Issue date: 8/25/09 Section: News

Student worker Michael Baird and graduate assistant Katona Johnson walk through an office in the Student Success Center Monday afternoon. (Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

The Student Success Center is now operating at full force at its new home.

The center moved from its temporary location at 1125 McAfee Gymnasium into Ninth Street Hall June 15.

The new site has an open computer kiosk in the lobby. A video screen shows schedules for the Career Center and academic workshops. Three classrooms and a conference room are on the first floor.

Cindy Boyer, assistant director for the center, said the Ninth Street location allows for more comfort for students.

"McAfee had limited space and little privacy and no classrooms," Boyer said. "It was harder for students to relate, and I don't like feeling I'm shutting the door on any student."

Purpose

The Student Success Center assists students in the BOOST and Gateway programs, reinstated students and referrals, and those on academic warning. To be placed on academic warning, a cumulative GPA must be under 2.0.

Boyer said she will have about 144 students participating in the center who have been reinstated or are in the BOOST program.

About 700 to 750 students go on academic warning each year, said Jeff Cross, associate vice president for academic affairs.

These students are required to take EIU 2919, a single-credit course designed to help students gain better personal responsibility and master effective study skills.

Six graduate assistants, led by Student Success Specialist Taisha Mikell, instruct the course and check-up on students at least once a month.

Construction

The project was a partnership between Christy-Foltz, Inc. of Decatur and Eastern construction trades, said Stephen Shrake, associate director of Design and Construction in Facilities Planning and Management.

Christy-Foltz, Inc. completed the concrete and structural steel work for $399,142, while Eastern construction trades finished the project.

Shrake said the center went off course after holdups in construction supplies.

"Steel delivery delays early in the project forced us to do a lot of work in very cold winter conditions, and final completion was pushed past the end of the spring semester," Shrake said.

Construction was completed early this summer.

Funding

Eastern received a Title III Strengthening Institutions Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help fund the project, Cross said. Eastern is in the third year of the $1.85-million, five-year grant.

Cross said about $1 million went to construction, $345,000 for an endowment Eastern matched to fund the center, and the rest went to support staffing.

To recognize the completed project, the center will have a ribbon cutting ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 4.

Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7942 or at rtbajek@eiu.edu.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools

The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.

Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.

Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.

If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.