California Lutheran University’s Center for Student Success, formerly part of Academic Services, announced multiple upcoming changes in an email to students on Jan. 17.
The official announcement came just one week after Academic Services announced the now-finished move of their registrar’s office from Kallas House to Mattson House on Faculty Street.
The new center’s changes include location updates, more advising opportunities, and a stronger focus towards aiding students in meeting their goals, both inside and outside of academics, Senior Director of Student Success Leigh Fine said.
The Center for Student Success currently shares space with Disability Support Services within Kallas House. The two departments Assistant Director for Student Success Katie Swavely said, plans to switch spaces with each other, and allow for DSS to utilize vacant space that was once in use by Academic Services and the registrar’s office.
Swavely also said that the current arrangement as it stands may pose functionality and space issues for certain students in need of DSS accommodations, and although the building is compliant with requirements set by the Americans with Disabilities Act, the current arrangement is especially tight for students who are using devices such as wheelchairs on campus.
“It’s difficult to navigate, especially for an office who is treating populations of students who might need to navigate the campus in different ways,” Swavely said.
Alongside accessibility improvements for students, Fine said the move would allow for larger testing spaces for students who utilize DSS testing areas.
“DSS needs way more space, that’s another trend we’re seeing here in Cal Lutheran and nationally,” Fine said. “We have more students with documented disabilities, which means more testing accommodations, which means we need more rooms for testing.”
Renovations for this location switch began after the add/drop times for classes ended on Jan. 31, and Swavely said a safe estimate for its completion would be around Spring Break but is hoping for it to be open sooner.
Students will have access to drop-in advising services throughout the semester. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, students were only able to get advising by appointment, or drop-in advising during add/drop times of each semester up until these changes. Part of the reason this was made possible Fine said was through the new addition of Peer Success Coaches.
“Our Peer Success Coaches, our peer mentors, they help us out with students who are struggling academically,” Fine said. “Their area of expertise is really going to be self-service, and reading your audit on self-service, how do I search for classes, how do I drop and add, where are the forms, those sorts of things.”
Swavely said the goal of these changes within Student Success is not just for students’ academic assistance but for the overall success of students’ experiences at Cal Lutheran. Fine said students sometimes don’t realize they need assistance until it is offered to them, which was part of the reason behind the title change from Academic Advisor to Student Success Counselor. He said the change symbolizes how the position carries responsibilities that extend beyond academics.
“Students come to us with a lot, students have complex lives and face myriad challenges. Maybe they come in here to register for a class, but then we find out they may be food insecure,” Fine said.
Fine said intensive requests such as graduation check-ins and four-year plans will still require appointments to be made either online or through the Center for Student Success’ office number, (805) 493-3121. Drop-in advising for classes will be available to students as of Jan. 31 and will extend until May 9. Fine said these drop-in appointments will be primarily for lightweight and transactional assistance with academics.
