Starting this summer, The Academic Center for Excellence will be featuring a new program called Step Up.
“The step up program is in the name itself,” said Janice Law, director for ACE and the Step Up program. “It’s kind of a step up or a boost for those students who really want to get their academic careers on track.”
Law, Dr. Gary Simon, Lorie Kittendorf, Dr. Joseph Sclafani and Dr. Donald Morrill along with the collaborating efforts of the Academic Advising Office, ACE, the Baccalaureate Office and the Office of Student Success created the Step Up program.
“We came together because we knew there was a need for this,” Law said. “We’re seeing students that worked, had GPA dropping or coming in as freshman and not doing as well as the thought they were going to do and there are a lot of different reasons that go into that.”
“It rarely has anything to do with intelligence,” Law said. “We know that the students are smart enough to do the level of work here or they wouldn’t be here to begin with. So there are a lot of other things that students sometimes are going through or need some skill building help with that they didn’t learn when they were in high school that they weren’t prepared for.”
“I think the program is a valuable resource for students who choose to take advantage of it,” Simon said. “STEP UP carefully integrates personal and academic skill development with each student’s chosen course of study.”
The Step Up program is run during the summer and lasts through the fall semester. It is only available during the Summer I term. Students will earn up to seven credits for the summer semester and there are no prerequisites.
Students are not eligible to register themselves for Step Up.
“We can’t allow self registration because it’s not for students who want an extra three credits. It’s geared towards students who really want this extra assistance,” Law says. “There are two types of students – one that has a below 2.0 GPA on academic probation. There can also be that student who maybe in their first semester got a 3.0 and in their next semester they got a 2.4 and they are feeling like they are really struggling this semester also. That student would benefit very much from this program just as much as the student who is on academic probation.”
In order to get into the program, students will have to have a meeting with Law and be cleared with her to register for the classes. Professors also have a right to recommend students for the program.
The program consists of ASK 205, a two credit course which is an academic skill building class similar to ASK 100. Students must also take an academic class, either one that they previously failed or one for their core requirement. At the same time, students will also be enrolled in ASK205L, a one credit course in which students meet with Law once a week individually to discuss their progress.
“They will be paired with a weekly meeting with me during the summer to answer any other issues and concerns going on with them kind of hold them accountable while they are also taking a class,” Law said.
During the following fall semester, students will be enrolled in ASK215L, which is a class where they will be assigned with a graduate student as their coach and will have weekly meetings throughout the semester.
If students have any questions or are interested in the Step Up program, they can contact Janice Law at jlaw@ut.edu or her extension – (813) 257-3528. Summer registration begins on Feb. 25.
Mark Sugden can be reached at mark.sugden@spartans.ut.edu