Welcome to the 2019 - 2020 Academic Year!
Dear SI Campus Partners,
Now that we are a few weeks into the new semester, we wanted to take a moment to greet you all to the 2019 - 2020 academic year! We hope that you had a wonderful summer, and your semester is off to a smooth start.
Although the campus was quiet during the summer, the SI program was hard at work planning and preparing for another productive and meaningful year. In this newsletter, we are excited to share some exciting news regarding earning certification from the International Center for SI at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, as well as updates on our training and student staff.
As always, thank you for your ongoing support of the SI program, the SI Leaders, and the students we serve. We are excited to work with all of our campus partners as we continue to support students’ success. If you ever have any questions about the program or want to check-in, please know that our office is always open!
All the best,
Lyndsay, Timurhan, and Lori Joy
SI at a Glance
Supplemental Instruction Gains Official Certification from the International Center for SI
We are excited to announce that CSU Long Beach’s Supplemental Instruction program earned official certification from the International Center for Supplemental Instruction (ICSI) at the University of Missouri-Kansas City this past summer! CSULB now joins CSU Fullerton, CSU Fresno, and CSU Dominguez Hills as one of four California State Universities who have earned this distinction. There are a total of 41 certified SI programs across the nation.
CSULB’s SI program was evaluated on a number of criteria. These included: ensuring at least one SI Coordinator had received official training from ICSI in the past five years; providing extensive professional development for the SI Leaders at the beginning of every semester as well as throughout the semester; observing the SI Leaders plan and facilitate SI sessions regularly, as well as providing consistent feedback on their performance; showing faculty’s support of SI; and demonstrating that SI has a positive impact on students’ GPAs and the rates they earn a D, F, or W in their course.
Certification from the ICSI is granted on a three-year basis, making CSULB’s certification valid until 2022.
Meet the Fall 2019 SI Mentor Team
Every semester, the SI Coordinators identify a group of experienced, stand-out SI Leaders to serve as SI Mentors. This semester, the program welcomed back 3 returning SI Mentors and invited 4 new SI Mentors to support the SI Leaders’ development and general program operations. The SI Mentors' main responsibility is to work closely with a dedicated group of SI Leaders to help them:
- Understand their role and program expectations associated with working at CSULB
- Have a resource for questions and feedback other than their direct supervisors
- Receive consistent support from somebody who is working the same position
- Receive ongoing professional development on the best practices and strategies for providing academic support to students
The SI Mentors also help the SI Coordinators evaluate the SI Leaders’ performances and provide critical feedback on how to improve the program. The SI program cannot run as effectively or efficiently without the SI Mentors’ support, and we are so thankful for their contributions every semester.
Recap of SI's Pre-Semester Orientation
This past summer, SI experienced one of the largest turnovers in staff from Spring 2019 to Fall 2019! SI hired 30 new SI Leaders and welcomed back 15 returning SI Leaders (including SI Mentors). In order to effectively prepare and provide professional growth for a predominantly new staff, the entire SI team underwent a full week of training from Monday, August 19 - Friday, August 23. The first day of training had the new SI Leaders learn the background of SI and best practices for providing peer-to-peer academic support. The following days then had all SI Leaders participate in a number of workshops and training modules that focused on topics such as:
- Setting Expectations and Goals
- Fostering Collaborative Learning
- Conducting the SI Session and Adapting Feedback for Improvement
- Developing Effective College Readiness Skills
- Practicing Professionalism and Communication
- Identifying CSULB Resources and Policies
Almost every workshop and training module mimicked the structure and collaborative nature of an SI session to help SI Leaders experience the expectations, structure, and facilitation strategies necessary to engage students.
