FALL 2018
Hope & Healing Dr. Tony Lazzara
honored with Integritas Vitae Award The Inauguration of President Tania Tetlow
schedule of events
The Promise of
SUCCESS All the resources students need to keep them on the path to graduation in one centralized new location
For some students, the second floor of the library is just a place to study. For students like Oanh Nguyen who benefit from personalized coaching and resources, it’s the fulfillment of a promise.
The Promise of
SUCC
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Oanh Nguyen came to New Orleans from Vietnam at the age of 12. She is a first-generation college student and credits her time at the Student Success Center for improving her speaking and writing skills. Nguyen studied abroad in Amsterdam this past spring and will graduate in May with a degree in psychology.
CESS BY WILL GLASS
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You're
accepte
These two words signal something really important to every collegebound student in America. And not necessarily what you'd expect. More than some kind of academic victory or achievement — though that's also what it is, no doubt — that acceptance packet signals a homecoming.
It tells the student that they've found the place that they belong for the next four years. The place they'll grow, develop, succeed. And it tells them, too, that the college has found them. In the past three years, it's become one of the biggest parts of Loyola's mission that we finish what we start when we admit a student. That we raise our standard of excellence,
increase accountability, and follow through on our promise that their success starts here. That each student lives up to the potential that got them into Loyola in the first place.
And now, we have a space and a crew dedicated to just that promise. 12
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ed! A day in the Pan-American Life Student Success Center
Sitting in the second floor of the library, I get to see the Student Success Center, or SSC, in action on an average day. Kids signing in on the wall-mounted iPad. Tutors lying in wait for appointments or walkins. Some, depending on the subject, fielding multiple students at once. And explaining things like derivatives and limits — things I mercifully have not been quizzed on during my career as a writer. But the point is, it's busy. In 2017-2018, the SSC's former location saw 995 individual students — and every college and undergraduate major program was represented. The new center, only open since June 2018, is on pace to beat these numbers before fall break. In the first month of school alone, there have been more than 400 coaching meetings, 350
advising meetings, and 275 tutor visits. In total, the SSC gets between 80 and 200 students per day. And somehow — “It's the right kind of quiet,” Nick Silverman ’20 says. Nick frequents the center for his testing accommodations and makes a habit of studying here several days a week. He's there most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The staff gets to know people's schedules like that. It's part of what's made the retention effort such a success. Starting in April 2017 as part of Project Magis, Liz Rainey, director of the Pan-American Life Student Success Center, led the campus-wide retention committee, which was composed of dedicated faculty and staff who deeply cared about one thing — seeing our students persist and graduate. “Our work yielded investments in the coaching and advising programs,” Rainey says, “as well as funding for study abroad, intentional programming, and software to track student interactions. Most of all, we created crosscollaborative energy and partners. We truly worked together to do what it took to see our students succeed. “We know that more students using our services means more of them remain on the path to graduation,” she continued. “This stunning space and significant uptick in visits will keep us on the uptrend we started more than a year ago.” While new, having just opened in June, this updated SSC is a resounding punctuation mark at the end of an extremely successful campaign to increase retention. So not an end then, I guess. A beginning. A successful one. Over the past three years, Loyola's retention rate has increased 8 percent — from 77 to 85 percent. The SSC is the culmination, taking many of the practices that made the increase possible and putting them in one place. And sure, a big part of that increase comes from things that happen behind the curtain — asking the right questions when students mention the possibility of transfer, vigilance in making sure simple fixes aren't overlooked — but the stuff you can see just sitting in the center is really fun to watch. Because — watching from a comfy chair by the window, I should note, I guess, that I told a little fib. This is not a completely average day in the SSC — the new tutors have their training today. These students — about 40 compassionate peer tutors — will be part of the SSC team, committing to their fellow students and to Loyola's standard of excellence. What I witness then is a sort of boot camp for them. Led by Dr. Samar Sarmini, assistant director for mathematics support, it goes far beyond just effective tutoring techniques and
into best practices for dealing with anxious or resistant students: conversational techniques as specific as redirecting questions, keeping conversations open, and even body language that empowers the student. “We’re trained to give the student the pen,” Lisa Jackson ’21, a writing tutor, says. These tutors, like the SSC itself, will be instrumental in the success of their peers. But they're just a part of what the SSC offers. This place is a center literally devoted to student success only. A one-stop shop for whatever point of excellence needs sharpening. Check page 16 for a breakdown of all of the facility's services. It's incredible. And what's more incredible — the tangible results the center has seen in its attendees.
