2025 Season’s Greetings from TLED!
December 11, 2025
As the year draws to a close, the Teaching & Learning Excellence Division (TLED) extends warm wishes to all Austin Community College (ACC) faculty and staff. The past year has been marked by a shared commitment to supporting student success. We are profoundly grateful to work alongside you.
Throughout 2025, TLED advanced several initiatives designed to foster instructional excellence, strengthen the ACC community, and elevate the faculty experience. Below are some highlights of the moments and milestones that shaped our year.
Highlights from TLED:
Learning That Elevates Our Community
Spring Development Day kicked off 2025 with the theme “Spring Forward: Creating a Mosaic of Opportunities.” More than 500 faculty and staff participated in 28 sessions and a HyFlex keynote, exploring new strategies in instructional innovation, leadership, workplace productivity, and student engagement.
As part of the College’s newly launched Faculty Growth Series, this event offered a focused opportunity for faculty to deepen their practice under the theme “The Connected Classroom.” Sessions centered on belonging, Universal Design for Learning, and practical applications of AI in teaching.
Remote Recess continued to offer a fun, low-stakes space for faculty and staff to explore emerging technologies and practical teaching tools. Across 21 sessions this year, more than 400 participants engaged with topics ranging from Blackboard Ultra to Adobe Express, building skills while strengthening community and curiosity.
The College expanded access to professional learning through a new partnership with Coursera, offering employees and students free entry into industry-recognized credentials and high-demand skill pathways. Courses developed by leading organizations, such as Google, IBM, and Meta, support career readiness, continuous learning, and the development of future-focused skills.
Engagement and Connection to Build Relationships
The annual Teaching & Leadership Excellence Awards honored faculty and staff for exceptional teaching, leadership, and innovation. Recognition included the Teaching Excellence Awards, E-Faculty of the Year, DAISY Award for Nursing, and the introduction of the new Queen Samantha Ackers College Values Award, celebrating individuals who embody ACC’s core values.
Badging Framework for Engagement
Through the 2024–25 Transform_Ed cohort, TLED developed Take Flight: A New Framework for Engaging at ACC. This model offers small, stackable awards for milestones that lead to a skill or goal. This work is now being integrated into both student and employee-focused efforts.
TLED hosted two Red Bench Dialogue events in 2025, centered on the themes of “Courage” and “Joy.” These gatherings brought together students, employees, and community members for shared conversations that fostered deep listening, mutual understanding, and a respectful exchange of perspectives.
To support reflection and connection, TLED introduced “No Events Summer,” a season dedicated to internal community-building. Special offerings included Motivational Mentoring Mondays, a weekly virtual drop-in for conversations about leadership and team culture, and Talk-O Tuesdays, informal campus visits designed to support faculty and staff while strengthening connections across the district.
More than 2,500 employees participated in General Assembly 2025, a day devoted to connection, inspiration, and learning under the theme “Building a Culture of Love…Together.” The event featured employee recognitions, a keynote, a State of the College address, a 31-department resource fair, and 47 breakout sessions on inclusive pedagogy, AI tools, wellness, advising, and belonging.
Supporting Change for Future Readiness
Enrollment Surge and New Faculty Outreach
ACC entered fall 2025 with one of its largest enrollment increases on record, reaching approximately 43,941 students, up 10.2% from fall 2024. To meet this demand, the College added nearly 500 new course sections and welcomed more than 350 new faculty members. TLED’s Faculty Talent Onboarding program played a critical role in preparing these new colleagues, ensuring they began the semester connected, supported, and ready to contribute to student success.
AI Integration & Innovation Initiatives
TLED led or contributed to a wide range of AI efforts across the College, including coordinated pilots, faculty training, and the development of an AI Fundamentals digital badge. The division also supported AI-focused sessions at major learning events and created an ACC Guide to Generative AI. Library Services expanded this work by partnering with the North Austin AI Meetup to host monthly forums on AI in education and industry. Together, these efforts strengthened digital fluency and advanced responsible, effective AI adoption across the College.
These highlights represent only a portion of the projects and initiatives TLED has undertaken this year. From faculty-centered professional development to initiatives that strengthened collaboration and instructional excellence across the College, our collective efforts focus on enriching the teaching and learning environment at ACC. You can explore more of our accomplishments and initiatives by viewing our Executive Reports.
As we pause to rest, celebrate, or reconnect with loved ones, we take time to reflect on the meaningful work we have done together with partners across the College this year and revel in the beauty of our ACC community. We look forward to carrying this momentum into 2026 and continuing to advance transformative teaching and learning to support our students’ goals and dreams.
Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a hopeful start to the new year,
TLED Leadership
