Academic Coaches are available to provide students with individualized mentoring and support designed to help them achieve their academic goals and succeed in college. If you would like to work with an academic coach who can provide individualized mentoring and support to help you achieve your academic goals, contact Virginia Pasceri.
Who can participate?
Any student can meet with an academic coach at any point in their college career. To request academic coaching, students can contact the Academic Success Center at 716.286.8072 or stop in the office in Seton Hall to schedule an appointment.
Niagara University does require select groups of students to participate in Academic Coaching to support and monitor their academic transition and progression at the university. These groups include:
- Some incoming freshmen, based on a careful review of their high school academic record, are selected to participate in Niagara’s Academic Coaching Program during their first semester to support their transition to the university. Students are notified of their selection by Admissions and they will receive a letter from their assigned Academic Coach in mid to late August providing information on how to schedule the first meeting.
- Incoming student athletes are asked to participate in the Academic Coaching Program during their first semester on campus to support and monitor their academic transition to college.
- Academic coaching is also provided during the spring semester for select at-risk freshmen with GPAs below a 2.0 and student-athletes with GPAs below 2.5.
Academic Coaches can assist students with the following
- One-on-one progress conferencing focusing on developing academic skills and strategies for academic success.
- Instruction on how to manage a college course load with a focus on the expectations of college professors, regular communication with professors, and the value of the course syllabus.
- Assistance with self/time management, including how to use semester mapping for assignments and tests and how to create daily/weekly time management plans.
- Information on how students can track their own academic progress and use this information to make decisions about what they can do to improve their academic performance.
- Information on and practice with effective learning strategies including note taking and textbook reading strategies, study skills specific to course type, and/or test taking strategies.
- Introduction on academic policies and procedures and how they may impact students’ decisions, such as class attendance, dropping/adding a course, and earning satisfactory academic progress.
- Information on various campus resources such as peer tutoring, the Writing Center, Student Health and Wellness, Career Services, Campus Activities, and Student Records and Financial Services.
Student Testimonials
- “I like when I can sit down and discuss my classes, to find out my grades. It makes me aware of the areas I need to focus on and [helps me] pick a strategy to better myself.”
- “It helped and made me feel proud that when I got a good grade, I could tell someone other than my parents!”
- “We took a step-by-step approach to my course load. At the beginning of each week, we would go through the assignments that were due during the week. Doing this gave me a rough idea of when I was busy during each month and when I had leisure time.”
- “This helped me become more organized in each of my classes, and without this I probably would have dropped out of the school.”
- “It helped me understand the transition from high school to college.”
- “It helped a lot. It really kept me on track with my schooling and taught me time management.”
Study & Learning Resources
Reading and studying in college can be more demanding than in high school. The ASC provides a variety of resources to help students make a successful transition from high school to college as well as throughout their college career including:
- Study skills
- Studying for exams
- Reading strategies
- Time management
- Note taking
The ASC maintains an active YouTube Channel that offers videos on topics related to success in college, including study skills, time management, writing skills, citations, and more. You can also find previously recorded workshops and tips from our tutors.
Academic Coaching for Student-Athletes
Academic Coaching for Student-Athletes is provided for freshmen athletes in their first semester at Niagara, helping to monitor and support their academic transition. Academic coaching is also provided during the spring semester for select at-risk student-athletes with GPAs below 2.5.