COLLEGE SUCCESS WITH THE HELP OF THE ACADEMIC SUCCESS CENTER
By April Sambrano, Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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The University of Nevada, Las Vegas thrives on helping their students achieve success. There are many departments on campus designed for this purpose, and one of them is the Academic Success Center (ASC). The ASC is home to many resources, including academic advising. Tiffany Schmier, a senior academic advisor, is one of the great advisors at the ASC. Tiffany has been with the Academic Success Center for two years but has been an advisor at UNLV for an astonishing 13 years! Along with her extensive experience, Tiffany’s love for the ASC has also grown exponentially. She states that her favorite part of advising is connecting with students and showing them all the possibilities they have. Tiffany enjoys guiding students when they need it and helping them explore their interests, talents, areas of improvement, and ultimately putting everything together for them. “I wouldn’t be in this job if I didn’t like [working with] students'', she states. Like Tiffany, many other ASC advisors enjoy interacting with students; it is what the ASC is built on. So, if there is a student who is in need of assistance, they can always turn to the ASC for guidance. Later in my interview with Tiffany, she further explains her role in the ASC. As an advisor, Tiffany meets with various groups of students, but primarily incoming students who are looking to explore majors. Tiffany explained how she, as well as other advisors, are able to assist many different students who are unsure about what major to declare, or students who do not not yet meet the requirements for the major they had in mind. This ultimately determines the population advisors at the ASC serve.
Although most of the students served by the ASC are Exploring Majors, there are also other circumstances where the ASC will see different students. These circumstances include when students are looking to explore, when they do not like the major they are
in or when students are nontraditional, such as parents or older students. ASC advisors are happy to help, but students who are declared a different major and have questions regarding that major should schedule an appointment with an advisor from their college. One thing that Tiffany stated during our chat was that first-year students often confuse ASC advising with ASC coaching. So, she would like to note that advisors in the ASC tend to focus mainly on classes you have to take and policies students have to think about when choosing majors. This differs with ASC coaching in that coaches focus more on helping students develop and hone soft skills. Although discussions in an ASC coaching appointment and an ASC advising appointment may occasionally cover similar points, exploring students interested in requirements for a certain major should visit an advisor.
Another important point that Tiffany made was that participating in advising is not just about showing up and having an advisor tell you what to do--It is a two-way street and requires the effort of both parties. If a student still has questions or concerns then they are encouraged to come back, as advisors at the ASC provide a place for students to get their questions answered. Security is what advisors like Tiffany want their students to feel. Being a college student can be challenging, particularly as first-year students, and advisors are there to support students through their academic journey at UNLV and decrease some of those challenges.
There are currently five advisors, an assistant director, and a director working in the ASC, and although that may not seem like many, the system they have in place allows them to serve every student that walks in through the doors of the ASC. There are certain times where the waiting list can peak, but all advisors do their best to accommodate students’ needs. During busy weeks, they make sure to have more time available for drop-ins. The length of each appointment varies depending on the specific needs of the student; however, students can meet with an advisor for up to an hour. Sometimes it can be a student considering multiple majors, or help looking for clubs that are related to their major or simply just a check-in. Though sessions do not have to take up the full hour, it is there for reassurance to both advisors and students that there is ample time to discuss what is on the student’s mind. Overall, Tiffany encourages students to make their appointments sooner rather than later to ensure that a plan is in place. As Tiffany likes to say, “Be proactive, not reactive.”
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Advising at the Academic Success Center is an amazing resource for students. Advisors there care, support, and listen to their students. I encourage you to take control of your future and visit an advisor at the Academic Success Center. For information on how to meet with an advisor, students can visit this
website
, call 702-895-3177, or stop by the ASC. The ASC is open Monday-Thursday from 8am-7pm and Friday from 8am-5pm.
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HOW TO EFFECTIVELY CREATE RESEARCH POSTERS
By Paige Burns, Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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As UNLV has recently become classified by Carnegie as an R1 university, meaning the university now holds a very high research activity status, campus involvement to educate students further on research has become noticeable. Many students are given the opportunity to present their research at symposiums; UNLV offers many workshops and sources in order to present effective research and how to properly display their work.
