Through a coordinated approach and an unwavering commitment to student success, the Academic Success Center serves as a one-stop hub for a variety of services including Academic Policy support, Academic Learning Resources, and Academic Advocacy. If your student is unsure which service(s) may benefit them, please encourage them to contact the Academic Success Center by email (academicsuccess@umbc.edu) or by phone at 410.455.2444 and our team will connect them with the service(s) most applicable to their needs.
Tutoring Services will be provided in-person and online with drop-in and appointment options available. Tutoring services include:
- Writing Center
- Math and Science Tutoring Center
- Computing Success Center
- Appointment Tutoring for many courses
Early Academic Alerts (formerly FYI Alerts): Because of the challenges associated with the pandemic, the Academic Success Center expanded the FYI Alerts program from first-year students to all undergraduate students at UMBC in 2020-2021. Faculty participation in the expanded FYI Alerts Program was very high, with 78.5% of faculty sections reporting their alerts in fall 2020! Moving forward, we have renamed FYI Alerts to Early Academic Alerts, and will continue to offer the opportunity for faculty to send alerts to all undergraduates, to help connect students to resources for success early in the semester. The Early Academic Alerts Fall 2021 Reporting Period is September 27, 2021 through October 26, 2021.
Supplemental Instruction (SI PASS): Supplemental Instruction (SI) is an academic support model that utilizes Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS), regularly scheduled review sessions for historically difficult courses. Given the success of online SI PASS during remote instruction (over 18,000 student contact hours with SI PASS sessions) we will offer both weekly online and in-person SI PASS sessions, providing maximum flexibility so students can take advantage of this important academic support.
Online Learning Resources: As students are taking classes both online and face-to-face this fall, please refer them to our Online Learning Resources, modules, videos and guides to success in online learning.
Academic Success Meetings: Our staff are happy to meet with students one-to-one to help them build strong time management and study skills, and to help connect them with campus resources for success.
Academic Advocacy: Given the success of the Academic Advocacy program we are pleased to share that the team will be expanding this fall to include an Academic Advocate position focused on transfer student success as well as a First-Year Academic Advocate position dedicated to serving incoming, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students to assist them in resolving academic and institutional challenges in their first year that may adversely affect persistence, progression, and timely completion of degree.
Referrals can be submitted to the Academic Advocacy team at: https://academicsuccess.umbc.edu/submit-a-referral/
Academic Peer Advocacy: A new Academic Peer Advocacy (APA) Program will be implemented for the fall semester to pair incoming full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students with trained and compassionate peers dedicated to providing individualized support during their transition to college. APA’s mission is to empower their peers to take advantage of the appropriate campus resources and to confidently seek help when needed. APA’s connect students to the First-Year Academic Advocate for coordinated care when there are complicated barriers to navigate.
To connect with or refer an incoming student to an Academic Peer Advocate (APA), please email Amanda Sharp at asharp@umbc.edu.
Thank you for your continued partnership and for all that you do in support of student success! We hope that you find this information valuable and will share these resources widely to help spread the word and get students connected to the Academic Success Center.
