The office of academic support will be conducting a pilot program this fall aimed specifically at assisting student leaders who are at risk of losing their position because of GPA requirements.
“While there’s this expectation of students maintaining a GPA, there weren’t necessarily a lot of resources to maintain or even increase their GPA,” said Jaime Miller, director of Student Academic Support.
Miller said the idea for the Student Engagement and Academic Success initiative came out of a conversation she had with the office of involvement during a listening tour she went on across campus during April.
As part of the SEAS initiative, the Office of Academic Support will provide staff and supervisors to the partnering offices to guide faculty through how to approach a conversation about grades with a student.
Being that it is a pilot program, the initiative will have two partnerships this fall with the office of student involvement and the office of housing.
If a student in one of the partnered offices is identified as being in jeopardy of losing their job or position of leadership because of not being able to meet the GPA requirements, the faculty and the student will be coached through the process.
“I think the demands of leadership opportunities on campus are significant sometimes so helping students balance why they're here to gain these experiences inside and outside the classroom is really important, and I think SEAS help students navigate all the responsibilities they have,” Miller said.
The initiative will also look to refer students to the resources offered by the Office of Academic Support that meet the specific needs of the student.
Miller said she hopes that the initial partnerships will show the effectiveness of the program and eventually lead to more partnerships with more offices across campus.
“We know that being a leader on campus is a very valuable experience, so our office wants to help students continue in those outside-of-class experiences, while also earning a degree at Auburn,” Miller said. “That’s really important for us and I think everyone who works in student affairs.”
Miller said the experiences outside of a classroom can be just as important, if not more, that the experiences in one for marketability purposes and career readiness skills.
“We want to help students design plans that balance the needs for both so that they can thrive in the classroom too,” Miller said. “That’s really important to have that great balance, and we want to help students design plans to do that through academic coaching.”
Miller said she served as a leader during her time as an undergraduate student, and she personally knows how difficult it can be to find a balance between leadership and studies.
The upcoming semester will act as a trial run for the program, so that staff can make adjustments for the future as well as show the efficacy of the initiative.
“We’re really excited about the impact that this initiative can have on student success at Auburn,” Miller said.
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