Nearly all University of Iowa students take an introductory rhetoric course to fulfill the speech and writing portion of their general education requirements, but only 59% of students who receive a D, F, or Withdrawal in their rhetoric course stay on campus. In addition, students who earn a C or lower in their required rhetoric course report that they feel less prepared for upper-level college courses. Troubled by these statistics, Dana Thomann, a lecturer in the Department of Rhetoric, partnered with ASR to create Success in Rhetoric (SIR), a new and growing embedded peer tutoring program.

20 University of Iowa students this fall are participating in an embedded peer tutoring program that helps meet two goals of the UI Strategic Plan 2016-2021: (1) to increase course-linked academic support options for gateway courses such as rhetoric and (2) for 60% of all undergraduates to participate in three or more high impact practices before they graduate.