VIII. College Resources

Academic Achievement Center; Center for the Advancement of Research and Teaching (CART); Teaching and Technology Center; Office of Grants and Sponsored Projects; Counseling Center; Maxwell Library; Center for Multicultural and International Affairs (CMIA); Campus Police; Student Involvement and Leadership

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Academic Achievement Center

Located on the ground floor of the Maxwell Library, the Academic Achievement Center (ext. 1214), http://www.bridgew.edu/AAC/, provides the following academic support services to students.

Freshman advising - By the end of their first semester, students receive up to 5 hours of advising from the Academic Achievement Center. This advising goes beyond simply providing guidance in course selection. Students are taught how to figure GPAs, how to study, and how to use the Center to their benefit. The Center continues advising for second semester freshmen who are undeclared majors, on academic probation, or have been readmitted after dismissal from the college.

Tutoring - The Center provides content tutoring for all GER courses. Students can contact the Center for walk-in hours or appointments. Additionally, the Center provides general help with study and research skills and helps students form study groups. Both kinds of tutoring are student led.

Writing Studio - The Writing Studio helps students improve their writing skills. It does not provide proofreading service.

Math Lab - The Math Lab provides students with one-on-one or group tutoring for math courses.

Exit Counseling - The Center will talk to students who are considering withdrawing from a class after the deadline for withdrawals or withdrawing from the College to help them make the best decision and to be assured that they are aware of the consequences of their actions regarding GPA, insurance, financial aid, etc.

Computer Lab - The Center houses a computer lab with 17 PCs. Faculty members may reserve the room for one-time class use by contacting the Center at ext. 1214.

International Students - There is a full-time counselor on staff at the Center for Japanese students contracted through the National Collegiate Network (NCN).

Status Reports - Faculty who refer students to the Academic Achievement Center for any reason can request and receive a status report on when and how the student has used the Center.

Learning Disabilities – The Disabilities Resources Office (ext. 2304) helps students with disabilities (physical and learning) build their schedules at the start of every semester and helps to ensure that proper accommodations are made. These include but are not limited to note-takers, readers, scribes, interpreters for the hearing impaired, hearing devices, and card recorders.

The Center also has a number of computers with adaptive technology for students with physical disabilities including a Braille keyboard, a Braille transcriber, voice recognition software, and Jaws software for the visually impaired.

Faculty can help students (and themselves) by asking students to identify any disabilities they have and if accommodations need to be made. Students who identify themselves as learning disabled should speak to the LD Specialist. If they request accommodations such as extra time on an exam, she will have the documentation and will write the instructor a letter requesting the exception.

The LD Office also puts out a regular newsletter, distributed to faculty by e-mail, explaining what resources are available on campus. They also conduct a pre-college workshop for students with disabilities, explaining what is expected of them, and what they can expect from the college. The LD Specialist also conducts a leadership and peer education program in which students learn to advocate for themselves and talk to high school students about what to expect in college.

It is the goal of the office to have students learn to be as independent as possible, while making reasonable accommodations. If an instructor feels that a student is making an unreasonable request, the LD Specialist can be contacted to help resolve the problem. The learning disabilities office does not test for learning disabilities but will make referrals when appropriate.

Center for the Advancement of Research and Teaching (CART)

CART advances and promotes the teaching and scholarly activities of Bridgewater State College faculty and librarians through technological support and professional development seminars. You are encouraged to use CART's services, including the technology room (Moakley Center, Room 219, ext. 1767). All Visiting Lecturers are invited to attend all seminars and presentations and special events sponsored by CART (although Visiting Lecturers are not eligible for CART grants for funding). See http://www.bridgew.edu/Depts/CART.

Please note that the CART facility is not used to meet students or hold office hours.

Teaching and Technology Center

The Teaching and Technology Center (TTC) is on the second floor of the Moakley Center and provides faculty with resources and services for integrating information and instructional technology to support and enhance the College's teaching and learning mission. Training, support, and production services are available to assist faculty with classroom technology, web based instruction, and various teaching and research projects. The TTC promotes activities and operational support services for projects for effective use of instructional technology in teaching. The TTC website is at http://it.bridgew.edu/FacStaff/ttcmission/.