Put Me In, Coach
LeBron James is the all-time NBA playoffs scoring leader. He's won four NBA MVP awards and two Olympic gold medals. He is, by many accounts, the greatest basketball player alive. And — he still has a coach. This is Director of Writing and Learning Services Robert Bell's philosophy in a nutshell: Coming to the SSC doesn't need to indicate struggle or catastrophe. Instead, it's preparation for victory — for success. Simply put, people come here to practice. “I want students who come into the center to be empowered to walk in and think: ‘Wait, this isn't where people go because they're having trouble. It's where people go because they're engaging in the material more,’” Bell says. “That's what academics do. They sit around and talk about the stuff they're studying and learning about. That's what I want this place to be. A place where people can come and talk about what they're learning. And then maybe the person you're talking with knows a little more and can guide you along that journey a little more. I think that's better for everybody instead of, like, ‘Here's the right answer.’” Enter Oanh Nguyen. When she started at Loyola, Oanh Nguyen ’19 worried most about how she expressed herself. She knew what she wanted to say but, in her words, struggled to put thought to paper. It’s a common stumbling block for most college students, but Nguyen had the added obstacle of writing in English as her second language. She came to New Orleans from Vietnam when she was 12. When she enrolled at Loyola in the fall of 2015, she became the first person in her family to attend college. She knew she would need support. She quickly discovered the Student Success Center — when it was still on the first floor of Marquette Hall. FALL 2018 | loyno
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And she found it to be a second home. She returned weekly, sometimes daily, because her writing improved. A native Vietnamese speaker, Nguyen also credits her time in Student Success for improving her speaking skills. “People there didn’t judge me or my accent,” Nguyen says. “It opened me up to speak more.” Here, at the SSC, she found her voice. And now it's taking her all over the world. This spring, Nguyen studied abroad in Amsterdam, navigating life in her second and third language, a feat by which she still seems amazed. While abroad, she learned that the Student Success Center moved locations and names. As a frequent visitor to the old space (Rainey jokes that she must hold the record for most attended), Nguyen was afraid of what she would return to. “I am afraid of change,” she says. “I was afraid that with new space, the people might change. I loved it so much I wanted to keep it the same. But when I saw the new beautiful space, I was inspired.” What she saw was nearly 9,000 square feet in Monroe Library dedicated to academic advising, accessible education, career development, success coaching, and writing and learning resources — the new PanAmerican Life Student Success Center.
If you build it . . .
Grayson Gavras ’21 and Rana Thabata ’20 visited the space for the first time this September.
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“I love that it’s cozy, welcoming, and funky,” Gavras says. “It’s lively here!” “I’m more productive when other people are productive,” Thabata agrees. “It feels like shared working space.” Which is the point. The new space is designed to be accessible, obvious, and sort of fun. It encourages traffic, and it simply feels productive. “The new space and location bring more students to see us, and we expanded our range of services to students,” Rainey says. “We’ve combined long-standing services at Loyola like tutoring and career development with newer initiatives that stem from Project Magis like first-year advising and coaching.” “I want the tutors to run the show,” Bell says. “It's peer-centered and peer-run, and I think they need to step up and have the responsibility to take over and do what needs to be done.” Gavras, Thabata, and Nguyen (who also loves the new space, for the record) are among thousands of those peers who have passed through the center’s doors since it opened in 2015. That those doors have not only remained open but also have been able to move from the dimly lit first floor of Marquette Hall to the vibrant, naturally lit expanse of the second floor of the library is thanks to gifts from our community. “This $1.2 million center has been made possible by philanthropic support,” Interim Provost Maria Calzada says. “We are extremely grateful to Pan-American Life Insurance Group, Jose and Ileana Suquet, and a very generous anonymous donor for understanding our vision and making this wonderful new center possible.
