By Cyndee Fontana-Ott
Freelance Writer
Decades ago, freshman Andrew Shinn joined Fresno Pacific University’s brand-new writing lab as a tutor. He spent several semesters helping students improve their craft, but he also took away lessons for a lifetime.
“I have lots of good things to say about the skills that I gained during that time and how I’ve applied them since,” says Shinn, now a diplomat in the U.S. State Department.
Shinn is just one of thousands of students who have either tutored or been tutored at the Academic Success Center, as it is known today. From its launch as a writing lab, the center has evolved into a full-service resource that serves every kind of student at the university. This year marks its 30th anniversary at Fresno Pacific.
Early tutors like Shinn helped plant the seeds of decades-long growth while guiding fellow students.
“It was very rewarding to see the figurative light bulb go on for students,” says Karl Strube, one of the center’s early tutors in math. Like Shinn, he also gained valuable skills and insights about himself. One key discovery was that he loved one-on-one tutoring but didn’t want to head a classroom.
That realization changed the direction of Strube’s career and life. He switched majors from math education to accounting and now works as an accountant in Fresno.
Tutoring only reinforced the academic path of Sarah Elder, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature, teaching credential and master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Fresno Pacific. She’s been a teacher at Visalia’s El Diamante High School for more than two decades and also is an adjunct instructor at Fresno Pacific.
“When there was an opportunity to work in the writing center, that’s just the kind of thing that an English major loves,” Elder says.
The three former tutors have at least one person in common: Melinda Gunning, the founder of the original writing lab and current director of disability access and education at Fresno Pacific.
“Several former tutors and students continue to be my friends and have had great influence on my life,” Gunning says.
Strube, for example, offered personal and professional support during a difficult time in her life. Gunning also occasionally runs into students who benefited from the center, and recently happily bought coffee from a former student working to fund a ministry in Ethiopia.
If the Academic Success Center is a tree with many branches, then Gunning is its roots. “Having Melinda as someone who was guiding that center on campus was really helpful,” Elder says. “She really helped to have us continue to love writing and helping students, and I think that fostered the teaching spirit for a lot of us.”
Shinn was one of Gunning’s early recruits. Back then, Gunning was an adjunct writing professor and Shinn stood out in one of her classes.
While he was a good writer and spoke intelligently in class, those weren’t the only traits needed for the job. “Good tutors are people who have compassion for another student’s struggles and they care enough to help someone else to be a better student and to say what they want to say,” Gunning says.
“Andrew listened to instruction and was able to communicate what he learned in a way that another student could understand.”
While he only spent three semesters at Fresno Pacific – leaving to join the U.S. Coast Guard—Shinn’s experience in the tutoring center formed a bedrock foundation in his life. The learner-centric approach taught by Gunning is still a significant influence.
“I always remember that she was coaching us to make better writers, not better papers,” Shinn says. He offered the parable of two neighbors comparing lawns. One stretch of grass is perfectly manicured while the other is ragged from amateurish mowing by the neighbor’s young son.
Asked about that choice, the neighbor responds: “I’m not growing grass, I’m growing boys.”
Allowing others room to grow, and not demanding perfection the first time, is an approach Shinn uses with everyone from co-workers to students to his own children.
Shinn only spent a few semesters at Fresno Pacific because he simply wasn’t prepared for college-level academics. Fortunately, that was long enough to meet his wife, Lisa, on campus. The couple has four children.
Following six years in the U.S. Coast Guard, where he was a public affairs specialist, Shinn returned to school. He earned an undergraduate degree in business from Eastern Nazarene College in the Boston area and a master’s degree in business from California State University, Fresno. He also returned to Fresno Pacific to teach for four years before moving on to become a foreign service officer.
As a professor at Fresno Pacific, Shinn often referred students to the Academic Success Center. It’s an invaluable resource especially for those who need help developing or refining academic skills—students like Shinn.
“The Academic Success Center has something to offer to every student in terms of how to approach, how to use, and how to work with and really become involved in the conversation around university-level academic material,” Shinn says.