The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 15, 2006, Page 6, Image 6
sap • connnuED froith
i
school could be referred to
the career center and the
Financial Aid Office.
“A lot of students are not
familiar with the resources
available on campus,”
said Jones, a second-year
graduate student in the
counseling program. “We
help direct them.”
Though the program
is open to any student, it
targets transfer students,
those living off campus,
graduate students and other
nontraditional students
less likely to be aware of
the services offered by the
university, Jones said.
SAP is the brainchild of
Karen Pettus, director of
Student Disability Services.
She emphasizes that SAP has
nothing to do with disability
services, in raci, sne started
the program after professors
noticed students having
trouble and called disability
services to ask if they could
help. Because the students
weren’t disabled, the office
had to turn them away.
“This is something we saw
as a need,” Pettus said.
The program is funded
from the disability services
budget. “We’re trying to fit
needs with existing revenue,”
Pettus said.
SAP targets nontraditional
students because they may
have “slipped through the
cracks,” Pettus said. Part
time students aren’t eligible
for all of USC’s services,
Pettus said, so the office
also refers students to off
campus programs.
“This is a place to help
them gain skills that are
necessary,” Jones said. “If
we can’t help, then we
point them in the right
direction.”
After pointing them in
the right direction, the
office also follows up with
students, Jones said. “We
can’t make someone do
it, but that’s why there’s a
follow up.”
Jones and Pettus stressed
the importance of faculty
referrals as well as self
referrals. Faculty are
encouraged to submit names
of students that aren’t doing
well in their classes to the
program, which will call the
student and ask if they need
help. As SAP evolves, Pettus
said the office would work
with Chrissy Coley in the
Student Affairs department
to improve the retention
rate by targeting students
with excessive absences.
“They would get a phone
call instead of having people
disappear,” Pettus said. “It’s
reaching out instead of
waiting for them.”
But that level of targeting
students will come later.
'Now the office is moving
slowly. In its first week, Jones
met with three students, but
Pettus gave a “very rough”
estimate that SAP could see
up to 75 students each week
with only Jones on staff.
Jones worked as a teacher
for five years before starting
her graduate degree, and
Pettus said the office would
only hire graduate assistants
with real-world experience
after Jones leaves in
December.
SAP is planning a “big
i
push” during the summer
to raise awareness of the
program. It will be featured
in freshman orientation and
University 101 classes, Jones
said.
Jones expects the program
to stay on campus and says
it is different from the
services USC already offers
because of the one-on-one
interaction.
“So many times students
get shuffled, but we’ll be
useful, and we’ll be used,”
Jones said.
The program is also
working directly with ACE
to offer several training
sessions with the software
Inspiration, designed to help
students visually organize
information. The free
software, available in the
Wardlaw computer lab, is
aimed at improving papers
as well as helping students
better retain information.
“How to be a better
note-taker” sessions will be
offered today and Thursday
from 10 to 11 a.m. E-mail
sap@gwm.sc.edu to reserve
a spot. For a full calendar of
workshops offered by SAP,
visit http://www.sa.sc.edu/
dss/sap-upcomingEvents.
htm.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockneuis@gwm. sc. edu
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