Campus Collaboration
Ball State’s new student success centers, established within each academic college, centralize essential student resources
Like many first-year students, Cameron Lynch entered college with an open mind about her major and potential career path.
So, after completing her first semester last Fall at Ball State University, Ms. Lynch said she thought Psychology would be the program she’d like to pursue.
Unfortunately for Ms. Lynch, the registration deadline for Spring classes was rapidly approaching. She worried that she might fall behind if she could not schedule a last-second meeting with her academic advisor to help
fill out her schedule.
But, as Ms. Lynch soon found out, she had another terrific option tailored specifically to her needs.
She was able to schedule a meeting with Madeline Shelton, ’23, a graduate assistant at the College of Sciences and Humanities’ (CSH) new Success Hub. Ms. Shelton listened to Ms. Lynch’s wishes and concerns and, as a Psychology major herself, provided knowledge and insight into which classes she should be taking in the Spring and beyond, helping map out the rest of Ms. Lynch’s college career.
“The Success Hub was really comforting to go to because I was a little stressed about my next semester, and it gave me someone I could talk to about my worries,” Ms. Lynch said. “Madeline was a Psychology major, and she helped me figure out, ‘OK, if you were to take this opportunity, what would it look like?’ And she helped me figure out how to go from there.”
The CSH Success Hub is part of Ball State’s robust new student success initiatives. What started with a task force to help address student retention during the COVID-19 pandemic has developed into, among many other programs and services, the hiring of student success directors at each of the University’s seven academic colleges. Those colleges, in turn, have developed their own customized student success “centers” and staffing to centralize key student resources into one convenient location within their respective buildings.
The student success centers were the brainchild of a group led by Dr. Jason Rivera, vice provost for student success and dean of University College. The academic unit houses many of Ball State’s student-centered programs and services that enhance students’ success, such as Academic Advising, the Learning Center, Student Athlete Support Services, First-Year Experience, and Student Success Coaching.
“At the college level, there are very specific things that students need within their colleges for them to be successful that were sort of dispersed all over the place before, and students had to go to multiple spaces and places to get answers and support,” Dr. Rivera said. “So, the real goal for each one of these centers and their directors is to be the college-specific advocate for student success-related supports and services.”
Ball State students utilize the new College of Sciences and Humanities Success Hub, located in the North Quad building. Each academic college at the University now has a student success center, centralizing key resources.
“Essentially, what we’re trying to do is make sure students have a consistent common experience, but that at the college level, our student success directors are tailoring their services to their specific students.”
While the CSH Success Hub, located in the North Quad building, is an example of a brand new, built-out space, other colleges have taken a different approach to their student success centers, with hopes of expanding in the future. Funding through Our Call to Beneficence will help all colleges in these efforts.
“The idea was that if we didn’t have the physical space, then we would have these central locations where the director, advisors, and other support personnel would all be co-located, so students wouldn’t experience the ‘Ball State bounce’ and have to go to multiple locations to get supports and services,” Dr. Rivera said. “So, it’s really the co-location of offices, and if, in fact, it’s possible for that to be a center or a central space for students, then we will do that.”
For students like Ms. Lynch, her first positive experience with a Ball State student success center has opened the door to many other opportunities to enhance her college experience as she builds the foundation for a fulfilling career and a meaningful life. She said she is looking forward to returning to the CSH Success Hub to participate in other worthwhile programming, such as study sessions during finals week and opportunities to engage with alumni mentors and employers.
That’s music to the ears of Dr. Rivera.
“We partner with students to help them achieve their fullest potential, and acknowledge and honor the promises we make to them when we admit them,” Dr. Rivera said. “We are spending time trying to support all
of our students—our most vulnerable, our highest achieving, and those right in the middle. And, as part of that work, we’re including their voices in the conversation. We’re having conversations with them about what they need, and then we’re building the types of support and resources that they are telling us they need to be successful. And that is actually working.”
