SECTION
12: ACADEMIC AND STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES
12.1 STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES [CR]
The institution provides appropriate academic and student support programs, services, and activities consistent with its mission.
JUDGEMENT
Compliance 
Non-Compliance
Partial Compliance
NARRATIVE
To accomplish its mission, N.C. A&T provides a wide-range of student and academic support services. These services are provided primarily through the Division of Academic Affairs, which includes the Divisions of Student Affairs and Information Technology. As mentioned in 8.2.c, key academic and student support programs, services, and activities are provided through a variety of units that include
1. The Office of the Provost (often referred to as Academic Affairs)
2. Division of Student Affairs
3. Division of Information Technology Services
4. The Admissions Office
5. Financial Aid
6. Center for Academic Excellence
7. Accessibility Resources (formerly Disability Services)
8. Residence Life
9. Counseling Services
10. Library Services
11. Distance Education
12. Career Services
13. Honors Program
14. Multicultural Student Affairs
The services fall into several categories, including on-boarding and assimilation, educational support services, and professional development services.
ONBOARDING AND ASSIMILATION SERVICES
Several units provide services onboarding services and activities to help students to begin adjusting to their new lives as college students and members of the A&T family. These units and their activities are briefly described below, with more information linked.
The Office of the Provost—Division of Academic Affairs. The Office of the Provost provides leadership for the entire Division of Academic Affairs, including all the colleges and their academic program. This unit provides academic support for all students by ensuring the rigor of academic programs, providing resources to support programs and students, as well as hiring and developing the faculty and staff who support students. The Office of the Provost works with deans to develop new academic programs and update older ones, to ensure reaffirmation of accreditation for all accredited degree programs, to ensure experiential learning opportunities are available to students and many partnerships are in place to ensure successful post-graduation placement, just to name a few.
The Division of Student Affairs. The Division of Student Affairs provides engaging co-curricular activities to support students and promote student success. This unit also promotes student success by overseeing residence life and health and wellness programs, and by facilitating Learning Communities, providing leadership development programs, connecting the students to the local community and much more.
The Division of Information Technology Services. The Division of Information Technology Services supports students by providing state-of-the-art technology on campus, including wireless services and technology enable classroom, labs and study spaces, as well as general use and residential connectivity. This unit provides the institution’s campus-wide technology services, client support, and instructional technology support.
The Admissions Office. The Admissions Office recruits students and helps them begin their journey at the university. It works closely with the New Student Programs team to plan and deliver the university’s new student orientation programs, and helps students—new freshmen and new transfers—make the transition to the university by familiarizing them with the campus and its resources, helping them to develop the critical skills necessary to make the adjustment to campus life and the university community. They help new students access university services, learn the core values of the institution, navigate the geography of the campus, tap into the social networks, and become self-directed young adults. Programs are also provided to parents to foster an environment of ‘community support’ for students.
Office of Financial Aid. The Office of Financial Aid works with students to access the aid for they qualify. It also provides information on how to remain eligible for aid, how to manage the funding received, including financial literacy workshops, and helps educate students about costs and repayments.
Counseling Services. The university’s Counseling Services provides assistance to help students understand themselves better, create and maintain healthy relationships, improve their academic performance and make satisfying career and life choices. The services provided include individual and group counseling, outreach and consultation, training and supervision, teaching, psychological testing, and research. If more intensive or specialized care is needed, the Counseling Center assists with making referrals to healthcare providers in the community. The Center provides a safe and confidential counseling environment for students experiencing distress, and does its very best to support student retention.
EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES
Center for Academic Excellence. The Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) provides academic advice and monitoring and makes students aware of the university’s student success priorities. Most of its programming is for undeclared majors, freshman students and vulnerable student groups, such as athletes or low performing students who are at risk of dropping out of their degree programs. The advisors provide academic advising, tutoring, academic monitoring, supplemental instruction, and degree audits to help students make satisfactory academic progress. One advisor is embedded in each academic college and the others are in the Center.
Library Services. The faculty and staff of F.D. Bluford Library support and advance academic scholarship and research at N.C. A&T through services, collections, technologies, staff expertise and learning spaces. The library helps to ensure access to local, regional, national and global information that support student learning and faculty continued growth and development. . The library maintains a large and balanced collection of print and non-print materials, with an ever-growing collection of electronic resources that are available for onsite and remote access.
For students who are on campus, the library offers WiFi service, a snack lounge and a number of private study spaces for doctoral students and faculty, creating an environment where they may have quiet workspace away from some of the regular day-to-day disruptions.
Much more information on library services is provided in Section 11.
Accessibility Resources. The Office of Accessibility Resources serves our students with disabilities, and ensures that they are able to access the resources that they need. Services offered include learning assessments and documentation of the accommodations needed so students are able to share the information with their professors. The office also provides appropriate space and supervision for learning assessments so the students may have comfortable, non-threatening environments in which to take tests and exams.
Distance Education and Extended Learning (DEEL). The Office of Distance Education and Extended Learning serves primarily online learners and non-degree-seeking students. Branded as A&T Online, the office supports students and faculty who teach and learn online, by providing services such as enrollment in courses, changing majors and accessing other services such as financial aid, tutoring, accessibility resources, career services and information technology. This unit works with academic deans and department chairs to develop new degree programs and courses, train faculty and teaching assistants, orient students to the nuances of learning in the virtual space, and help ensure that students who learn in the university’s online programs receive comparable experiences to those who learn on campus.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CULTURAL ENRICHMENT SERVICES
Career Services and Experiential Learning. The Office of Career Services (OCS) offers a wide range of programs and services for all students. OCS provides centralized services, such as on-campus recruiting and employment placements, experiential learning opportunities (co-ops and internships), and a variety of career preparation opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students, including a long list of workshops to help students prepare professional resumes and ready themselves for career interviews. The Office offers two large career fairs each year, and many smaller ones in collaboration with academic colleges.
Honors Program. The University Honors Program offers academically talented and highly motivated students an opportunity to thrive at the university. The Honors Program works with the academic colleges and departments to provide a blend of small classes and supplement them with a wide range of enrichment and professional development activities including guest speakers, conferences and workshops, and out-of-town travel that promote intellectual growth, cultural awareness, leadership development and graduate/professional school preparation. The Honors Program provides special opportunities for the university’s most talented students to grow and develop through engagement with a community of Honors staff, students and faculty. The cultural enrichment activities include at least one global trip each year.
Multicultural Student Center. The Multicultural Student Center (MSC) was established in 2001 to support the educational, cultural, social and intellectual growth of the campus community around individual differences and global issues. The Center supports the institution's goal to ensure that the entire campus community, regardless of individual differences, is a safe and welcoming environment. It supports the university commitment to protect, educate and inform the community that N.C. A&T does not discriminate based on – ethnicity, race, country of origin, sexual orientation, gender, physical ability or religion. The center assists with the coordination and planning of special events to build awareness of and celebrate inclusive communities. All students, faculty, staff and administrators are embraced as valued membesr of the N.C. A&T community. In addition, the MSC assists the institution in developing shared goals and creating a sense of common community that serves all constituents fairly and equitably.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
2. Org Chart for the Division of Academic Affairs
3. The Office of the Provost—Division of Academic Affairs
4. The Division of Student Affairs
5. The Division of Information Technology Services
9. Center for Academic Excellence
10. Library Services
12. Distance Education and Extended Learning (DEEL)
13. Career Services and Experiential Learning
14. Honors Program
15. Multicultural Student Center