Academic Centers for Excellence win bronze award from NASPA

The Academic Centers for Excellence (ACE) are truly "excellent," according to the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). The University's ACE program has been awarded the 2009 excellence award bronze recipient in the careers, academic support, service-learning, community service and related programs category. Assistant director of ACE programs and Academic Success Initatives, Claire Robinson, says the award is an honor.

"The NASPA award is one of the most prestigious forms of recognition we could hope to receive," says Robinson.

The ACE program provides students with free academic success coaching, along with writing and math tutoring and other resources to help students reach their academic goals. According to Robinson, when the program began in the Fall of 2005 there were only seven appointments throughout the entire semester. By Fall 2009, ACE had 712 coaching appointments and continues to see more traffic today. To Robinson, the award confirms all of the benefits that ACE has brought to students at the University.

"Personally, ACE receiving the NASPA award validates my belief that one-on-one coaching can make all the difference when it comes to student success," says Robinson. "Students meeting with an ACE Coach know they have at least one person who is invested in their academics, knows their story and aspirations, and is committed to working with them regularly."

Kelsey Tardy, a student who uses the centers, says that the program works. She saw immediate improvements in her grades, and has benefited by applying the skills she learned at ACE in all of her courses.

Robinson would like to see ACE continue to expand through new partnerships with academic units and student affairs offices while continuing to enhance current partnerships. She also hopes to further develop ACE's niche on campus. Academic coaching differs from tutoring, counseling and advising, which can make it difficult to market to students.

"In ACE we define Academic Success Coaching as a one-on-one interaction with a student focusing on strengths, goals, study skills, engagement, academic planning and performance," says Robinson.

Tardy would encourage students of all majors and disciplines to make use of the program. "The amount of useful information that you take away from each meeting makes this program one that is truly unique and successful," says Tardy.

Robinson is proud of the ACE program and the academic coaches who have impacted so many students at the University, and is looking ahead to further the program.

"It is essential that we maximize our range of resources and make each coaching session a beneficial, intentionally designed learning experience," says Robinson.

For more information about ACE programs, visit http://www.housing.sc.edu/ace/