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Our Reading & Learning Program is located in Student Affairs because we are housed in the Counseling Center. This has presented several problems for us. We are neither physically nor organizationally tied to academic programs/colleges, so we are constantly having to do PR just so that students and faculty know we exist, as well as to find out what needs exist in those places. We have been successful in raising our profile over the past couple of years, but there's a lot more work to do in that area. A second major problem is that although we have faculty status, we are non-tenure earning. Student Affairs is not set up to acknowledge the differences in the professional needs of faculty members. We also don't always get the information that goes to other faculty members in academic depts. We would like to do research and be active in our professional organizations, but that's all outside of what happens here, which doesn't leave a lot of time. We're in this netherworld where we don't really fit anywhere. Finally, because we are in the Counseling Center (and because Student Affairs also operates this way), we are on an 8-5, M-F schedule. We know that we need to be open in the evenings and maybe Saturdays to see students, as well as offer classes in the evenings, but the work environment is more of a medical or business model. We have stayed open in the evenings but because of the records housed in the Counseling Center and the physical environment where computer equipment, etc. is out in the reception areas, we have to work hard to reassure the management that security will be maintained. The way we need to work with students academically is different than the structure maintained by Student Affairs. We try to do it anyway, but it takes more energy than it ought to. The good news is that because we are so different in our approach to working with students, no one really tells us what to do or watches over our every move, so we have a lot of freedom. The Counseling Center values our program and tries hard to facilitate what we do. The flip side is that we really struggle to get the resources we need because those who hold the purse strings in Student Affairs are not always tuned in to the academic needs of students and faculty. I am interested in hearing of others' experiences in this area. It's something that I've often been concerned about, but to suggest that my program move to Academic Affairs would cause a political tidal wave here which I am not prepared for at this time. > Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 14:21:52 -0600 > Reply-to: Open Forum for Learning Assistance Professionals > <[log in to unmask]> > From: "S. Franklin" <[log in to unmask]> > Organization: Avila College > Subject: Academic or Student Affairs > To: [log in to unmask] > --------------8B0859256EC0A4B82D90AE9E > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > We are in the process of evaluating our location within the college > organization, and I need the thoughts of all you experts. Please tell me > 1) if your learning center is currently housed in the Academic or > Student Affairs division of your college, and 2) why you agree or > disagree with your organizational location. If you respond to me off > list, I will gladly summarize the responses and post them to the list on > or about 12/1. Thanks in advance! > > Sue Franklin > Coordinator of College Skills > Avila College > Kansas City, MO > [log in to unmask] > > --------------8B0859256EC0A4B82D90AE9E > Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > <!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> > <html> > We are in the process of evaluating our location within the college organization, > and I need the thoughts of all you experts. Please tell me 1) if your learning > center is currently housed in the Academic or Student Affairs division > of your college, <b>and</b> 2) why you agree or disagree with your organizational > location. If you respond to me off list, I will gladly summarize the responses > and post them to the list on or about 12/1. Thanks in advance! > <p>Sue Franklin > <br>Coordinator of College Skills > <br>Avila College > <br>Kansas City, MO > <br>[log in to unmask]</html> > > --------------8B0859256EC0A4B82D90AE9E-- > ********************************************************** Linda S. Evans, Ph.D. Director, Reading & Learning Program, SVC 2124 University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Ave. Tampa, Florida 33620 phone: 813-974-9308; fax: 813-974-5089 [log in to unmask]