Michaela Lumpert, Campus Carrier news editor
Over the winter break, the Academic Success Center (ASC) moved its location from the basement of the Memorial Library into the Sandbox. The Sandbox is now formally changing its name to the Commons, what the ASC used to call the basement.
The decision for the move came after both library faculty and staff and ASC staff realized that their location was not easily accessible and visible to all students.
Anna Sharpe, director of the ASC, described that being in the basement was difficult for the ASC and the staff. She explains that most students did not know about the basement and their location.
“A big piece of what we do is provide accommodations and access for students with differences and disabilities of all kinds,” Sharpe said. “So, to be in a basement that was not as accessible as we would have liked was a challenge.”
The basement was also closedoff to most of the library, and as Sharpe explained, this made it hard for students to want to come downstairs to receive help because they couldn’t see the work that the ASC was doing. The first-floor location now increases student awareness of the ASC.
“Being upstairs in a space with lots of windows, makes that work a lot more visible, and hopefully reduces students’ anxiety about participating in good, productive, help-seeking behaviors,” Sharpe said.
Jeremy Worsham, instructional design and technology librarian, discussed that the purpose of the services is to make sure that all students can use them for their success.
“We are here to help,” Worsham said. “Our whole reason for being is to make sure you are successful. And if by moving [the ASC] upstairs and making all of our services integrated together, which I think is a long term goal, whatever helps you to succeed, is what we are after.”
The new location also offers new technology that the ASC did not have downstairs. Senior Bailey Lawson, student supervisor of the ASC, explained that tutors can now work on the TVs in the space with their tutoring groups to show tutorials, examples and varying tools they might need as a tutor. It also allows the ASC to be in the heart of where students study on campus.
Lawson believes that the new space will improve how the ASC team works together.
“As a supervisor, it’s going to be a lot easier to check in with everyone and just make sure everything is running smoothly,” Lawson said.
The ASC has faced concerns from students who believe they lost their study space.
“All the students that were hesitant about it at first, all their hesitation came from the fact that they thought they weren’t going to be able to use it as a study space,” Lawson said. “But once that was explained that it is still a study space, most hesitation went away.”
The ASC will still be providing the same tutoring services. Although their new space is one large room, both Lawson and Sharpe hope to continue their individualized workshops and tutoring sessions.
As of right now, there are no plans to use the old space. The Honors Café is still located in the basement and still serves as a study space for honors students.
Students who haven’t checked out the new space can join both the Library and the ASC for the Commons open house on Monday Jan. 27 from 7 to 9 p.m.