by Aaron Butts
Academic Success has always been a valuable resource to students, however with this semester they have increased the level of the quality of service that they offer to students. Bruce Epps, director of Academic Success which is located on the second floor of the library is incredibly excited about the opportunities that his office has to offer students this year.
“We have two big initiatives that are new this year that we’re really excited about this year.” Epps said, “The first is Supplemental Instruction (SI) which has a tutor embedded in the classroom. We call that person the ‘SI leader’ who regularly attends class with the student and then conducts peer-facilitated study sessions with the students.” To try out this new SI system they are running it as a trial for only three classes, so chosen because of their introductory nature as well as their difficulty: math110, math120 and bio151.
“We are also doing peer academic counseling” Epps said, “we’ve selected a team of peer academic advisors who go through training to help students with navigating the rules and procedures of the university, as well as scheduling and using campus resources.” This is all meant to be a supplemental service to faculty advisors, so that students can gain an inside look at their major from an upperclassman in their field.
“We provide everything students need to be successful.” Epps said, “And actually that role has grown since we now are structurally connected with the office of Student and Community Engagement (SCE) and career services.”
This year there are other changes as well, such as the incorporation of Dr. Jody Fournier as the Dean of Studies, overseeing both academic and student affairs. “I will be working closely with bringing together the offices of Academic Success, Career Development, and Student and Community Engagement. And the idea is that we will be able to deal with all things related to student success as far as academics and co-curricular experiences. They’re all integrated.” Dr. Fournier said.
Really this placement of Dr. Fournier into this position of Dean of Studies is just completing work that was started years ago with the consolidation of the college “We used to have colleges with their own deans.” Dr. Fournier said, “It’s a unified college now.” What this means is that now representing the different schools there are assistant deans who then answer to the office for student success, providing a more cooperative system that promotes better communication between disciplines.
The whole purpose of Dr. Fournier’s new role is to allow a more helpful service to students by incorporating almost all aspects of life at Capital.
Also incorporated into this new structure is a reference desk on the second floor of the library outside the elevators that students can go to if they need help with something. “We’ve developed a hub for Student Success on the second floor of the library,” Dr. Fournier said, “Anne Sultzman is there as the front line to answer any questions that students may have, and she helps connect students with the services that they will need.”
Students who need help with anything that deals with student success can also call their new Student Success hotline (614) 236-7200, or email them at success@capital.edu
abutts@capital.edu
