The Center for Academic Learning Support (CALS) at Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG) takes a holistic approach in supporting all aspects of a student's academic journey. Programming in CALS spans across Academic Advising, Academic Coaching, Content Support, Learning Communities, and Writing and Multi-Media Support. By centralizing this vast expanse of service areas, CALS is able to create a comprehensive system to support student success at every level.

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CALS was formed in 2020 through the merger of two existing units, the Learning Commons and the Seibel Learning Center. This merger enabled increased consistency in supporting learning on campus, and has allowed for a broader culture of collaboration and inclusion across professional and student staff and faculty. As the largest student employer on-campus, CALS has to work intentionally to cultivate camaraderie, buy-in, and community spirit on a large scale. Through multiple full-team trainings a year, ongoing cross-team meetings, and intentional collaborative projects, the unit has achieved an impressively tight-knit student staff.

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Like most institutions, the past year brought new challenges to the TAMUG campus. For the full 2020-2021 academic year, CALS shifted all peer-led services to a virtual environment, and kept staff-led services available both virtually and in-person. The majority of first year experience courses, coordinated by CALS and required for all freshman students, were quickly shifted to a hy-flex model. Compounding these shifts, the campus also implemented the EAB Navigate system in Fall 2020, and CALS adopted the system for use by all peer and professional staff for scheduling and appointment and data management. Despite these myriad challenges and changes, CALS managed to service an increased number of students with a decreased number of employees.