multiple opportunities to participate in experiential learning activities and connect these experiences to the development of career competency skills. Another Ascend institutional objective is to produce graduates who are successful in their careers and lives. Part of this success lies in ensuring students gain the necessary skills to enter and advance in the workforce. Tigers Excel builds on the University’s mission by expanding, enhancing, and elevating experiential learning opportunities across the institution.