$2.5 million program launches online database
Nearly every faculty member in a series of university focus groups said they’d heard of USC Connect, but only two out of three said they understood the program well enough to explain what it does.
They see the program’s promotional posters around campus, but for faculty and students, the engagement initiative’s mission is still difficult to grasp, Irma Van Scoy, the program’s director, said.
Van Scoy wants to change that. After all, she said, USC Connect involves everyone at the university.
“It’s something that actually serves students, a concrete thing students can relate to,” Van Scoy said. “It’s important for people to know it’s not just something they see on a poster.”
The $2.5 million initiative was developed last year after the university’s Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation review to encourage students to pursue “beyond the classroom” experiences in five categories — community service, global study, internships, peer leadership and research and discovery — and to integrate them into in-class academics.
Van Scoy cited the newly introduced online database as a prime example of the program’s value and progress in a forum in the Russell House Theater Thursday.
The database offers 250 opportunities, searchable by semester and category (including community service, student organizations, living and learning communities, study abroad and research), and Van Scoy anticipates many more will follow. The goal, she said, is to bring opportunities to students online, all in one convenient place for students to find them.
The program’s 10-member student representative board has already met eight times this semester to recruit more students to the program and help answer their questions about it. Another five are planned; the next is on Oct. 25.
At the sparsely attended forum, second-year English student Davontae Singleton, one of the students whose experiences the program has advertised, spoke about helping out at the local Waverly After-School Program.
Van Scoy said afterward that Singleton’s is an example of a very “doable” project, in an environment where students have so much else going on and might be hesitant to try and take on too much.
Dennis Pruitt, the vice president for Student Affairs, said USC Connect helps people like Singleton, who have been recommended by their colleges to serve as role models for their peer students, to find more opportunities to get involved.
“It gives enrichment opportunities for those students,” he said. “But those students are the easiest. It’s the other — the 80 percent — we want to see take advantage of these opportunities.”
Van Scoy echoed that sentiment and said the program’s goal is to be a resource for students, but ultimately, it’s up to the students themselves to take advantage of it.
“Ultimately, it’s students’ responsibility to make the most of the college experience,” she said. “We’re trying to give them options and tools so they can have an outstanding experience.”