This fall, Trinity students will be able to access the new Student Success Center. The center allows students to achieve their full potential both in and out of the classroom.

“The Student Success Center is here to help students to realize their fullest potential,” said Stacy Davidson, director for academic success.

The Student Success center will help students with time management skills, study skills, note taking skills and test taking strategies. This can be done through one-on-one academic coaching or through workshops set up through the center.

“We are going to be offering workshops starting around mid-September. That’s when students start to find that “˜Hmm, I’m doing great but I might need a little help’ or “˜I’m not doing so great and I need a lot of help’,” Davidson said.

Before the implementation of the center, academic affairs and student affairs were handled as separate departments.

“In the past we carved up the world so that there were student affair parts of the university and academic affair parts. You went to one place if it was dealing with your student life and you went to another place if it was dealing with the academic side and courses,” said Danny Anderson, president of the university.

However, many in Trinity’s administration recognize that student affairs and academic affairs have influence on each other.
“From a student point of view you do not divide you experience into those two categories,” Anderson said.

The Student Success Center hopes to change the thinking that student affairs don’t have an effect on a student’s academic success.

“When I was in graduate school getting my Master’s degree in college student personnel, which is what prepares you to work as a college administrator, they were very clear that academic affairs and student affairs really don’t understand each other, and they don’t have any relationship with each other, which is a real disservice to the student,” Davidson said. “Those personal things that student affairs deal with, all [of] that impacts you directly in the classroom. You can’t separate the two.”

The Student Success Center was created as part of the Trinity Tomorrow Strategic Plan, a ten-year program for moving the university forward. The newest step in implementation includes two other centers: the Center for Experiential Learning and Career Success and the Center for International Citizenship.

According to the Trinity University website, all three centers “enhance its exceptional student-focused resources and academic opportunities.”

These centers provide students with new ways to reach their academic goals. The Student Success Center focuses on classroom aid while the other two have separate areas of focus that all contribute to a student’s overall success.

“The Student Success Center is really exciting because for years, students and parents have said, “˜I need tutoring help, I need advising help, supplemental advising help,’ things like that, and there’s no place to go to. And the response has been go to your professor. That just doesn’t cut it anymore,” said David Tuttle, associate vice president and dean of students.

Students looking for help from the Student Success Center can go to room 330F in Coates Library or can call or email Stacy Davidson.

“I am really looking forward to giving students the resources they need to be successful,” Davidson said.