“This renovation provided much-needed structural updates and improvements to the existing space,” Calzada continues. “It also modernized and expanded learning space and tripled the size and capacity for shared tutoring and study group spaces. We have new offices for staff members, open tutoring space, computer workstations, meeting and study rooms, and new main doors accessible to all students.” The effect of the anonymous donor’s contribution was especially felt by the SSC's accessible education testing facilities, where some of the simplest things end up being the most expensive — things like soundproof doors, wheelchair accessible desks, and privacy screens. “The Office for Accessible Education enjoys an improved dedicated testing space,” Rainey says, “including soundproof testing rooms for individual and small group testing, video camera monitors in testing rooms that allow staff to monitor tests from their offices without need for a proctor, individual testing desks with distraction-reducing screens, and heightadjustable desks for wheelchair accessibility.” Being in the testing space is distraction-free, soothing — almost like an exercise in meditative sensory deprivation. The vibrant bustle of the SSC melts away, and you're left with focus. Rainey continues: “The Office for Accessible Education also has state-of-the-art technology that will allow us to better serve students with special needs, including ClockWork, Sonocent Audio Note Taker Program, and Kurzweil 3000+firefly Assistive Technology Text-toSpeech Program.”
85 percent first-year retention! Faculty and staff from the Student Success Center celebrated the announcement of the new record-setting retention numbers on Sept. 28. From left: Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Maria Calzada, Carol Ann MacGregor, Donna Goforth, Donna Bourgeois, Director of Student Success Elizabeth Rainey, Nathanael Straight, and Asia Wong.
And perhaps most important to Rainey, these new funds have helped to support not just the facilities themselves but also the way the center treats accessible education systematically. “Our new Office for Accessible Education represents a shift from the medical model to the social model of disability, a shift that allows us to be more inclusive. We recognize that disability is caused by the way society is organized rather than by a person’s impairment or difference,” Rainey says. “More than 550 of our 3,800 students on campus are regular visitors to the Office of Accessible Education, and they represent some of our highest achievers.”
Carving Out Space
So, look. This is really two stories. It's a story about our community continuing to support its students and itself. A historic investment in keeping students on the path to graduation. But it's also a simple reminder that yeah, devoting a space totally to the success of your students will empower them toward that very thing. That building them a home (thanks, donors) will make them feel like this campus actually is home. “I really like the chairs,” student Grant Dufrene says. “They're super comfy. Also, it’s warmer here than other parts of the library.” Since August, the SSC has had more than 1,500 student visits , a pace that shows no signs of slowing down. So, without any more ado — let me show it to you. Presenting . . .
85
%
Over the past three years, Loyola's retention rate has
increased 8% from 77% to 85%.
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STUDENT SUCCESS CENTER The Pan-American Life
Loyola's mission emphasizes a commitment to both academic excellence and care for the whole person. It promises students that as they hone their skills, they'll also find themselves, a sense of belonging, a community — a home. The Pan-American Life Student Success Center ensures that every student has full access to the resources they need to thrive at Loyola. Here are some of the services and team members that keep our students on track toward graduation.
Career Development Center
provides career services, including career and major exploration, job and internship searches and recruitment, résumé review, and interview preparation.
