NSM Faculty/Staff Newsletter

From the Office of the Dean

Student Success Update

New Scholar Enrichment Program (SEP) Workshops

Two new workshops will be offered in the Spring 2020 semester through SEP.

A pilot Calculus I Rescue workshop will be offered to students enrolled in Dr. Constante’s course who need additional support after the first exam and who are not already enrolled in an SEP Calculus I workshop. The rescue workshop will begin approximately 6 weeks after the start of the semester and will feature curriculum that will focus on strengthening the students’ base knowledge and providing additional help to keep the students on track for successful completion of the course.

In addition, a workshop will be offered for the first time for a computer science course, Programming and Data Structures. Computer Science professor Nouhad Rizk will work with the SEP facilitator on the curriculum for the workshop.

Both workshops are designed to help improve student performance and success in the courses.

Revised Academic Warning Program Offers Students Support Options

The Office of First-Year Programs, led by Michelle Nodskov and Hannah Ford, will offer a revised version of the Academic Warning course for freshmen who are on academic warning after their first semester at UH.

At the end of the Fall 2019 semester, 106 students were on Academic Warning. Of these, 65 attended an academic warning seminar on January 11 from 8 a.m.–3 p.m. The seminar, composed of five workshop sessions introducing students to on-campus resources for student success, gave the students the opportunity to self-reflect on the past semester and identify ways to improve their performance in the future.

The students are offered two options for continued support throughout the spring semester:

  • A Success in STEM course will meet twice a week during the Spring 2020 semester to ensure student engagement and will match each student with a peer mentor. Students will receive career guidance as well as curriculum focused on motivation, study strategies, coping with test anxiety, time management, and engaging in enrichment activities on campus.
  • An individual program which requires students to build their own academic success plan with LAUNCH academic counselors, meet with their academic advisor, and turn in self-reflection activities.

Both options also include academic support through the Scholar Enrichment Program’s Collaborative Learning Groups and Tutoring Center.