Academic Support Services

Mission Statement

As a member of CAPS, the mission of the Office of Academic Support Services is to assist Florida Southern College students in their first year at college to make a smooth academic and social transition and persist in reaching their goals, and to continue to serve students throughout their career at Florida Southern College, identifying and meeting needs to foster academic excellence and personal success. Trained professionals provide opportunities for students to improve academic, study, and life skills, conduct orientation and registration programs, coordinate "The Examined Life" EXL 101 freshman seminar course, organize the "Tutor Tables" peer tutoring program, offer "safe place" to tackle stress, homesickness, procrastination, and time management, and supply referrals to other campus resources.

Philosophy

Over 2,000 years ago Socrates said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is a habit.” Academic Support Services is here to foster the development of life skills and habits of academic excellence that will serve you during your stay at Florida Southern. Excellence in these skills will continue to serve you after you graduate, whether you continue your education or enter the workforce.

Excellence through Transition

Academic Support programs and services assist students through numerous transitions. The goal is to support you as you make a smooth and successful transition to your new environment or situation so you can quickly “hit your stride” at FSC. Academic Support fosters smooth transitions in a number of ways:

• Providing new freshman and new transfer student orientation programs
• Coordinating EXL 101, The Examined Life Freshman Seminar
• Personally contacting many new students during the first weeks of school
• Customizing help sessions to identify needs and provide resources for individuals
• Supplying referrals to other points of service

Excellence through Self-Knowledge

Socrates also said “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Often, insight and information are all that you need to knock down roadblocks to academic and life success. Thus Academic Support and affiliated offices present you with many opportunities to gain critical insights by providing:

• Academic counseling
• Assistance identifying life goals
• The Strong Interest Inventory to identify potential professions and environments in which to thrive
• Test anxiety screening
• Student Disability Services if you suspect a disability may need to be addressed
• Testing Center if you wish to CLEP out of undergraduate courses or take professional school or special certification standardized tests
• Referrals to the Career Center and the Counseling Center

Excellence through Resources

Academic Support is one of several offices offering opportunities for:

• Free academic tutoring through Tutor Tables and other tutoring sources
• Study Skills Workshops and other study skills information
• One-on-one assistance with time management, note-taking, effective study habits, and other success skills

Excellence Regained

Even the best students can run into academic challenges. Academic Support is ready to assist you in the process of “excellence recovery” by:

• Contacts with students who have disappointing midterm grades
• Formalized supportive relationships for students who have had a disappointing semester
• Personalized assistance for students who self-refer to Academic Support or who are referred by faculty