Mission & History
The Learning Assistance Center works to help students overcome academic difficulties.
Mission Statement
The Learning Assistance Center provides comprehensive services to pro-actively impact effectiveness and efficiency of student learning to enhance the retention and performance of all students.
Goals
- To provide assistance to CVCC students through professional tutoring as well as with additional technical and support programs that address the needs of all curriculum areas.
- To pro-actively prevent learning failures by providing programs and services to all students who wish to improve their academic standing.
- To publicize LAC programs and services to all CVCC students, faculty, and staff.
- To continue to adapt the LAC to the changing technological needs and expectations of curriculum areas and industry.
- To demonstrate the viability of the LAC as a source for developing and implementing approaches to learning and instruction.
- To provide training to Learning Assistance Professionals and professional development opportunities for staff and faculty.
- To maintain specific data on LAC use and activities.
History of the Learning Assistance Center
CVCC's Learning Assistance Center was developed by Dr. Janette Sims in 1990. What began as a one-person operation serving a couple hundred students soon expanded into a full-service operation that offered across-the-curriculum tutoring and employed three full-time and four part-time employees.
After Dr. Sims retired in 2001, Cindy Coulter became the director of the LAC. During her first year, she oversaw a dramatic increase in the use of this facility. In 2020, Randall Williams became the fourth director of the LAC. In 2006, the program moved to its current location on the ground floor of the CAD building. In 2006, the Writing Center opened, and in 2007 it moved to the library in the CAD building. The Learning Assistance Center now serves over 1,000 students each semester and is a bustling center of activity. The staff includes eight full-time and numerous part-time employees.
Over the years, the LAC has stayed in step with changing technology and continues to offer the latest in computer software and access. In fact, 2008 marks the opening of a new Personal Enrichment Lab in the LAC on the first floor of the CAD building. CVCC's Learning Assistance Center continues to be a place where students can go to find help, guidance, or a space to work.