What will become of the Center for Academic Success and the Writing Lab will be determined on Monday when the Academic Senate will vote on one of the proposed budget scenarios.
An in-depth analyzes was made by a viability committee, who presented their findings during Monday’s special Academic Senate meeting in order to prepare for the vote.
The study was deemed appropriate because the center will have a permanent centralized location once the new Library Crossroads Building located on the north end of the Mall will open.
It is also appropriate because the Writing Lab will be two faculty members short in the fall.
With professor Jeanine Brown retiring in the fall, there will not be a faculty member to run the Writing Lab.
The committee is also looking at the option of collecting apportionment.
Carol Kozeracki, Dean of Research and Planing took part of the Viability Committee that looked at the Center for Academic Success and Writing Lab.
Kozeracki explained apportionment with an example.
“(When) you take any of your classes (and) the teacher (is) teaching you, (Pierce is) collecting money from the state to reimburse for that and that there are certain services that the center can perform that we had not necessarily been collecting money (for),” Kozeracki said.
However, the California Code of Regulations under Title 5 states minimum requirements for apportionment to be collected.
“In order (to) collect apportionment you need to have someone who has the credentials of a faculty member,” Kozeracki said.
This qualified faculty member must be present while services are being provided.
Currently, services such as tutoring are offered in different parts of the campus, which include the Village and the Center for the Sciences.
This set up makes it difficult to collect apportionment simultaneously.
Crystal Kiekel, the Associate Dean of Student Success, was also on the Viability Committee and contributed to the report that was represented before the senate.
The report explains that apportionment is determined by the number of students that use the services.
When students visit the center they check in with their student identification number, and the hours are recorded.
This is sometimes a problem because some students are not aware of the center.
Gabriel Gasabyan, 20, was surprised to learn that the center even existed.
“We have that here?” Gasabyan said.
After hearing of the services the center offers, he had a piece of advice for the directors.
“They should really do a better job of making the center known,” Gasabyan said.
Gasabyan is not the only Pierce student who has never visited the center.
“I have being wanting to visit the Center for Academic Success, but when I ask someone where it is they give me the wrong location, so I just kind of gave up on it,” said Jacob Cisneros, another Pierce student.
Until the opening of the new Library Crossroads Building, the Center for Academic Success and the Writing Lab are located in Village 8401 and 8402.
Room 8401 is used as a tutoring center Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m, while room 8402 is specifically dedicated to math tutoring Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The differences between the scenarios presented are the cost of the program.
Contributing: Aurora Ramirez and Melissa Trahin
