Helpful Paul Smith's Programs

Academic Support Center

The Academic Support Center (ASC), located in the Joan Weill Adirondack Library, offers a broad range of services to assist students in reaching their goals for academic success. Support is offered in a dynamic educational environment where students are encouraged to become actively engaged in their own learning experience. Students learn to understand and utilize their own learning style as it is related to the traditional and experiential models offered in their courses. Services are free and available to all students.

Peer Tutoring: Available to all students in most subjects offered at the College. Regularly scheduled tutoring is designed based upon student needs and tutor availability and may be arranged as individual or in small groups.

Supplemental Instruction (SI): Offers students an opportunity to meet on a regular basis to review notes, discuss important concepts and develop study strategies. It is available for 4-6 high enrollment/high challenge courses each semester and led by SI leaders who have successfully completed the course and work closely with the professor.

Study Groups/Workshops: Led by peer tutors; they provide a great opportunity to review material, work on problems and review for tests. Study groups are arranged on an as-needed basis throughout the semester.

Writing Center: Assistance for writing in any course is provided by professional and/or peer tutors. Students may develop writing plans, review drafts, and learn skills needed for information literacy.

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Center for Accommodative Services (CAS)

The Center for Accommodative Services (CAS) at Paul Smith's College ensures that the recruitment, admission, and treatment of students with disabilities are free of discrimination. Personnel in the CAS assist students in exercising control over their own education, in increasing their independence and self-determination, and in completing PSC degree requirements.

Our philosophy is that the individual is the expert about his or her own disability. While challenging people with disabilities to accept the freedom and responsibility of directing their own lives, PSC believes that all students deserve the opportunity to succeed to the best of their ability. The CAS offers alternatives and options that allow students to participate fully in academic pursuits at PSC. It is up to the students to make their own decisions and to initiate actions which ultimately lead to success and enable them to contribute to, as well as share responsibility in, the PSC community.

In providing an academic adjustment, PSC is not required to lower or effect substantial modifications to essential requirements. For example, although PSC may be required to provide extended testing time, it is not required to change the substantive content of the test. In addition, PSC does not have to make modifications that would fundamentally alter the nature of a service, program or activity or would result in undue financial or administrative burdens (Office of Civil Rights).

All services are completely voluntary, and it is the student's responsibility to request them. Services are provided in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and PSC guidelines. Students are encouraged to identify themselves early to ensure timely accommodations. The first step is to submit documentation of a disability to: Learning Specialist, Center for Accommodative Services, Paul Smith's College, Paul Smiths, NY 12970.

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TRiO - Student Support Services

TRIO - Student Support Services (SSS) is a federally-funded program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, which provides comprehensive academic support services to eligible participants at Paul Smith's College. Participants are either first generation college students (neither parent completed a four-year college degree), meet family income guidelines, and/or have a documented learning disability.

The mission of the Student Support Services program is to increase student persistence and graduation rates at Paul Smith's College by providing a range of services which include:

• Academic, career, financial, transfer, and personal counseling
• Professional English, writing, and math tutoring
• Peer mentoring support for first-year students
• Career, personality and learning styles assessments
• College success strategies workshops and seminars
• Personal and cultural enrichment through field trips and events
• Assistance with admission to graduate school and professional programs
• Scholarship Application Assistance
• Annual Awards Programs/TRIO Day Celebration
• Leadership opportunities

All program services are provided at No Cost to participants. The location of the project is Room 207 of the Joan Weill Adirondack Library.

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Student Development Center

The Student Development Center, located in Joan Weill Student Center #017, provides students with counseling, personal development, prevention information and health education at Paul Smith's. All services are free to students of the College.

The Counseling activities of the office are designed to help students better understand themselves, deal with important decisions, and resolve personal, social, career and study problems that can interfere with their educational goals. Services include counseling (for issues such as depression, anxiety, relationships, family concerns, grief, academic concerns, harassment, etc.), crisis intervention, referrals, choosing majors, setting career goals, and making career changes. Support and educational counseling for alcohol and other drug issues is available. Additional services include workshops on issues such as stress management, freshman transition issues, support groups (for issues such as eating disorders, gay/lesbian/bisexual awareness, and personal growth) prevention campaigns, a newsletter, and residence hall programming. The office provides a reporting source, advocacy, and support for rape and sexual harassment, and will help students to file charges if they wish to do so.

The Student Development Center also coordinates non-academic services to students with special needs. It aids in obtaining documentation and accommodations for psychiatric concerns, working closely with the Office of Accommodative Services to provide counseling and/or any non-academic accommodations that might be required. It is the point of contact for requests for medical accommodations for housing.

*Note: Entering students with counseling or documented special needs are encouraged to contact the Student Development Center as soon as possible after admission for assistance in obtaining counseling and any non-academic accommodations required. Questions of a confidential nature may also be addressed to the center before admission.