Celebrating 40 Years of CASP: An Interview With Carol Dochen

Abstract

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36896/4.2jc1

Carol Dochen, PhD, is the director of the Student Learning Assistance Center (SLAC) at Texas State University (TXST). She also serves as the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) coordinating prelaw advisor for TXST and taught University Seminar 1100 from 1994 to 2020. Carol actively participates in state, regional, and national professional organizations for both developmental education and prelaw advising as a mentor, presenter, author, and consultant. She was awarded the Mariel M. Muir Excellence in Mentoring Award in 2019, the Texas State University System Regent’s Staff Excellence Award in 2020, and the First-Year Student Advocate Award from the National Resource Center at the First Year Experience (FYE) conference in 2020. Carol earned a BS in psychology/guidance studies and an MEd in school psychology from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. She earned her PhD in higher education administration, with a minor in educational psychology, from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been employed at TXST since 1974. Carol served as TADE Past President, 1982–1984, and is currently CASP Historian. SLAC is a multi-faceted academic support learning center free of charge to TXST students. The center provides individual, group, and online tutoring services, Supplemental Instruction, learning and study skills workshops, standardized test preparation, and learning specialist consultations. SLAC serves over 13,000 students, with over 52,000 student visits per year. Hundreds of outreach presentations are also provided yearly for orientation, University Seminar 1100 classes, and student organizations. SLAC’s latest initiative is the Veterans Academic Success Center, housed within the SLAC lab, which provides support for military-connected students.