Counseling & Student Development
Links
International Student's Office
San Antonio
Education Partnership
Student Development - Mission
The mission of the Office of Student Development (aka, Orientation) is to provide information which will complement the new student's college career by facilitating the transition from a previous environment to that of college.
More specifically, the primary objective of the Office of Student Development is to reduce the new student's uncertainty, confusion and frustration by assisting in the process of familiarization with and adjustment to the college - its staff, facilities, services, policies, procedures, curricular offerings and student activities. It is expected that this approach will contribute toward the student's emotional stability and academic success.
The mental state and scholastic performance of students may be enhanced further by secondary objectives of the Office of Student Development which are:
- to motivate the student academically
- to expedite the get acquainted process
- to stimulate the student to strive for continued personal growth.
Therefore, as an adjunct to the state mandated 16 contact hours of Orientation, seminars are offered in: study skills, celebrating diversity, life skills, career planning, health and wellness, college student/parent relations, personal adjustment, and concepts relating to the achievement of success. These seminars are free and open to the public. In fact, many of the seminars are presented by experts from the community, as well as on campus faculty and administrators.
The Office of Student Development, as a unit within the Student Services Division at San Antonio College, is in a unique position, in that Counseling Faculty are used exclusively to teach classes of Student Development (both Orientation to College SDEV0170 and Personal and Academic Success SDEV0370 ). Counseling Faculty bring their eclectic, professional expertise to bear in providing for the multiplicity of needs for the categories of students required to enroll in these Student Development classes. This, in turn, allows for a greater amount of "tracking" of the academic progress of these students, with the ultimate goal of increasing retention rates within this student population at San Antonio College.
[Adopted April, 1993]