Photo by Kathleen Creedon

The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) has lead to changes throughout the Tiger Learning Commons (TLC), including new directors and tutoring programs.

Betty Curry, who had been the interim director for academic support, has taken on the position formally. Curry was unavailable for comment by the time of publication. Formerly the director of the Writing Center, Jennifer Rowe is the new director of Tutoring Programs. According to Rowe, her new position is similar to her last but on a school-wide scale.

“We have tutoring already. My job is to make students more aware of that tutoring and to support departments in strengthening tutor training programs,” Rowe said. “All of this is in close alignment with changes that are being implemented because of the QEP, which really focuses on first-year success. My goal is that all of our participating programs will receive certification through the College Reading and Learning Association, which will ultimately better align Trinity’s tutoring programs with our peer and aspirant institutions.”

Along with working with major departments, Rowe will be working with Myeshia Smith, assistant director for Student Accessibility Services, and Jessica Reyes, Student Accessibility specialist, to expand tutoring access.

“One of [the] deepest parts of my mission is to make tutoring equitable for all Trinity students. So that means training tutors to work with students at all ability levels, at all levels of learning, to provide services that take into account any accommodations a student might need,” Rowe said. “We want our tutoring services to be inclusive so making sure we’re reaching out to all Trinity students and making everyone feel welcome so that everybody has a chance to take advantages of those services.”

Travis Snyder, the ESL and Developmental Writing Specialist, was hired in the spring of 2018 and works in this position part-time and temporarily.

“I work with students who desire persistent writing tutoring, as opposed to help on individual assignments. The position was created in mind for multilingual students or students with cognitive and/or mental health disabilities,” Snyder wrote over an email interview.

Although Snyder doesn’t intend to transition full-time into this position, Rowe is interested in making this a permanent resource at Trinity.

“Hopefully something I can announce in the future is that we have something more permanent for our international students or students for whom English is not their first language,” Rowe said.

After beginning the search in the fall of 2018, Trinity has hired a director for the new Quantitative Reasoning Skills Center. Luke Tunstall started this new position at Trinity on Feb. 1.

“Quantitative skills are important across a lot of different disciplines and majors, and one of the needs that administrators and faculty have seen over the last couple years here is a need for support for students in those classes,” Tunstall said. “Small private liberal arts colleges have had these sorts of centers for a little while now, so Trinity is sort of getting up to speed in having something like that.”

Alongside Rowe, Tunstall will be meeting with tutors already working in departments to come up with a model for peer tutor training. Tunstall will be meeting specifically with math peer tutors and will begin formerly working with them in the fall of 2019.

“I’ll be working with the faculty in those courses to meet with the peer tutors that they already have and learn what they’re doing, what sort of issues and successes, that they’re experiencing,” Tunstall said.

In these coming months, Tunstall will be working out the specifics of the new quantitative tutoring center that was created with the new director position.

“One of things that’s included [in the QEP] as support for students is quantitative reasoning peer tutors. I don’t know if that’s going to be the existing math tutors associated with the courses that they’re already working in, or if it’s going to be for in general quantitative help,” Tunstall said. “[But] part of this position is that there will likely be specifically quantitative reasoning tutors associated with this position.”

For ore information, stop by the TLC on the third floor of Coates Library.