Handshake is Loyola’s new career management platform. It's a one-stop shop for job and internship searching, accessing career resources and guides, registering for career fairs and on-campus interviews, reporting for-academic-credit internships, and scheduling appointments with a career coach. This new resource will help all Loyola students manage their careers in a more modern, comprehensive way. By implementing Handshake, we are joining a community of 500+ colleges and universities that have recently transitioned from their previous job and internship boards to Handshake. On July 9, we officially launched to students. All current Loyola students already have a Handshake account. Visit joinhandshake.com or the Career Development Center homepage at studentaffairs.loyno.edu/careers to log in and complete your Handshake profile. More than 3,000 employers have connected with Loyola to express interest in recruiting Loyola students, and there are currently more than 2,000 active job and internship postings in Handshake.
Office of Academic Advising
provides advising to first-year students at Loyola, helping them navigate the complexities of a college education. By partnering with faculty advisers, academic advisers work with students to explore opportunities and understand academic expectations for each major.
Office for Accessible Education (OAE)
(formerly Disability Services) strives to provide equal access to students, regardless of disability, by ensuring Loyola remains compliant with federal laws and determining appropriate accommodations, support, and access.
Office of Writing and Learning Services (OWLS)
now houses the Foreign Language Lab and the Mathematics Lab, creating a centralized space for all peer-led tutoring — in subjects ranging from writing and accounting to calculus and Spanish.
Success Coaching
for all first-year students empowers them to set personal and academic goals and to move from thought to action. Coaches work one-on-one with students to take proactive steps toward a successful and rewarding academic career and ultimately, graduate from Loyola.
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ART Letterforms CLASS I ntro to Design section 001 and section 002 FACULTY Daniela Marx
MADISON WOOD ’19
DOIREANN DUFFY ’16
Peer Tutor
Success Coach
“Math, from what I can tell, is something that a lot of people find very stressful because they go, ‘Oh, I’m not good at math; I don’t know any of these things.’ When in reality, it’s not that you’re not good at math — you’re just out of practice.
“When you’re a freshman, you feel like you’re the only one who’s a total mess and that everyone’s got it going on. I just remember feeling that way, and it’s awesome to be able to calm down and put college into perspective.
“I would say that my strongest point is calculus. It’s the highest level math that I did in high school, and it was something that I really enjoyed because I was a huge fan of the unit circle.
“There’s nothing better than when a student comes in feeling lost, and then you get a text maybe a week later and they’re like, ‘I totally figured it out! Everything’s good! Thanks so much for your help!’ . . . or when they come in two weeks later and you can just tell that you actually made a difference.
“I wish that more students would come to the Student Success Center because it’s such a valuable resource that I wish I utilized more during my first few years at Loyola.”
“I remember my name being called as I walked across the stage at the Superdome. I had the best four years of my life. I just want to make sure everyone feels that feeling when they walk across the stage.”
ROBERT BELL ’89
Director of Writing and Learning Resources
“It's called the Student Success Center for a reason. ‘Student’ is first. Everybody here is working toward that. Nobody here is thinking, ‘Oh, let me become the next famous X, Y, or Z.’ No. I would love it if my student became the next famous X, Y, or Z. That's what we're here to do. Just that one thing. To help them along so they can become the LeBron James of whatever they want to be. Whatever field that is. “It's about empowering the students to start to learn how to take care of themselves.”
Robert Bell was Loyola’s first writing tutor, hired in 1987. Talk about committed!
LAURA COATNEY ’20
Success Center Student
“I’m very thankful for the teachers and staff here at Loyola. Many universities accept a student and then ask them to prove they are worth it. Loyola accepts a student and instead says, ‘We know you are worth it’ and proceeds to help students achieve their full potential.”
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OFFICE OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID PPCO
6363 St. Charles Avenue Campus Box 212 New Orleans, LA 70118 -3538
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
N O I T A I C O S S A I N s ALUM e ti i tun
r o p p o rt ave l
The Loyola University New Orleans Alumni Travel Program UPCOMING TRIPS INCLUDE:
Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria from April 4–13, 2019 Alaskan Cruise from July 30–Aug. 11, 2019
For more information, visit alumni.loyno.edu/learning-travel