UCO’s STLR Marks a Decade of Tracking Student Transformative Growth
Nov. 18, 2025
The University of Central Oklahoma’s Student Transformative Learning Record (STLR) is celebrating 10 years of transformative learning by helping students build real-world skills that go far beyond grades and transcripts.
STLR, pronounced “stellar,” provides students with opportunities to earn credit in five of UCO’s Central Six Tenets of Transformative Learning: Global and Cultural Competencies; Health and Wellness; Leadership; Research, Creative and Scholarly Activities; and Service Learning and Civic Engagement. Students engage with these areas by completing STLR-tagged assignments, participating in designated campus events, joining student organizations and contributing to extracurricular projects.
By engaging in STLR-tagged classes, campus events, student groups and projects, Bronchos have spent the past decade strengthening their leadership, cultural awareness, wellness, research and community engagement—all qualities that prepare them to thrive in today’s workplace.
“STLR demonstrates Transformative Learning’s efficacy on a number of metrics, including retention, academic achievement and positive impact on student success and faculty self-conceptions regarding their teaching,” said Jeff King, Ed.D., assistant vice president for transformative learning at UCO.
Over the past decade, STLR has delivered measurable results for students and gained international attention. STLR-engaged, first- and full-time freshmen have shown a 27% higher retention rate compared to their peers. Their average four-year graduation rate is more than 13 times higher than that of non-STLR students. The program’s success has also drawn interest from 54 institutions worldwide seeking to learn from UCO’s model.
“UCO’s STLR program is unique in two key ways. First, it established a Center for Excellence that uses transformative learning at the organizational level. Second, it developed a method to document and scale students’ transformative experiences,” said Janette Brunstein, Ph.D., director of the Center for Excellence in Transformative Teaching and Learning at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in São Paulo, Brazil.
“Inspired by these innovations, our Center for Excellence in Transformative Teaching and Learning and the Mackenzie Student Transformative Learning Record have been created at Mackenzie Presbyterian University.”
From 2014 to 2024, UCO students recorded more than 400,000 STLR engagements, resulting in over 200,000 credits. Students who participated consistently achieved higher GPAs and graduation rates than their peers, and freshmen who earned STLR credits returned for their sophomore year at significantly higher rates than non-STLR freshmen.
Transformative learning became part of UCO’s mission in 2006 through grassroots conversations and strong administrative support. The Center for Transformative Learning opened in 2010, and by 2014, a dedicated team of faculty and staff had developed the STLR framework. With the support of a $7.8 million U.S. Department of Education grant, STLR launched campuswide in fall 2015.
STLR aims to track, assess and provide information to help college students develop and use skills critical to their workplace, citizenship and personal success, such as problem-solving, interacting in a multicultural environment and working effectively as part of a team. Students graduate with a “second transcript” to demonstrate to potential employers their proven competency in these critical areas.
Learn more about UCO’s STLR program at go.uco.edu/STLR.
Cutline: The University of Central Oklahoma’s Student Transformative Learning Record (STLR) is celebrating 10 years of transformative learning by helping students build real-world skills that go far beyond grades and transcripts. By engaging in STLR-tagged classes, campus events, student groups and projects, Bronchos have spent the past decade strengthening leadership, cultural awareness, wellness, research and community engagement—all qualities that prepare them to thrive in today’s workplace. Pictured, a UCO student who earned STLR credit poses for a picture at commencement.
