Campus resources for . . .
Students experiencing academic difficulty:
Dean of Academic Life (Michele Deegan): oversees Academic Integrity process, students on academic warning or probation. Also call Michele for any student academic issues for which you’re unsure where to turn.
Academic Resource Center (ARC) (David Hallowell, Director): can set students up with course-specific tutors. Students must initiate the process, then ask for your approval; the ARC will find the tutor. ARC also runs the learning assistant program and workshops for some courses (primarily sciences & math).
Office of Disability Services (ODS) (Pamela Moschini, Director): resource for students with accommodations, students who might need accommodations, advice on making your course / materials accessible, and proctored accommodated testing. Also key for managing temporary medical leaves (e.g. students ill with COVID-19).
Students experiencing other kinds of difficulty:
Dean of Students office (Allison Gulati, Dean of Students): Among many other roles, Dean Gulati is the contact person for funding for student needs related to the pandemic. If you have a student who lacks appropriate technology for your course (laptop, home internet), please send the student to Dean Gulati. There is money available to help students get what they need to access their courses.
CARE team (Michele Paules, Student Support Services Coordinator): CARE team includes staff from both academic and student affairs sides of campus. You can report students in difficulty (depression, other mental health issues, troubles at home, substance issues, food insecurity . . . ) to the CARE team. They will reach out to the student to check in and to make connections to appropriate campus offices. Online form for reporting.
Office of Equity and Title IX (Lin-Chi Wang, Director): handles all complaints of bias, identity-based discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct. This office also coordinates educational outreach for students, faculty, and staff on these issues. Note that faculty are mandatory reporters for incidents of identity-based discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, intimate partner violence, stalking, retaliatory harassment, and criminal behavior witnessed by or reported to us. Reports can be submitted online, or you can call Lin-Chi with questions.
Counseling Center (Brynnmarie Dorsey, Director): students can be seen on campus or connected to local mental health professionals. The Counseling Center is located on the 2nd floor of the Life Sports Center.
Religious and Spiritual Life (Rev. Claire Burkat, Interim College Chaplain): Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish worship services are held regularly on campus (in normal times). Religious life staff are not mandatory reporters; therefore, students who want to speak confidentially with a staff member about sexual misconduct, harassment, or an identity-based bias incident may want to turn to our College Chaplain. (Remember that all faculty are mandatory reporters.) Also, Religious Life is not just for students! The Religious Life staff also supports faculty and staff.
Academic opportunities:
Library: Director: Tina Hertel
Librarians: Rachel Hamelers (Natural Sciences)
Kelly Cannon (Humanities, Arts, and Business)
Jess Denke (Social Sciences)
Susan Falciani Maldonado (College Archives & Special Collections)
Librarians can design and lead class sessions on library resources and research strategies specific to your discipline and connected to a particular assignment. They can also consult about assignments, resources, etc. Kelly is also an expert in copyright.
Office of Community Engagement (Beth Halpern, director, and Eveily Freeman): connections with local community organizations, advice about community-engaged learning.
Digital Learning Team (Lora Taub, Dean of Digital Learning): help with digital tools, help with thinking about how to incorporate digital tools into your pedagogy. There are also students trained as Digital Learning Assistants who can help you or your students with digital tools.
Other specialized offices:
Office of Multicultural Life (Robin Riley-Casey, Director): sponsors many student affiliate groups; voice for diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus; opportunities to get involved in diversity, equity, inclusion work. Don’t miss the Africana Studies Book Club (faculty-staff-students) co-sponsored by OML and Africana Studies.
Human Resources (Jill Walsh, VP for Human Resources): all your questions about contracts, tax & retirement withholdings, benefits, leaves, etc.
Registrar (Scott Dittman, interim registrar): course scheduling, room reservations (use 25Live through the application portal), reporting grades, student transcripts, graduation requirements, major & minor declarations, access to Capstone.
And for everything else:
Your department administrative assistant: Administrative assistants tend to know a lot about how campus works. Don’t hesitate to ask for their help with getting needed supplies, booking campus spaces, travel reimbursements (someday . . . ), and figuring out who to ask about what. They are generally eager to help.
Your department chair: You will rely heavily on your department chair as you are navigating your career at Muhlenberg. Your chair can help with any questions you have related to teaching, scholarship, or service, and chairs are a great first point of contact about anything you might need.
Your peer partner: It is also helpful to have a trusted mentor outside of your department. MCTL will match you with a peer partner–a colleague outside your department; watch for an invitation to tell us what you’d prefer in a mentor (gentle v. direct critique, for instance). MCTL also has a small fund to support meetings with your peer partner (coffee, lunch) over your first two years, once in-person meetings become possible again. Feel free to reach out to any member of the MCTL board any time, too.
