Students looking for academic advising or other support now have a new place to go on campus–five new places, in fact. CSUDH advising options that used to be centered in the University Advisement Center (UAC) are now divided up among the five colleges, with new Student Success Centers opening their doors for the Winter 2023 semester.
“These new centers are meant to be extremely collaborative, and have a focus on holistic student support,” says Andrew Drummond, associate vice president for academic advising and career development. “Our new model recognizes that it takes the whole campus to support the whole student. We’ve created centers that bring multiple different offices together to support Toros throughout their college careers.”
The inspiration for the new advising model comes from the CSUDH strategic plan, Going Far Together, launched in 2022. Specifically, the centers were redesigned with an eye toward supporting two pillars of the plan. As Drummond puts it, “Our focus is to make sure that we are firmly located in that intersection between thriving students and culture of care.”
Associate Vice President of Student Life Matt Smith, who was instrumental in creating Going Far Together, adds, “We looked at data around student success and experiences, and realized that the way we did advising was a little bit confusing and disorienting for students. We wanted to leverage those recommendations with the student experience to figure out the best set-up and model for CSUDH.”
The new Student Success Centers don’t just offer academic advising – they are meant to offer support to students throughout their college careers. To that end, the centers are staffed with retention specialists, graduation specialists, and faculty advisors from the specific college they serve. Students can do everything from plan their course loads to research career opportunities.
Drummond says that the new centers combine the best elements of the former UAC, Encounter to Excellence program, and college-based faculty advisors. “We have cross-trained, extremely gifted advisors in these roles. These are folks who are at the height of professional service, and we’re lucky to have them.”
As Smith says, “Our goal is to offer students robust, holistic advising from the moment they enter our campus all the way through their graduation, to make sure they have the information they need, the support they need, and they know where to go if they need any type of help.”
“With our new advising structure, you’ll have faculty, staff, and administrators working together closely to support student success,” adds Smith. “All of those different types of expertise and experiences come together to work as one for our students. We can do so much more when we come together to advance those efforts instead of working in silos.”
The new Student Success Centers are located at:
College of Arts and Humanities
University Library, Room 5515
College of Business Administration and Public Policy
Innovation & Instruction Building, Room 1100
College of Education
College of Education Building, Room 1401
College of Health, Human Services and Nursing
Welch Hall, Room 220
College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences
Social and Behavioral Sciences Building, Room A306
