Academic Resources at St. Lawrence University
Many of your questions about academic resources can
be answered at the website of the Office
of Academic Advising. Details about specific
offices and other resources are below.
St. Lawrence has a full-time Director of Academic Services for Students with
Special Needs who serves as a facilitator and advocate for students with
disabilities, be they learning, attentional, physical or psychological.
The University complies
willingly with all federal and state statutes and regulation concerning provision
of assistance to those with documented needs. Students who identify themselves
as having a disability and provide documentation of the disability are assisted
in finding the academic assistance they need. This process usually involves
a written Individual Education Accommodation Plan (IEAP) for individual
courses
where accommodations are needed. We refer you to, and act as advocates for
you with the staffs of, several other on-campus services, including the
Writing Center,
peer tutors, Counseling Services, the Winning Health Center, Dining Services
and many others. If you believe you will require accommodation, please call
the Office of Academic Services for Students with Special Needs at 315-229-5104
or
5537 to begin this process as soon as possible.
These two offices provide a variety of services for students who want to
improve their academic performance. These include:
Academic Counseling
If you want to do better academically, you can request an individual meeting
with the coordinator of academic support or academic achievement. Students
will be offered a variety of options, including regular meetings for academic
support and problem solving; time management; academic skills assessments
and instruction; and specific strategies designed to meet individual needs
and to enhance opportunities for academic success. If you and the staff member
find it useful, the meeting may lead to connections with others on campus,
such as professors, course teaching assistants (TAs), peer tutors, and the
counseling center.
Peer–Tutoring Program
The academic achievement office provides peer tutors in almost every subject,
and for almost every introductory-level course. Peer tutors are other St.
Lawrence students who have distinguished themselves in their departments
with academic excellence and productive study habits, and then have been
selected after a rigorous application process. If you have a strong academic
background, and wish to improve your ability to communicate with others,
you can do so by working with the academic achievement office as a tutor.
Best of all, tutoring services are free!
Academic Skills Workshops
Any student, student organization or faculty member can request workshops
in academic skills such as goal-setting, time management, note-taking,
syllabus
mapping, reading strategies, test-taking strategies, and stress management.
The academic services staff is prepared to respond very quickly to
requests for workshops and works with faculty, staff and students
to expand continuously
the kinds of workshops offered. For further information, call the
Office of Academic Advising at 315-229-5964 or visit
the website
at www.stlawu.edu/advising .
Advising at St. Lawrence University is a four-year process of planning
an academic career which will serve as foundation for a good life.
You should begin by thinking of each of the four years of college
as separate: In the first year, you will discover St. Lawrence as
a place, a living community, and the possibilities of the St. Lawrence
curriculum; in the second, you will become clearer as to your particular
goals—the majors and minors which are possible, study abroad
options, internships; in the third year, you will engage in major
study in earnest, and during the fourth that work is completed, synthesized,
and concluded. Thoughts turn to life after graduation.
Given such a trajectory, advising is focused on helping you make
this process happen in ways that make sense for you as an individual.
It involves you posing, asking, and getting answers to goal-connected
questions. It also involves determining and following a particular
selection of courses from semester-to-semester and year-to-year,
going ever deeper into a major (or two majors), a minor (or more),
and into the liberal arts generally.
The key to success in this process is academic planning, the intentional
mapping of your academic, intellectual, and co-curricular life so
as to achieve a fully integrated university experience. Academic
planning goes beyond simply selecting courses. Ideally, academic
planning includes thoughtful reflection about a particular course
of study so that you choose courses and plan semesters according
to a broader set of academic goals. Academic planning also means
fully examining and taking advantage of the intellectual and co-curricular
opportunities that are available to enhance your coursework.
In your first year, your advisor is one of your First-Year Program
(FYP) professors; you may also request a second advisor in your primary
area of academic interest. You may continue with your FYP advisor
for your sophomore year, or may select a new one. When you declare
a major, normally during the second semester of your sophomore year,
you then choose an advisor who is affiliated with your major. Because
a satisfactory working relationship with the advisor is of paramount
importance, and because at a liberal arts college students’ interests
often change as they progress through their education, you may change
advisors at any time. The Associate Dean for Academic Advising Programs,
who is a faculty member, works closely with faculty, both those in
the FYP and those in academic departments, to ensure that students
get properly advised. In addition, the associate dean oversees the
Office of Academic Advising Programs, which brings together the work
of the coordinators of academic support, academic achievement and
academic services for students with special needs. Those offices
work with each other and the First-Year Program and student life
staff to ensure that first-year students have the support and services
they need.
The Munn Center for Rhetoric and Communication helps support the
university’s mission to have every student read, write, speak,
listen, and do research well. The Munn Center is made up of several
different workspaces: the WORD Studio, in ODY Library, and satellite
locations around campus—Spanish and French Writing Centers,
the Science Writing Center, and the Sociology Lab.
The “WORD” in WORD Studio stands for writing, oral communication,
research, and visual design—all types of assignments that peer
tutors can help you with, no matter what course the assignment is
for.
WORD Studio tutors have been trained to approach your papers, presentations,
and projects thoughtfully and to communicate their constructive comments
clearly in order to help you become a better writer, speaker, and
researcher. Tutors do not write papers or presentations for you,
nor are they editors or proofreaders. Instead, when you actively
participate in a tutorial, you strengthen your skills in analysis,
critical thinking, argumentation, organization, and style, along
with your use of scholarly sources and citations. No matter what
your major, your year in school, or your assignment, you can benefit
from discussing papers, presentations, and research and visual projects
with a responsive peer.To make an appointment or to get more information,
call 229-5727 or visit www.stlawu.edu/writing.
A tutor is also available via
Instant Messenger during our normal hours: chat with them at SLUword.