Sustainable Mocs RLC members participated in the Fall Festival hosted by UTC’s Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science. Photo by Angela Foster.
Over 180 students residing in Decosimo Apartments at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga are gearing up for a year of living and learning among their peers with the Arts and Sciences Residential College (A&SRC).
This year celebrates the third anniversary of the A&SRC, and students will not only focus on academic and social connections, but they’re also taking on a new initiative—community service.
The A&SRC includes 10 residential learning communities (RLCs) made up of students with similar interests or areas of study, including Sustainable Mocs for Biology, Geology and Environmental Science majors; Music Row for music majors; Content Creators for communication majors; and CAS Explorers for undeclared students in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The highlight of this year’s service initiative is the inaugural A&SRC Food Drive, kicking off on Wednesday, Sept. 11—Patriot Day—and running until Sept. 26. Partnering with Scrappy’s Cupboard, the drive will be led by A&SRC student volunteers.
Volunteers from each RLC will decorate collection boxes, which will be placed in the main offices of academic departments across campus to encourage donations.
In addition to the food drive, A&SRC students will have the chance to get involved in other service activities, including:
- United Way Day of Caring, which will include UTC campus beautification, Normal Park trail cleanup, CHATT Foundation 700-block cleanup and more.
- IRONMAN Chattanooga, where students will staff an aid station to support the athletes competing.
- Tennessee River Rescue, a Tennessee Riverpark cleanup project.
- A&SRC service at CHATT Foundation, where students will serve dinner to Chattanooga’s homeless.
- Gratefull, a Thanksgiving meal service for the Chattanooga community.
- Individual service opportunities.
AdvanceU members at 2023 Day of Caring
“What we’re after is nurturing this kind of resiliency and tenacity in our students so that they can be successful, get a degree and go practice successfully,” said Dr. Niky Tejero, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and organizer of the college’s RLCs. “I believe through community and volunteer service, we can accomplish multiple things.”
Tejero explained that service activities will encourage students to explore the city of Chattanooga while also providing a break from college stress.
“It helps them to see their capacity,” she said. “It creates a sense of empowerment, a sense of agency and oftentimes even directs them into particular directions as a way of focusing passions and translating them into actions.
“If we can mold them at that level, they become more powerful in anything that they work on, whether it’s academics, their co-curricular activities, social or community engagement. If they find a sense of inner strength, then whatever they do becomes amplified.”
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For those interested in joining the A&SRC for the 2025-26 academic year, visit the A&SRC webpage for application information or email cas-rlc@utc.edu.
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Tejero encouraged first-year College of Arts and Sciences students to join the A&SRC, calling it a way to build community and get involved while navigating life away from home for the first time.
“They’re in a vulnerable position they haven’t been in before,” she said. “It’s so important to find a place where there are people that have similar interests as you, who have similar goals as you, who can grow to be your confidants and your support network.
“We hope we are helping them transform themselves, but that’s hard. I liken it to the butterfly that emerges from the chrysalis. That’s no picnic.”
Students in RLCs will have built-in support, Tejero explained, with the help of peers in their community as well as faculty-in-residence member Dr. Luis Sanchez Diaz, an assistant professor in Chemistry and Physics who lives in Decosimo Apartments.
“To have somebody that they can form a connection with in the residence hall to demystify the role of the professor is crucial,” she said. “To break down that wall a little bit so that when things get hard, they will have someone in their vicinity that they can knock on their door.”
Learn more
A&SRC: The Arts and Sciences Residential College
Home away from home: New residential learning communities create ‘a sense of belonging’