The Lied Library holds many events and workshops to help students succeed. During the month of November, I was able to attend the workshop “How to Effectively Create Research Posters” led by Leah Howd, Multimedia & Design Specialist for the Lied Library. During this seminar, Leah Howd gave many tips and tricks to help when it comes to formatting, designing, and making an effective research poster.
The purpose of a research poster is to present your work in an efficient manner while still being able to display the necessary information and data. In order to create an effective research poster, there are multiple components to consider. Howd presented a helpful tip to make sure you are hitting all of the fundamental points when creating your own research poster. It will depend on what kind of research you are presenting, but overall, most posters will include these specific items. A title is crucial to catch the attention of the viewer and define your topic. A name and affiliation should also be presented on the poster so the viewer knows who created the work and who they are related to. A brief introduction including the research purpose, methods, results, and a conclusion in order to inform the audience while keeping them intrigued is also a key feature.
You should dedicate a section to your research methods and explain how your data was gathered; this is important because it provides a background as to how you conducted the experiment and allows for replication. As for results, try to use graphs, charts, or other visuals to present your data concisely but well enough for the viewer to understand the outcome. A discussion section should showcase the lessons learned from your research and present potential for further research on this topic.
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You should also provide any acknowledgments to specific organizations who contributed to the research process. For example, making note of grant funding, special permissions, and technical assistance. Last but not least, do not forget to cite your sources! As you can see, there are multiple components that should be on a research poster. Be sure to check out Lied Library’s website to dive further into these helpful tips. In order for a research poster to be powerful, there are various additional components that must be taken into consideration.
Content organization is very important when it comes to showcasing your work. It is important to use graphics to catch a viewer’s interest and have enough text to support it. Too much text or confusing graphics could confuse the audience, so try to keep it concise yet accurate. In order to keep the poster visually pleasing, using contrast and clear font, like a sans-serif font, will be very helpful when attracting an audience.
Creating an aesthetically pleasing poster is important when the goal is to catch a viewer’s attention. Color vibrations, image choices, font size and style, and simply how the poster flows are all points to consider when designing your poster. When it comes to color scheme, try to not use bright colors and avoid using text color similar to the background of the poster. Image choice is important because you want your images to correlate to your research while still catching one’s attention. Try to use high quality photos and make sure to view your poster in 100% view so nothing is cut off or content is hidden. Font size and style is crucial; if the font is too small or illegible by the viewer, their attention will be lost quickly. Make sure to use effective font and size. Lastly, you want your poster to flow as smoothly as possible; try to keep the poster in sections so that it is easy for the viewer to follow.
“How to Create an Effective Research Poster” led by Leah Howd was very interesting and helpful. This workshop provided many tips and sources to help students present an aesthetic poster while still presenting the research in an effective manner. UNLV offers many workshops similar to this one as the university is climbing to the top of the research world. I highly recommend any of the Lied Library seminars as it was informational, fun, and overall very helpful to students.
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MAKE IT WRITE
By Stefano Rubini, Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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Most students enrolled at UNLV will have to write an essay at some point within their academic careers, whether it is to present research to a group of scholars, to argue their viewpoint on a controversial topic, or to elaborate on their life stories to create personal statements for admission officers. Regardless of the circumstance or the purpose of their writing, many students would benefit from a constructive critique of their writing to further elevate the quality of the content they wish to write about. Fortunately for all enrolled students, the UNLV Writing Center has been established to assist students in writing higher quality papers and to further improve the methods they use to construct arguments and essays.
The UNLV Writing Center is located at the Central Desert Complex (CDC) in Building 3, which is located in between the UNLV Hospitality Hall and the Academic Success Center (ASC). Their main location is open Monday-Friday from 8am to 6:00pm and Sunday from 10:00am to 6:00pm, the Dayton South satellite location Monday-Wednesday from 4:00pm to 8:00pm, and the Library satellite location Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00pm to 8:00pm. Within the Writing Center, a variety of resources are provided to all actively enrolled UNLV students at no extra charge to improve their writing. From computer labs, online resources, and satellite locations around campus, the Writing Center is an invaluable resource for students that would like assistance in the writing process.
