Valdis Zalite, Director TRIO/Student
Support Services
Academic Support Centers
Southeast Missouri State University
After considering this year’s
conference theme: Collaboration and Innovation: The Journey of Transformation,
we thought we would share how collaborative efforts and actions helped the
Academic Support Centers at Southeast Missouri State University earn the
Innovative Academic Support Initiative from the American College Personnel
Association (ACPA)’s Commission for Academic Support in Higher Education (CASHE)
in 2012.
Academic support services often exist
as a separate entity on most campuses, positioned to provide support to
students across multiple disciplines and requiring a staff that is prepared to
assist students “where they are” to get them “where they want to be”. The challenges faced by the staff and
administrators in academic support vary, but two common obstacles are resources
and reputation. Funding is consistently
an issue that impacts hiring, salary, and functions. Reputation can often be
connected to institutional placement and understanding the true role of
academic support. The focus of this
article is to highlight the importance of collaboration within and between
institutions as a means to extend our resources and reinforce the vital
services that academic support programs provide to students.
Credibility
and Membership
Collaboration among the departments,
institutions and professional organizations in the field of higher education is
no longer a choice, it has become a necessity. When reviewing potential
partners in the academic support realm we must begin with forming relationships
that strengthen our credibility and extend our “reach” beyond the provision of
service and into the professional development and preparation of our staff and
student assistants.
The following information provides
potential opportunities to increase credibility at the institutional, program,
services, and the individual level for professional staff in addition to
providing guidance, support and certification for student, clerical and
administrative assistants. We are often familiar with the programs and
activities of ACPA and NASPA, this is an attempt to broaden our base of
information. When the staff is informed,
engaged and connected the challenge of collaboration becomes less daunting and
more attainable. This list is not exhaustive, and includes organizations that
you may be working with currently. The goal is to offer insight or to encourage
research into credibility driven connections that increase the likelihood of
stronger and longer lasting collaborations both on and off your campus.
The Center for Student Opportunity
At the institutional level, The Center
for Student Opportunity (CSO) provides information and resources that guide and
assist underserved, first-generation college-bound students in addition to
increasing the capacity for partner institutions to identify and connect with
the targeted population. By becoming a
partner with CSO, your institution promotes their support of college access for
this critical population. As a provider
of academic support your program/center can partner with the CSO to increase
your access to resources that provide insight and knowledge that can be used in
designing activities and services for your students from the target populations
in specific and all students in general.
At the program level, the Council for
Advancement of Standards in Higher Education provides programs and services
with the opportunity to engage in self-assessment to improve management,
policy, procedures and information sharing. This process allows staff members
to review current protocol, discuss new initiatives and to identify areas of
strength and weakness to better assess the state of programs and services
provided.
At the service level, the College
Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) offers a student-oriented focus in
reading, learning assistance, developmental education, tutoring and mentoring.
In addition to being an outstanding resource, CRLA also provides academic
support and tutorial programs with the opportunity to become certified. At the
tutoring level, once a program is certified collaboration with faculty and
staff becomes easier to develop based on the recognition that the programs and
services being provided to students have been reviewed and have received
certification as meeting standards approved by professionals in the field.
Mid-America Association of Educational
Opportunity Program Personnel
At the individual level, individual
membership provides professionals with the opportunity to connect, network and
address common strengths, challenges and goals among programs and
services. One example of this at the
regional level is the Mid-America Association of Educational Opportunity
Program Personnel (MAEOPP). Through active membership, individuals are provided
multiple professional development, networking and mentoring opportunities, as
well as conferences and seminars designed discuss best and promising practices
with other professionals serving similar student populations.
International Association of
Administrative Professionals (IAAP)
As higher education continues to
evolve, we as staff need to consistently seek opportunities to develop
professionally to prepare to meet the increasing needs of the students we
serve. Taking steps to increase the credibility
of the staff providing academic support services and programs provides the
basis for reaching out to other departments and our colleagues at other
institutions to start and sustain collaborative relationships. Earned credibility brings to the table many
important pieces to collaboration, especially the ability to network, the
initiative to be progressive and the desire to consistently improve services
provided.
