Last month, Augustana College welcomed the new Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Quantitative (STEM/Q) Center. Found on the second floor of Hanson Hall of Sciences, the space will act as a learning hub for students taking STEM/Q courses.
The STEM/Q Center will offer students tutoring in subjects such as accounting, business and psychology. The college announced the new center on their website on Aug. 19.
The center has drop-in hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and scheduled tutoring from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Students can make an appointment on Starfish under the ‘Subject Tutoring: Drop-in Tutoring’ category.
Strategic Communications and Media Outreach Specialist Joshua Blount said the new center will benefit all students due to Augustana’s graduation requirements. At Augustana, every student is required to take a quantitative course, fulfilling the Q suffix.
“The center will support non-STEM majors, as well. All Augustana students take coursework that requires quantitative reasoning and builds those skills,” Blount said.
Augustana hired Karen Lindebrekke to lead the center. Lindebrekke has previously worked at the Actuarial Foundation, which gave her experience in providing professional development for teachers.
Last year, Augustana College announced its Bold and Boundless strategic plan. Bold and Boundless was created to maximize student potential, providing students with real-life learning opportunities and having student success be their main goal.
“Maximizing student potential is basically getting the students to recognize that they can all come in and use the center and receive some support for them to be the best they can be in their courses,” Linderbrekke said. “We encourage them to come in to help them before it becomes any kind of crisis mode, that they come in…to bolster their skills and to use them or test themselves on a regular basis as they get tutoring or other support from faculty.”
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dianna Shandy held a role in getting funding for the center to be created. Shandy said she wrote for grant aid for the space and then they were able to start creating the center.
With the center in place, Shandy believes that this will be helpful for students.
“We really, really are hoping that students that are struggling find this a resource so that if they don’t understand something, that it normalizes asking questions… We are all here to learn,” Shandy said.
Lindebrekke will be hosting a workshop on how to use a scientific calculator for students who were never taught how to use one or have forgotten how to.
“It’s not just for students who are at risk of failing…it’s more like a vitamin than an aspirin. So it’s for everyone. ” Lindebrekke said.
The center also hopes to prepare students for the working world by partnering up with CORE services and counselors. Lindebrekke hopes with the additional support, more students are able to pursue careers and internships in STEM/Q fields.
