For the purpose of improving retention and completion for all students, in the past year Gordon State College has provided
- Always Alert intrusive advising for disengaged and poorly performing students. Faculty report students of concern as early as the first week of the semester.
- Supplemental Instruction, in which students who have passed a course with a high grade and have an aptitude for working with other students sit in on the course and provide tutoring sessions with current students.
- Individual tutoring in math, English and a number of other disciplines.
- Success/academic skills workshops.
- A Career Services Center which helps students understand how academic success and personal development are tied to career goals, assists students in preparing for the job market, and helps students and employers connect.
These forms of student support are provided through the Student Success Center, which is an important component of our efforts to accomplish our mission as an access institution. The SSC is staffed by a director, who reports to the Provost, three professional advisors, a Minority Advising Program coordinator, a program assistant, and student tutors. The Career Services Center, which comes under the director of the SSC, is staffed by a coordinator and two part-time student assistants.
FYE: GSC requires first-term students who have Learning Support requirements to take the Gordon First Year Experience course and pass with a C or better. This course focuses on student engagement in the college culture, academic success, career planning, and financial literacy, and it is overseen by the Director of Student Success, Advising, and Testing. This one-hour course is taught by faculty members and staff. For full-time faculty members, the course is an overload.
Policies: To remove unnecessary hurdles to student success, GSC formally revised policies regarding
- Academic Renewal, which became less stringent and, therefore, broader in application.
- Required High School Curriculum guidelines, which now enable students to count a course both as fulfillment of a high school deficiency and as a college graduation requirement. In addition, the stipulation that students must earn a C or higher in the course for it to fulfill a high school deficiency has been removed. Because the grade of D or higher is required for students to pass a course at Gordon State College, that is now the grade requirement for the course to fulfill a high school deficiency.
