UTC Applied Leadership program, doctoral student earn ACHE South honors

A University of Tennessee at Chattanooga academic program designed to help working adults finish their degrees has earned regional recognition from peers across the South.

The UTC Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Leadership program received the 2026 Distinguished Credit Program Award from the Association for Continuing Higher Education (ACHE) South during the organization’s annual conference in Savannah, Georgia.

At the same conference, UTC doctoral candidate Marci Reiter received the Joseph P. Goddard Scholarship Award for research focused on improving success for adult learners.

For Applied Leadership and Learning faculty members Beth Crawford and David Rausch, the ACHE South recognition was meaningful because it came from peers who understand the challenges of designing programs for students whose educational journeys often look very different from the traditional college experience.

“We’re the only program that does it quite the way we do it,” said Crawford, a UC Foundation Professor and department head and programs advisor in the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies. “ACHE South is made up of our peers. To have a group of our peers recognize that what we’re doing is special and meaningful and helping adult learners move forward was a big honor.”

According to its website, ACHE South presents the Distinguished Credit Program Award to recognize programs designed specifically for students balancing careers, families and other responsibilities while completing their degrees. Programs were judged on innovation, creativity, success, impact and adaptability.

UTC’s BAS Applied Leadership program is fully online and structured to give working adults flexibility while maintaining consistent interaction with faculty members.

“I think the focus that we have on the student is critical,” said Rausch, a professor and associate dean in the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies. “We do a lot of student support. We spend time with the individual students, even though it’s an online program. We do lots of Zooms and we have many students who—even though it’s online—come in for meetings with faculty. It’s a very high-touch program.”

Many students in the program are returning to higher education after years away from the classroom, and most are working full-time while completing their degrees. The program is designed to help them succeed in that environment, as students can enroll full- or part-time.

Courses are delivered in a seven-week format with virtual office hours. The curriculum focuses on leadership practice, ethics, decision-making and organizational change—skills that students often apply in their workplaces.

Students can also receive credit for prior learning—including workplace training, certifications or military service—helping them build on the experience they already bring to the classroom.

For Rausch, the goal is simple: help students finish what they started.

“We’re pretty high intensity about it. If you’re in this program, we want you to complete this program. We’re very much here for you to finish,” he said.

Rausch said the most meaningful feedback often comes from the graduates themselves.

“We get a psychic paycheck every time someone graduates and we hear their story,” he said.

Recognition from ACHE South, he added, confirms that the program is achieving what its creators intended.

“It’s a measure of whether we did what we said we were going to do and whether it’s having an impact,” he said.

According to Crawford, in the program’s first four years, more than 100 students have graduated, many of whom once believed earning a college degree might not be possible.

The conference recognition also included a spotlight on research connected to UTC’s Leadership and Decision-Making doctoral program.

Marci Reiter, director of first-year experiences and an associate professor at Cleveland State Community College, received the Joseph P. Goddard Scholarship Award while presenting research focused on adult learners.

Reiter presented her doctoral research, titled “The Impact of an Adult-Focused First-Year Seminar Course on Tennessee Reconnect Students,” last fall. Using a quasi-experimental design, she compared retention and graduation outcomes among adult learners who completed the specialized seminar course, a traditional first-year experience course or no readiness course at all.

“My research uncovered the usefulness of an adult-focused first-year seminar course for adults who are coming back to or starting college after years away from the classroom,” Reiter explained. “My research showed statistical significance of the year one to year two retention rates for this population of students who completed such a course while also identifying specific characteristics, motivators and barriers to success for this group.”

Reiter said the project was shaped by her own experience returning to college.

“Being an adult learner myself, I knew my characteristics, motivations and possible barriers to my retention and completion were much different than they were when I was entering my undergraduate journey at the age of 18,” she said. “These factors, along with the ability to take an initiative I created, piloted, implemented and sustained, spoke to my passion and my drive to make the higher education sector more effective and supportive for the adult learner population.”

Receiving the scholarship while presenting her work at the conference represented a fitting moment as she completes her doctoral degree.

“It was such an honor and blessing to receive this award from such a reputable and distinguished organization,” Reiter said. “With my doctoral journey coming to an end, the opportunity to present my research was extremely exciting and rewarding.”

Adult learners, Rausch said, often return to college with different motivations and responsibilities than traditional first-time freshmen. Programs designed with those realities in mind can make the difference between starting a degree and completing one.

Helping students reach that finish line, Crawford said, remains the goal.

“We’re committed to this group,” she said. “Helping adult learners move forward is what these programs are designed to do.”

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