The area that used to hold the testing center is being converted into a math and science tutoring area to provide students with more teaching space.
With the construction of the new Testing Center last December, the old testing center location on the bottom floor of the library was left unused.
Jessica Murphy, dean of undergraduate education, said the Student Success Center plans to move both science and math tutoring to the old testing center location. The current peer tutoring rooms on the third floor will then be utilized for Supplemental Instruction sessions and exam reviews.
The old testing center location will be refurbished with new furniture and divided into four corners where different tutoring sessions will take place. A central area will serve as a space for tutors and students to communicate with each other.
“So it kind of started with a discussion about opening to students and kind of try to students and kind of trying to rein in the Students Success Center activities and keeping it all within the same spot,” Murphy said. “And then Julie Murphy and Ne’Shaun Jones came up with this really creative play to bring peer tutoring math and science together down into the old testing center space … to help leverage our space better.”
Murphy said a problem SI sessions have faced is the noise created in the open study area. Students in SI sessions have to compete with the surrounding noise in order to conduct their tutoring sessions.
Another problem SSC instructors faced is overcrowding before exams, Murphy said.
“You have students who are in the library that you know they want that space as well,” Jones said. “So we had to designate space for students who are not utilizing in this space for tutoring.”
SSC Director Ne’Shaun Jones said with the addition of the old testing center space, the SSC “will be maximized so that students can breathe.”
“It’s amazing how much space it allows us to get creative with it,” Jones said.