Collaboration
and Execution
In order to address the need for
collaboration among diverse programs providing academic support at Southeast
Missouri State University we developed the Academic Support Centers. Bringing
together two university-based programs, two federally funded TRIO programs and
two Missouri Department of Higher Education (MDHE) grant funded programs provided
the opportunity to assist students in the targeted and general student
population with supportive services and the common link is the provision of
academic and learning assistance.
Collaborative partnerships between the university-based, state funded and
TRIO programs has lead to increased student success, increased resources, a
decrease in duplicated services and academic assistance programming for
students that are more accessible and effective.
The Academic Support Centers consist of
The College Access Challenge Grant (CACG), from MDHE – the Plan for College
Initiative, The Default Prevention Grant, from MDHE, Educational Access
Programs (university funded), Learning Assistance Programs (university funded),
TRIO/McNair Scholars Program (federally funded) and TRIO/Student Support
Services (federally funded).
Beginning with the focal point of
academic support and learning assistance, joint programming and initiatives
provide students’ access to College Success Seminars, Mentoring and Networking
Activities, Supplemental Financial Assistance, Financial Literacy Education, Performance
Based Grants, Work Opportunities and the cornerstones of our academic
assistance Supplemental Instruction and Tutorial Services.
This formal collaborative partnership
connects students to academic assistance, reduces program expenses and designs
trainings for the learning assistants that involve collaboration from faculty
and staff throughout the campus. Successful collaborative efforts have produced
stronger and more efficient services resulting in enhanced student learning and
improved academic performance.
The collaborative efforts of the
Centers extend to other departments across campus and to colleagues at other
universities and colleges. Working
closely with the staff of key departments on campus designed to support
students (Advising, Admissions, First-Year Experience and Student Transitions,
Student Financial Services, Counseling and Disability and Registration) the
activities noted above are planned with facilitators and professionals from
those departments to both extend our resources as well as develop the
partnerships necessary for proper referrals and support for students beyond the
scope of academic assistance.
Integration
and Advocacy
Developing collaborative partnerships
can set the foundation for integrating the academic support services into the
mission of the college or university.
Earlier we mentioned that often academic support services exist as a
separate entity, and at times the services can appear detached from academic
affairs, leaving us as an area that is an “add-on” versus a key player. Collaboration with faculty must move beyond
just providing referrals to services and into active program support. Faculty members serving as seminar or workshop
presenters, members of our advisory boards, or mentors to our learning
assistants integrates academic affairs into academic assistance, and can create
the type of advocacy for our programs that services alone cannot.
The goal of this article was to highlight
the many opportunities we have as providers of academic support to bring added
credibility to the crucial services we provide in the students’ journey to
their degree. Our discussion of the
Academic Support Centers at Southeast Missouri State University was given to
provide an example of a collaborative model that links similar programs from
different funding sources and our final goal is to encourage the continuation
of the discussion of integrating academic support services and academic
affairs. Below is a list of links that
explore these points.
Collaboration in Delivering Higher
Education Programs: Barriers and Challenges:
Lessons Learned: Eight Best
Practices for New Partnerships:
Powerful Partnerships: A Shared
Responsibility for Learning:
The National Dialogue on Academic and
Student Affairs Collaboration:
The Student Learning
Imperative: Implications for Student Affairs:
Academic support and
assistance is geared toward developing and supporting student learning as
defined in Learning Reconsidered (1994). Learning Reconsidered defines
learning as a comprehensive, holistic, transformative activity that integrates
academic learning and student development.
A focused collaborative effort, joining credible, certified services and
resources to academic affairs and pursuits continues to redefine learning in
higher education.
To continue the
conversation, please feel free to contact us at the email addresses below.
Adapted
from an article previously published in the ACPA’s Commission for Academic
Support in Higher Education (CASHE) Corner Newsletter
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