Can I Get Help If I Need It?

Oh, wise one. You knew this day would come. You knew that there would come a day, oh midway through the semester when your professor would hand you your midterm grade, and you would need to know the answer to this question:

Can I Get Help If I Need It?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yes. We want to help. We want to see you succeed in our classes and at UTC in general. We know it is hard. So, here's what your options are.

1. Go talk to your professor. Don't just drop an email. Go to the syllabus and find where it lists his/her office hours, and then GO TO THE OFFICE and tell him or her what's going on. Ask for help. See what can be done. Usually, a lot can be done. You just have to take the initiative.
2. Go to the Center for Advisement and Student Success (CASS). The tutoring office is in the Collins Street Annex Building, Room 104. You'll need to fill out a form, but their tutoring is free and fantastic. Go here for more information and to get the form. Here's a list of the classes they cover:

   • Biology 1110, 1120, 1130, 2060, 2080, 2100, and 3250
   • Chemistry 1110, 1120, 3010, and 3020
   • Economics 1010, 1020
   • Engineering 1030 and 1040
   • Math 1000-2000 levels 
   • Nursing 2260
   • Physics 1030 and 1040

3. Go to one of these additional resources if what you need help in isn't listed above.
4. Go to the library. Those people are amazing, and they have workshops on research and citations and google and Microsoft Office and so much more. Plus, they're smart.
5. Go talk to your professor. Yes, I know I already put this one. But it is so important, and it is possible (nay, likely) that one meeting won't get the job done. Use those office hours. Go back until you understand. Go back until you feel like this person has done everything he or she can do to help (within reason, of course). Go back.

We want to help. And we know, perhaps better than you, that a midterm grade is just that. It doesn't have to be the end of the world. It does NOT mean you should just stop going to that class and take your F. It really, truly, I promise you, completely DOES NOT have to mean whatever horror story you have imagined in your head. You're on the right track by asking. Now, just make it happen!

Cheers,

Dr. Y

What Steps Can I Take to Ensure I Will Not Get on Academic Probation?

It's 3 AM, you're still up, and you're thinking about the psychology exam you took that morning. Your pretty sure you bombed it. That, along with the math exam you have the next day, has you worried and asking yourself:

What Steps Can I Take to Ensure I Will Not Get on Academic Probation?

There are 34 steps from Heritage Plaza to the Library doors. There are 55 steps from the first floor of the Library to the third. There are 52 steps between the top and bottom of the beautifully reconstructed Cardiac Hill. Though it may seem like a million when you are slogging your way around campus, it's actually not so many. I hate to be glib, but these are the steps that will keep you out of academic trouble.

Take those steps on Cardiac Hill: you go up and down them on your way to class, to eat, to work out, and to be involved with social activities on campus. Undoubtedly, if you don't go to class, you will end up on Academic Probation. Fact. But those other reasons to walk those steps are just as vital to your success. You need to get connected. Studies have shown that the more connected you are to your University, the more success you will experience academically. You also need to eat well and get exercise. Seriously. I know I sound like your mom, but it's just true. You also need to get more sleep, but that's another conversation.

Those Cardiac Hill steps will also take you to your professor's office. If you are struggling, if you have missed some classes and aren't sure how to make it up, if you made a bad grade on a test or assignment and don't know how to improve it, GO SEE YOUR PROFESSOR! If the office hours listed on your syllabus don't match times when you are available, email your professor and ask politely for another time. Most of us really want to help. The rest of us are just jerks.

Finally, the library: aaaaaah, the library. It is a mecca of intellectual growth. It is a quiet place to study, a place to get a small group study room, a place to ASK FOR HELP. The library staff (conveniently located in the center of the first floor - straight ahead as you go in the doors) are possibly the most helpful and hip people on campus. If you have a paper or an assignment that requires research, just walk right up and ask for help. Or "Ask a Librarian" from your dorm room or home. Or sit down in the middle of the library and cry. They will help. I promise.

Take these steps, and you are so much more likely to see success that it's ridiculous. Ridiculous, I tell you!

Cheers,

Dr. Y