Office of Grants and Sponsored Projects (OGSP)

The Office of Grants and Sponsored Projects serves the faculty and staff of the College in obtaining external funding for research, professional development, academic programs, curriculum development activities and community service projects. See OGSP website at http://www.bridgew.edu/SponProj/.

Counseling Center

Located on the ground floor of Tillinghast Hall, the Counseling Center can be reached at ext. 1331, http://www.bridgew.edu/CounselingCenter/. The Center aims “to promote the personal growth and academic success of all students.” Faculty can refer students to the Center if they see signs of distress. However, due to confidentiality regulations, the Center cannot disclose to faculty whether a student has followed through with an appointment without the consent of the student.

The Counseling Center staff is available to visit classrooms, on request, either to provide general information to students, or in response to a specific problem or situation. The Center encourages faculty to provide information about the Center on their syllabus and/or websites. The Counseling Center website includes an extensive virtual pamphlet collection at http://counseling.uchicago.edu/ from the University of Chicago on a variety of topics.

The Counseling Center also maintains a list of available practitioners for faculty and staff who need counseling, and will give general guidance to instructors who need advice on dealing with students or a particular situation.

Maxwell Library

The Maxwell Library (ext. 1256, http://www.bridgew.edu/library/) has books, journals, videos and other materials for use by students, faculty, staff, and community members. The Reference department also provides library instruction for classes at the request of the instructor. Faculty, staff and students may also receive one-on-one library instruction. Patrons can request library instruction at the reference desk or fill out a form online at http://www.bridgew.edu/Library/askalib.cfm.

You may reserve materials for your class using the web-based forms at http://www.bridgew.edu/Library/reserves.cfm.

Document Delivery, or interlibrary loan (http://www.bridgew.edu/Library/dds.cfm), is a service provided to students, faculty and staff. Patrons may request books or journal articles by filling out a form at the Document Delivery office or online at http://www.bridgew.edu/Library/

Faculty may check out books for a period of four months and may have up to 50 books out at a time. Faculty also may use the staff photocopier located at the circulation desk to make copies of non-circulating materials for class (limit one article or chapter).

Library resources are available off campus for faculty, students and staff, but only to those who have registered for a BSC e-mail account. Visiting Lecturers are entitled to an account. To activate your account fill out the form at https://www.bridgew.edu/accountregistration.cfm.

Visiting Lecturers are given access to the library and may use its resources through the use of a Connect card. For library services available, check http://www.bridgew.edu/library/.

Center for Multicultural and International Affairs (CMIA)

The CMIA (http://www.bridgew.edu/CMIA) is located in Room 101 of the Campus Center and can be contacted at ext. 6166. The center provides programmatic services for the campus community and provides an environment where international/exchange students and students of color can connect and relax.

The CMIA is the primary sponsor of BSC's multicultural celebrations and scholarly events. Annual programs include Latino/a Heritage Month, Native American Heritage Month, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, Black History Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and the Kente Cloth Breakfast.

Campus Police

The Bridgewater State College campus police department (ext. 1212 for police assistance or 911 for emergencies) provides services to members of the campus community ranging from helping with keys locked in cars, to escort service, to responding to emergency or threatening situations. Campus police may respond to calls by providing information and guidance, dispatching an officer to the scene, documenting an incident, and/or investigation.

Faculty members should contact the campus police in any of the following situations:

• A student or faculty member experiences a medical emergency
• A student exhibits aberrant behavior, whether disruptive or not
• A faculty member or student is threatened or harassed, verbally or by e-mail.
• A student submits work that makes reference to wanting to do harm to self or others
• A faculty member is uncomfortable meeting with a student on a one-to-one basis
• A student reports to the faculty member that he or she is being harassed by another student or faculty member

The campus police can also intervene and report a student for campus judicial proceedings for violations of the student code (see Student Handbook: http://www.bridgew.edu/handbook/) if a faculty member is uncomfortable doing so him or herself.

The chief of police, ext. 6140, is available during regular daytime hours to consult with faculty about any of these issues. The campus police station operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Student Involvement and Leadership
The Office of Student Involvement and Leadership works to cultivate diverse and challenging opportunities for BSC students. Faculty may want to refer students to this office, and they have the opportunity to be involved with student organizations. See information on the office's website, including a brochure for faculty.

Last Modified: June 25, 2012