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I was glad to hear from Georgine because our Learning Center, too, is under the dean of student affairs (actually, it's the dean of student services at our community college), and when the subject of reorganizing was discussed a couple of years ago, we asked to remain under student affairs. Historically, this is where we've always resided, but more importantly, I think, we have been able to "stay on the fence" between student affairs and academics and enjoy the support of both. Academics is not willing to completely leave us to our own devices, since we strongly support them, so it's been advantageous to our students to have the Learning Center supported by all the administration. Leta Tyhurst Learning Center Coordinator Longview Community College (suburban Kansas City) >>> Georgine Materniak <[log in to unmask]> 11/23/99 08:25AM >>> The great variation in our programs is further reflected by the administrative and organizational models of our programs. It is my impression that some of the organizational patterns have historical roots. As mentioned, programs such as my own in Student Affairs began as part of a counseling center. In our case, counseling consisted of personal counseling, career development and learning skills. Our learning center grew to the extent that several years ago it became it own separate entity in student affairs. When the Pitt LSC was being formed in the early 70's, we looked at learning center models at similar institutions to the University of Pittsburgh, i.e., research-based universities. At that time, we found that those universities that had learning centers housed them in student affairs. Academic units in universities at that time were very reluctant to support learning services because there was concern that this would diminish the reputation of the school's academic program. No one wanted to acknowledge that students admitted selectively could use assistance with learning. However, if the program was housed in student affairs as part of a support service, then there was less reluctance to provide learning services for students. Our counseling center operates from a model that it serves all students and so our learning center has always functioned likewise. From the beginning we worked with everyone from freshmen through grad and professional school students. We quickly became well connected with the academic units because of our effort to provide course-based support services similar to SI. Our adoption of SI in recent years has further tightened our connections with the academic areas of the university. In recent years, I've seen student affairs programs restructure under academic units. I consider this evidence of more institutional acceptance of the importance and legitimacy of what our programs have to offer. In our case, we are still in student affairs where we have had greater adminstrative continuity than has been the case in the academic areas. I've always felt this stability was a great asset to our program. But in the future, I will not be surprised when and if we find ourselves reorganized under an academic unit. Georgine Materniak University of Pittsburgh Learning Skills Center 311 William Pitt Union Pittsburgh, PA 15260