Editor’s note: This article has been updated with the correct spelling of Barbara Windom’s name.
The Academic Success Center (ASC) offers a variety of free resources to NC State students to promote academic success, including peer tutoring, peer mentoring and writing support.
Barbara Windom, the director of the ASC, said the ASC programs aim to guide students in developing skills essential to academic success.
“The goal is to help students become independent learners during their university experience and we offer a variety of programs that allow that to happen,” Windom said.
The ASC offers peer tutoring for a variety of STEM classes, such as math, chemistry, physics and biology. Students can meet one-on-one with a peer tutor, attend group tutoring sessions or visit drop-in tutoring at the center.
According to Windom, the ASC also offers academic peer mentoring, in which students are paired with a peer mentor to improve academic success skills such as study techniques and organization. Students meet with their peer mentor once a week throughout the semester and can set weekly goals to achieve academic success.
The ASC also contains an undergraduate and graduate writing center. Megan Minor, a third-year studying psychology and a writing consultant in the undergraduate writing center, said the writing center connects students with one-on-one consulting services for any piece of writing.
“The writing center program is for students of any major and any discipline to come get help in their writing,” Minor said. “We do everything from poetry to personal statements to lab reports, so anything you could possibly need to get looked over.”
Additionally, Minor said the writing center seeks to provide students with the means to improve their writing skills long-term.
“Within the writing center, we have a bunch of different resources that you can actually take with you to look at,” Minor said. “It’s nice to have something tangible to look at when you’re feeling confused, so that you’re also learning how to help yourself through the writing process and learning where you’re struggling a little bit more, so you can focus on that and adjust and grow in your writing.”
Windom said the ASC is an important supplement to classroom instruction because it provides opportunities for students to develop skills critical to academic success, such as time management and goal setting.
“Everybody who comes to NC State is a successful student,” Windom said. “It’s difficult to get into NC State. That being said, there’s a lot of students who come not really having developed study skills — they didn’t have to study in high school — and college is a new ball game. It’s helping students make that transition between high school and the university environment.”
Minor said some students prefer to seek help from a peer because it can be less intimidating than asking an instructor.
“I feel like it’s a lot less scary sometimes to come talk to someone who’s your peer rather than your professor, because it’s a different dynamic talking to somebody who’s your age versus talking to somebody who’s graduated and already knows a ton about the subject,” Minor said.
Two years ago, the ASC moved into a new space on the second floor of D.H. Hill Library, which Windom said is ideal for student success.
“It’s a central location in the library where students can meet others, so it’s not just getting help on content, but it’s a great place to meet other students, especially drop-in tutoring in the evening,” Windom said. “It’s also a place to study outside of the Academic Success Center hours.”
To learn more about the ASC, visit its website.
Editor’s note: Megan Minor is also a photographer for NC State Student Media.
