Student Centeredness: Their Success Is Our Success

At IUP, students come first.

That fundamental belief is the driving force behind everything we do. We call it being a truly student-centered university, and what it means is that we use our resources to benefit all of our students so that every time they succeed–in a big way or a small way–IUP succeeds.

“Students bring their inputs, and we show them how to learn and how to better understand themselves by centering them in their work,” says Tom Segar, IUP’s vice president for Student Affairs. “We provide an environment that’s conducive to them being successful.”

Becoming a student-centered university is a goal the university adopted as part of its 2020 strategic plan. President Michael Driscoll asked all faculty, staff, and administrators to do their part to ensure every student feels safe, welcome, and productive.

“Every one of us is an ambassador for IUP, independent of our position here,” Segar says. “We’re all in it together. We’re all here for our students.”

At IUP, each student has every opportunity to be successful in and out of the classroom. Students today come to college with issues and concerns that need to be met in different ways. Making their success a priority means putting students at the center of what we do.

Many of the developments at IUP in the past few years are centered around student success. Ranging from the construction of a new building to house the Kopchick College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics to creating the University College, which helps formerly “undeclared” students explore their academic options, to instituting the Guides Program, which builds mentoring relationships between faculty or staff and new students, the needs of IUP students have been put first.

Some students come to IUP not fully equipped to handle the time demands, academic rigor, and social aspects of college. So, we work to provide them with resources to make the journey a bit easier with such things as the Counseling Center, where they can receive mental health assistance; the Kathleen Jones White Writing Center, where they can get help with all aspects of college writing; and the Hawks Q&A Center, where they can go to have their questions about anything on campus answered.

“Our primary objective is to educate students, but we also have to meet their needs in other ways,” Segar says. “We know that what they do when they leave here depends on what they do when they’re here.”

The drive for student success goes beyond support services and new facilities. IUP students are also given unique opportunities to enhance their academic journey.

In the U-SOAR (Undergraduate Summer Opportunities for Applying Research) program, students can undertake research projects side by side with a faculty member to get more than a textbook education. Students can also travel abroad to continue their education in all corners of the world, giving them a truly global perspective. And with more than 250 clubs and organizations, students can meet like-minded people and find ways to make social change, improve their own lives, or learn something new.

IUP students also benefit from scholarships that help make an already affordable education less expensive. We concluded the Imagine Unlimited campaign in 2021, having raised a record-breaking $81 million from our alumni and friends that we will use to create more opportunities for our students.

Thanks to an anonymous gift, in the summer of 2021 we created the Crimson Scholars Circle program, which aims to help Black and Brown students get a head start on their first year at IUP. We bring them to campus a week early, and they learn the layout of the 374-acre campus, meet staff and administrators who are here to help them, and get assigned a student mentor who shows them

ways to be successful. If students stay in the yearlong program, they are awarded a $1,000 scholarship.

With efforts such as the Crimson Scholars Circle program, as well as the housing scholarship, in which students who choose to live on campus get $1,000 toward their college expenses, and the Student Assistance Fund, which helps students with needs relating to their work toward a degree, IUP is putting student success front and center.

Our students are getting more than a good education. They also receive the help they need and are given opportunities to create a world-class education at an affordable price. And when they graduate, they continue to be highly sought-after in the job market.

“We’re creating memories at IUP,” Segar says, “and we want our students to leave here feeling great about their decision to come to IUP. We’ve done all this because it helps students learn, but also it allows them to enjoy their time here.”