A free resource I have personally taken advantage of are the Writing Workshop Series hosted by the Writing Center. The writing workshop I attended was a workshop titled “Critical Reading and Analysis of Scholarly Writing”, where a group of students and I were taught the fundamental mechanics of scholarly writing and provided with tips and tricks to effectively analyze individual components of academic writing. These workshops are free for all students to attend, including graduate-level students. Undergraduate workshops are hosted twice a month with five workshops being hosted every day, for a grand total of thirty workshops a month. The topics vary depending on the needs of the students and can be found on the
Writing Center website
.
Additionally, there are other resources provided by the Writing Center to further improve student writing. Students can book an appointment over the phone for FREE assistance with all stages of the writing process. These appointments are led by experienced consultants and graduate level staff. Students who may not have the time to attend a one-on-one appointment can submit drafts of their writing to the Online Writing Lab (OWL) for their papers to be given suggestions and edits online. This resource is absolutely free and writing revisions can be given within a 48 hour time frame, thus students are given positive feedback on their writing in a timely manner. Revisions can be made on professional, academic, or personal writing from any subject; the Writing Center encourages students to write refined essays, regardless of the purpose surrounding the essay.
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Furthermore, the UNLV Writing Center is an outstanding free resource that many students do not take advantage of. All undergraduate and graduate-level students are encouraged to take advantage of the numerous resources offered by the Writing Center and get assistance on writing strong, effective papers. If you are interested in learning more information, using online resources, or getting your questions answered, feel free to visit the
Writing Center website
. You can also reach them by phone at (702) 895-3908 or email at
writingcenter@unlv.edu
. The Writing Center is open to all students, staff, and faculty members, so feel free to drop by without having to commit a large portion of your day to benefit your writing and yourself in the future.
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GUIDE TO SELF-CARE AT UNLV
By Ines Rojas, Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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On November 12, I had the opportunity to attend the self-care workshop at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Academic Success Center’s Coaching Spot. While there, I was reminded of the importance of self-care and how we as students can so easily forget to incorporate it into our daily and busy lives.
What is self-care to you? Self-care to me is the practice of taking action to sustain or improve one’s mental and physical health. This is especially important in times of great stress; stress that I am sure all of us here at UNLV can relate to. College can become a big stressor in one’s life whether you are a professor or a student. The struggles for balancing time--that is, juggling between work, school, and personal lives--are all the same and accompanied by some amount of stress. Therefore, it is important to learn how to control and conquer stressful situations.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas does a great job of this by providing faculty, staff, and students free opportunities to relieve stress. The UNLV Academic Success Center provides services like workshops about a variety of topics, tutoring, advising, coaching, supplemental instruction and more, in order to lower stress levels and facilitate academic success. However, the Academic Success Center is not alone in these efforts.
The Student Recreation Wellness Center (SRWC) is another great resource that can be utilized at no additional cost. Within the SRWC is the Rebel Wellness Zone, which can be thought of as a more hands-on resource for effectively lowering stress levels; it does this by providing massage chairs, a gym, hosting general health workshops, classes ranging from kickboxing to mindfulness, and many more! In the SRWC you can also find the Student Counseling and Psychological Service, more commonly referred to as CAPS.
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CAPS is the part of the UNLV Student Recreation and Wellness Center that is designed to help people at UNLV who are feeling overwhelmed, under pressure, stressed, anxious, and/or depressed.
As a fellow student here at UNLV, I have actually had the opportunity to use some of the services mentioned above. My experience while using services like these at UNLV has been great. I can recall always being greeted by friendly and helpful staff. If you are a student you may be wondering how or when you can start utilizing these services. Well, you can begin to take advantage of opportunities like these at any time during the semester and it really is just as easy as showing your rebel card!
Now that I have discussed some of the self-care services UNLV has to offer, let’s look at how to actually start incorporating these techniques into our daily lives, which is often the most difficult part. First, I recommend getting organized with time and creating a schedule. If you find this difficult, the ASC can help with things like this.
More specifically, ASC Academic Success Coaching offers various workshops that provide students with tips and techniques that can help manage time more efficiently. Once your schedule is set, you should analyze what services might best fit you or your needs and determine what facility you will be visiting.
For example, if I need academic help, I will most likely want to talk to the ASC, whereas if I need medical/health-related services, I may want to visit the SRWC. The final step should be easy; which is to start taking advantage of all the free services you have at your disposal.
