Seeking out a tutor doesn’t have to be a dirty little secret, said Brenda Burger, director of the USF St. Petersburg Academic Success Center. Since coming to USFSP to direct the tutoring center in February, Burger has worked to remove both the barriers to entry and the stigma attached to receiving extra help.
The first step was to remove a partition that split the room in half, turning TER 301 from a cramped space into a cozy one. After that, chairs with armrests were replaced with models more suitable for working side-by-side.
“Students want to interact one-on-one and to have someone spend some time on them,” Burger said. “If you welcome students, make it seem like you care, you’ll see them again.”
Previously, tutoring was by appointment only. During busy times, students would have to be turned away.
“If you show up for an appointment and are turned away, you’re not coming back,” Burger said.
Now, the staff keeps regular hours and encourages students to drop in not only to receive targeted assistance, but also to do homework and study. This makes tutoring more accessible, Burger said, but also has the benefit of “authenticating the work of the center.”
She wants students to know “the lights are on; somebody’s home.”
The center is open Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Tuesdays hours are extended through 7 p.m. If those hours don’t work for you, Burger said, let the center know.
“It’s a work in progress,” she said. “We’re trying to figure out how to serve our student population best.”
USFSP Regional Chancellor Margaret Sullivan defended the center during the Student Government meeting on Sept. 7 and encouraged students to put aside preconceptions about the service. She said that Burger had revitalized the center and the university is seeing success in helping students through traditionally difficult “gatekeeper” courses.
Since arriving at USFSP, one of Burger’s biggest obstacles has been marketing. Prior to this semester, USFSP surveyed students and learned that most didn’t even know the tutoring center existed, let alone that it was free to use.
“We could do a lot more if we could drag students in,” said Diane Elliott, a Spanish language tutor, but “not having to make an appointment is working for a lot of people.”
To get the word out, Burger and the center have contacted professors and encouraged them to include information about the Academic Success Center in their syllabi. The center has also placed signs around the campus and printed bookmarks to hand out at new student orientations.
Receiving extra help doesn’t have to go on behind the back of the course instructor, Burger said, whose background is in math education. Tutoring is an essential part of the learning process.
When she came to run the center, it was an organizational mess, Burger said. In addition to dropping the appointment system, moving walls and swapping chairs, she also replaced the computerized sign-in system with pen and paper. This allowed her to focus on the mission of the center, rather than on managing the center. The sign-in sheet has also proven a much more reliable record of services rendered, she said.
“I see myself as a tutoring professional first,” she said. Burger holds a master’s degree in liberal studies and a Ph.D. in mathematics and statistics education from the University of Minnesota, where she directed math tutors.
As the director of the Mathematics Resource Center at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., the number of students served increased from 1,760 to over 10,000 in a year. She seeks to replicate this success at USFSP.
Part of rebuilding the Academic Success Center was by turning inward, Burger said. The center no longer provides GRE and GMAT tutoring for non-USFSP students. The service is provided through tuition and fees, and that money should be used to help USFSP students, she said.
“We need to help our students first,” she said.
The center has also been seeking to provide testing services. Its first LSAT session is on Oct. 1. It has also applied to become an ACT and SAT proctoring site.
This will have two advantages, Burger said. It will earn revenue and will introduce prospective students to the campus.
Soon, the center will be opening its first “satellite office” in Harbor Hall. Detailed tutor availability schedules and services offered by the Academic Success Center can be viewed online at www.usfsp.edu/success.
