By the Numbers
2020-2021
The Academic Success Center (ASC), located in 1060 Hixson-Lied Student Success Center, provides support services that help students become self-directed learners. Students can take advantage of Supplemental Instructions, tutoring services, academic coaching, various workshops, and a host of self-guided resources available on the ASC Website.
In the Division of Student Affairs, our hope is to provide students with an experience that gets them more than a paycheck. We believe that they can develop skills in the positions they work within the division that will help them once they graduate from Iowa State. To help this, we have launched the Career Readiness Competencies (CRCs), a set of eight competencies desired by employers around the country. The CRCs can be used by any department, and a toolkit for using them is available to download.
The Department of Residence offers more than just a place to live. Students who live on campus are part of a community, with opportunities for staff support, fun programs, residential learning communities, and convenient access to classes. Living on campus provides students a safe, supportive learning environment that is dedicated to student success.
Recreation Services offers wellness and recreation opportunities for students and faculty/staff in a fun, welcoming, and inclusive environment. Recreation Services includes three physical buildings (State Gymnasium, Lied Recreation, Beyer Hall), outdoor complexes and a number of programs including intramurals, sport clubs, fitness, and outdoor recreation.
Student Accessibility Resources (SAS) determines eligibility and coordinates reasonable accommodations for ISU students with documented disabilities. This is inclusive of necessary collaborations with numerous campus partners including Professors/Instructors, ISU Department of Residence Life, ISU Dining, Facilities, Office of the Registrar, Dean of Students Office, Thielen Student Health Center, Student Counseling Services, Financial Aid, Recreation Services, Parking, and others. SAS strives to provide supportive services while teaching students, instructors, and others that 'ability' is an important topic to be included in all diversity and inclusion discussions.
The Writing and Media Center strives to inspire students, staff, faculty, and community members to develop in all forms of communication by promoting the values of critical thinking, creativity, and lifelong learning. They consult on all parts of the composing process, including brainstorming, drafting, revising, and polishing. They also provide services for written, oral, visual, and electronic communication. In addition to one-on-one consulting, they provide workshops, writing groups, and writing retreats for students.
The Writing and Media Center strives to inspire students, staff, faculty, and community members to develop in all forms of communication by promoting the values of critical thinking, creativity, and lifelong learning. They consult on all parts of the composing process, including brainstorming, drafting, revising, and polishing. They also provide services for written, oral, visual, and electronic communication. In addition to one-on-one consulting, they provide workshops, writing groups, and writing retreats for students.
For 25 years, learning communities have offered small groups of students the opportunity to take one or more courses together, interact with peer mentors, faculty and staff, participate in out-of-class activities, and engage in career exploration with others who share similar academic interests. Additionally, 19 of our learning communities offer a residential component where students live and learn together within the same residence hall.
Offered by the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, The Spark is a weekly email series that serves as on-going training for Iowa State University faculty and staff on working with multicultural students. Weekly, The Spark participants are presented with a description of the ISU student experience from a different multicultural student has contribute to the MSA student blog, The Hype. The goals of The Spark are to increase employee effectiveness at serving students of color, provide context and content to build skills for addressing campus climate concerns, and to list the voices of ISU students of color.
Student Wellness enhances the holistic health, wellbeing, and safety for all students through implementing prevention and health promotion strategies that support academic success, promote student development, and achieve health equity. These online programs are population level strategies and are part of our comprehensive and holistic strategies to improve student wellbeing.
Recreation Services could not do what we do without our student employees. While the number fluctuates, we currently have 490 students employed with the department. Those students hold 1,417 unique job positions. Additionally, since the start of FY21, the students have worked an average of 8,457 hours per month, including 600 hours of onboarding for the newest employees. In addition to helping students earn a paycheck, Rec Services prides itself on the opportunities given to student employees, such as developing their career readiness skills.
TRIO Student Support Services at Iowa State University serves 250 low-income, first generation students and/or students with disabilities each year with the goal of increasing persistence and graduation rates of these students. TRIO SSSP is funded by the US Department of Education. During the 2018-2019 academic year, TRIO SSSP reported a 98% persistence rate among TRIO students. The federal grant requires programs to obtain an 87% persistence rate.