A stress-free life is often difficult for college students, but the services provided by various departments at UNLV can help us manage that stress and assist us in our academic journey.
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THE YEAR BEFORE APPLYING: A LOOK INTO PREPARING FOR PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL
By Joshua Joven Deleon, Hixson-Lied Success Scholar
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The “Year Before Applying” is a workshop geared towards students interested in enrolling into professional school and is offered by the Pre-Professional Advising Center (PPAC) here at UNLV. Many people don’t know the difference between graduate school and professional school. The 8 tracks that are under professional school are included under the PPAC’s website and include medical, dental, physician assistant, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and optometry. For any student looking to go into any one of these tracks, this workshop can serve as an important resource for understanding the overall process of enrolling into professional school. After interviewing Ashley Sylvester, the PPAC director and speaker for the event, I learned some valuable insight regarding the “Year Before Applying” workshop as well as general things students who are considering professional school should keep in mind.
The main goal of the workshop is to prepare students for their last year of preparation before getting ready to apply for professional schools. According to Ms. Sylvester, there are a lot of things to think about the year before applying that many students are not aware of. The application itself is a “robust” and “extensive” process that requires students to gather several documents and information about their bio-demographic information, previous school information, experiences, test scores, letters of recommendation, transcripts, and much more. The workshop is there to give students the basics and help them understand what the whole process looks like, but Ms. Sylvester recommends students to not only attend the workshop but also make appointments with the PPAC to make sure each student receives a personal consultation that is tailored to that specific student’s needs and circumstances.
Although this workshop mainly focuses on the last year before applying to professional school, Ms. Sylvester encourages students not only to make the decision early on of whether they want to go to professional school, but also to prepare as early as possible. Preparations include gaining as much experience as you can, working and creating professional relationships with industry professionals for letters of recommendation, as well as doing well in most of your courses to keep a competitive GPA. Currently, the competitive nature of applying to professional schools is higher than in previous years. In fact, professional schools will no longer take an application without letters of recommendation as they would in the past.
For any student who missed the opportunity to attend this event, there are still many opportunities to attend in the future. The “Year Before Applying” event is scheduled 2 more times during the spring semester and the PPAC also hosts many other workshops that help students prepare for professional school in a variety of ways. For a more comprehensive look at all of the PPAC hosted events, visit
their website
and check out their event calendar.
If you are thinking about going into professional school, it can be a long and daunting process. However, utilizing the resources provided to you by the PPAC and other UNLV departments will ensure that you are well prepared to go through this rigorous process. Ms. Sylvester gives some lasting advice to students who are thinking about going into professional school; she states that “it’s a long process, this is a marathon not a sprint. You have to practice patience, you have to practice understanding that this is going to take awhile and that this is stressful, this is hard, and this is challenging. I encourage students to keep their motivation for their career at the heart of what they are doing because they will need to rely on that during their challenging times.”
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Interested in becoming a 2020-2021 Hixson-Lied Success Scholar? Application is now open! Please visit this
website
for more information!
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Ms. Christina M. Hixson graduated from high school in Clarinda, Iowa and moved to Omaha, Nebraska to attend business school. She later went to work for Mr. Ernst F. Lied , a car dealership owner in Omaha and in 1960 she joined Mr. Lied in Las Vegas, Nevada as his assistant. After Mr. Lied’s death in 1980, Ms. Hixson became the sole trustee of the Lied Foundation Trust and turned the Lied Foundation Trust into one of the largest foundations in the state of Nevada at that time. Ms. Hixson has a special understanding of young people who, like her, came from a challenging family background and are willing to work hard.
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Mr. Ernst F. Lied was born in Columbus, Ohio and attended the University of Kansas for two years, where he played on the golf team. He ultimately graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1927. Mr. Lied became a Buick dealer in Omaha, Nebraska and later his dealership was ranked third in the country for the number of cars sold. Mr. Lied established his charitable foundation in 1972, and upon his death in 1980 at age 74 nearly his entire estate funded the Lied Foundation Trust. Lied Foundation Trust has enhanced the capabilities of many schools and enriched the quality of many lives!
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*All photos used are original, can be found on unlv.edu, UNLV social media or have references indicated
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