The Office of Student Life and Academic Support (OSLAS) team is hard at work on several projects to enhance student success. Patrick Corr, director of student programs, Nick Atlas, senior academic advisor, and I are conducting learning and study skills assessments and partnering with students to improve their time management, study and test taking skills, and other identified challenges to academic success. Our support services focus on fostering personal, professional, and educational excellence among residential, online, and blended-learning students in the Health Sciences. The OSLAS mission is to provide programs and services designed to support and encourage students to reach their full potential, and we are mindful of student diversity and strive to support a welcoming and inclusive learning environment. We believe in bridging personal responsibility with institutional support to encourage individual growth, nurture servant leaders, and foster an environment of interprofessional collaboration and teamwork.
We welcome input and feedback about our services and ideas about enhancing the student experience. In response to faculty concerns about student writing skills, we brought Garrett Butler, an adjunct instructor in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership (CRL), on board in September as a writing tutor. Butler has been working with students to improve their writing through interactive one-on-one sessions. In addition, the OSLAS team is building a centralized repository of tips, guides, videos, and links to SMHS, GW, and external resources. A link to this new tool will be shared with faculty and staff in late fall, so members of the HS community can access it at any time and include it in their courses and/or syllabi. The team is also planning to use the Target X retention center, once fully implemented by the university, to track and document student encounters. Finally, we are developing evaluation tools to assess satisfaction and efficacy of the services we provide and brainstorming within Health Sciences Administration to identify other viable ways to enrich student retention.
If you would like to refer a student for assistance or writing support, please complete a referral form or email us at raisehighHS@gwu.edu. And if you have ideas for other ways OSLAS can best serve students, please let us know.
Karen A. Wright
Assistant Dean, Student Life and Academic Support
Program Director, Physician Assistant Studies
Assistant Professor, Department of Physician Assistant Studies