Further, the SI Coordinators greatly focused on ensuring that the week-long training emphasized building a community with peers across the program! All SI Leaders are grouped into “Houses” (similarly to how Hogwarts Students are organized into one of their houses), and each house is led by a SI Mentor! All houses had an opportunity to build rapport with their peers, develop relationships with their SI Mentor, and create a sense of belonging within the program. Further, every house chose a name based on a real or mythical marine animal to reflect CSULB’s “Beach” moniker. This semester, each Mentor House will compete and earn points by meeting deadlines, participating in campus events, spending time with each other, and making a positive impact on the academic, professional, and social fabric of CSULB!
The entire SI Team was engaged and active throughout the orientation, and the SI Leaders are excited to be working with students!
SI Leader Summer Spotlights
While many students take time during the summer to rest and relax, many of our SI Leaders were hard at work developing their academic and professional careers, as well as making a positive impact on their communities. Below are a just a few things the SI Leaders shared with us about their summer!
Will was accepted into the Leadership Alliance Program and interned with Dr. Alison DeLong, who oversees Brown University's Biochemistry, Biology, and Genetics Lab. Will worked to characterize the role a specific phosphatase plays in regulating leaf size in Arabidopsis Thaliana and the plant's response to the hormone.
Wendolyn was selected to receive the Mentored Excellence toward Research and Industry Careers (METRIC) scholarship, which is awarded to academically talented students from underrepresented communities. Wendolyn was recognized as one of the future scientific leaders in the community and will receive faculty mentorship and opportunities to showcase her academic excellence!
Antoniette was selected to participate in the Landseed International Hospital Internship in Taiwan, where she was able to participate in community outreach programs and work under the mentorship of renowned physicians. The internship concluded with a press conference where interns shared their experiences working alongside the CEO, Dr. Victor Change, former Cerritos Mayor Laura Lee, and Dr. Jean Lee-Lin from CSULB's Chemistry department.
Antoniette, who is also a leader of Camp Kesem at CSULB, helped lead the organization's first ever summer camp for children at Big Bear this month! The camp invited 19 children from the Long Beach community who have a parent or guardian affected by cancer. Antoniette helped raise $25,000 and train almost 20 camp counselors to make this happen.
She wants to give her thanks to the Port of Long Beach, Ben & Jerry's, and all of the businesses for their donations and support!
Yusa participated in a medical speech, language, and hearing educational program (through CSULB) at Asia University, Taiwan. This program included daily lectures and laboratory work in topics such as voice disorders, dysphagia (swallowing disorders), and audiology. She participated in hands-on activities using audiometry, stroboscopes (to look at patients' esophagus and vocal folds), and computerized voice analysis. She also went on field hospital visits which were led by trained speech language pathologists and audiologists (M.Ds). This experience provided her with international and inter-professional perspectives on a number of medical subject areas.
Additionally, She was in Japan where she volunteered at a speech, language, and hearing class at a local elementary where she assisted the speech therapists in the speech therapy session for children with various speech and language concerns. She also participated in various support groups for parents and their children with a stutter, hearing impairments, and communication difficulties.
Julian finished his first internship with the Chevron Corporation and has been invited back for a second internship this summer on behalf of the Finance Development Program - a prestigious business program that helps develop emerging leaders for the company. Over half of the executives in the Chevron Corporation were in the Finance Development Program at some point in their careers.
SI to Revive SI Leader Appreciation Week in October
This semester, the SI program plans to re-launch an annual "SI Leader Appreciation Week," to be held from Monday, October 28 - Friday, November 1, 2019. Please join us and the Learning Center Staff as we celebrate and acknowledge the SI Leaders' hard work and the positive impact they have on students' success. We truly cannot be the program we are without their dedication and constant contributions!
If you are interested in participating in SI Leader Appreciation Week or have any thoughts on how to show our appreciation, please contact the SI team at TLC-SI@csulb.edu.
A Special Thank You to Our Faculty Partners
We want to take a moment to extend special thank you to our current and past Faculty Partners. The SI Coordinators have been visiting Faculty Partners personally throughout September to check in, discuss feedback on the SI program, and strengthen our relationships, and we appreciate the time, positive words, and thoughtful feedback they have been sharing with us.