Academic support celebrates 30 years of help for every student

In 1995, Melinda Gunning was working as an adjunct writing instructor at Fresno Pacific College when she realized the campus lacked a tutoring center.

So Gunning pioneered the creation of a writing lab that, on a weekly basis, served about 20 students from the developmental writing class. Located in the basement of Kriegbaum Hall, not far from the laundry room, a handful of paid student peer tutors conducted business to a soundtrack of spinning dryers and washing machines.

Thirty years later, that campus innovation has evolved into the Academic Success Center (ASC), a full-scale tutoring operation that now serves all Fresno Pacific University student populations. Over the decades, the center—in all its growing incarnations—has supported thousands of students working to improve or maintain their academic footing.

“I’ve always believed that learning happens mostly outside of the classroom,” 

says Gunning, now director of disability access and education. “The classroom is for instruction—the professors are wonderful, but it’s not always where students learn. Students often learn with their peers, with someone who speaks the same language. And also one-on-one tutoring meets the student at the point of need.”

Sarah Micu, director of student success services (and a former tutor in the ASC), believes the center is a crucial part of Fresno Pacific’s service to students. “I think a common misconception is that students who come to tutoring are students who are struggling, who are about to fail out,” she says. “Sometimes it is students who are failing and trying to make a last-ditch effort—but a lot of times the work that we do is helping students maintain great grades and just have another support system.”

A program evolves

That support system certainly has blossomed over the few decades leading to this 30-year anniversary. Back in 1995, the writing lab was part of the English department and provided tutoring services by appointment and only to a limited student audience. After a few years, it grew into the Center for Writing and Learning, gained a part-time coordinator and moved under the director of the Mentoring and Retention Office and the dean of the undergraduate college.

In 2002, the tutoring service moved to above-ground quarters in Marpeck Hall—claiming two small rooms and part of a hallway—and was serving hundreds of students in writing, math and some general education courses.

In 2009, the center acquired its current primary office space in Marpeck 105. Over roughly the past 20 years, the center has received increasingly sophisticated tutor training certifications, added staffing (including professional staff), expanded services and on-line tutoring opportunities for all student populations, began serving regional campuses and changed its name to the Academic Success Center (within the Academic Success Department).

Some current leaders on campus have longstanding relationships with the tutoring program. Kerry Sue Brown, Ph.D., associate dean of student success—which includes the Academic Success Department—began working in the center in 2013 and eventually headed it for about five years.

Brown was always blown away by the knowledge and training of the tutoring staff. “The Lord always provides really amazing, not only smart students, but really good tutors,” she says.

Helping everyone

One goal of the center has been to normalize help-seeking behavior for all students, ranging from undergraduates to those in adult, degree completion and graduate programs. “A Sunbird is a Sunbird,” Brown says. “If you are an FPU student and need support, come to the ASC and we’ll see what we can do for you.”

Gunning is clearly proud of the ASC and its evolution over the past 30 years. The center meets students one-on-one, and “I think that makes a huge difference,” she says. “Fresno Pacific, we’re a community but we also need to meet students individually. I think the Academic Success Center is where that happens most successfully.”

The center’s long run demonstrates its need and value, including as a helping hand for faculty. “Students are here to learn, they are excited to learn and they need support,” Micu says. “The Academic Success Center is one of the ways that FPU is doing that for students, and reminding students that Fresno Pacific wants its graduates to be strong and ready for the world.”

For more information visit fpu.edu/asc