Academic Success Center renovated for holistic student support
Roughly one year ago, the U.S. Department of Education awarded Goshen College a highly competitive Title V Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions grant for $3 million.
In the year since, one of the institution’s core goals — creating a student success center on campus — has come to life. The Academic Success Center (ASC), located in the Harold and Wilma Good Library, underwent a major renovation during the summer. The ASC has been expanding student services through collaborative efforts with the library for months, and its new space reflects that — half of the first floor is devoted to the ASC.
Michelle Blank, director of academic success, said, “More than ever before, we have greater capacity to journey alongside all our students as they strive toward their success.”
The ASC offers accessibility services, testing, tutoring, writing support, individualized academic coaching, holistic first-year advising, Hispanic and inclusive student programming, orientation and retention services, and more resources. It also provides a space on campus for students to relax, spend time together, and build connections with each other and with staff.
Jan Kauffman, associate dean of student success, said that one of the most impactful changes was that the ASC is now “a colocated space, where more people who are connected to student success are all located together. One of the goals was to provide wraparound services, and have this space become a go-to first stop for students.”
Blank laughed as she said, “In the past, we were a hallway.”
The space, renovated by the local company DJ Construction, now features nine offices for GC staff focused on student support, as well as a front desk where students are directed as they need, and a variety of spaces where they can gather to work — solo, in groups or with a tutor.
And, in the few weeks that it’s been open, the new ASC has been very popular with the student body. “Other than when I get here at 8 o’clock in the morning,” Blank said, “I don’t know that there’s ever a time where there are no students in [the ASC] between 9 and 4.”
On Sept. 12, the college celebrated the opening of the new ASC with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. President Rebecca Stoltzfus cut the ribbon alongside Gilberto Pérez, Jr., dean of students and vice president for student life and Hispanic serving initiatives, and Ann Vendrely, vice president for academic affairs and academic dean. Also present was Dr. Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.
Throughout the event, students were flowing in and out of the ASC, grabbing paletas (a Mexican frozen treat), asking the staff questions and holding conversations.
“This space is normalizing,” Blank said. “And that’s the big thing. Students see it as their space. So we say: come in and use it, come in and hang out, come in and study, come in and chat, whatever you need to do to achieve more success.”