The Office of Academic Services offers a variety of programs designed to promote student success in the classroom and after graduation. The staff adheres to a developmental approach, recognizing that students learn best when they actively participate in making decisions about their fields of study and future careers.
The Office of Academic Services coordinates academic advising for freshmen and undeclared students. Faculty and full-time professional advisors are available for the academic and developmental advising of entering freshmen, transfer freshmen, and all other students who have yet to declare an academic major. Advisors have a working knowledge of the Roanoke College community and assist the student in the exploration of short-term and long-term academic goals. Freshman advisors are assigned to entering students during the pre-registration process.
Beginning in May and continuing through August 15, the Office of Academic Services will send all new freshmen (who have made their advance deposit with the Admissions Office) a packet of pre-registration materials. New freshmen will be able to pre-register for those courses in which they wish to enroll for the fall term during a telephone appointment with an academic advisor. Academic advisors will be available for course advising throughout the pre-registration period. All pre-registered full-time students are expected to attend the College's orientation program and to finalize the pre-registration process at that time.
The Office of Academic Services maintains the documentation of students with diagnosed learning disabilities and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The staff also notifies faculty members of reasonable accommodations to be made for particular students. Services such as extended-time testing and the tape recording of classes are facilitated by the office.
A centralized peer tutoring program is housed in the Office of Academic Services. Tutors offer regularly scheduled sessions designed to assist students in improving their grades and developing more effective study habits. Features of the program include training sessions for tutors and ongoing evaluation.
A recent study shows that approximately 78 percent of full-time freshmen entering in the fall return in the next fall. This compares favorably with the national average for four-year private colleges.
The Office of Career Services provides students with career planning programs. Services include such activities as self-assessment, career exploration, identification of educational options (college majors and graduate/professional schools), the arrangement of internships, and the job search process. Through group workshops and individual appointments, students are guided through career planning, resume writing, interview skills, and other areas necessary to this process. Assistance is provided in networking with alumni and parents regarding internships, externships, and full-time job placement. The goal of the Office of Career Services is to provide students with the skills necessary to enter the world of work upon graduation or upon completion of graduate school.
The Roanoke College Center for Church and Society aims at bringing Christian religious and moral perspectives —particularly in their Lutheran interpretation — to bear on contemporary challenges to church and world. To further this goal, the Center encourages and supports interdisciplinary studies, faculty seminars on-campus, and cross-cultural studies off-campus, and sponsors lectures on contemporary issues as well as continuing education programs for clergy and laity.
The Center for Community Research assists faculty members and students in conducting research projects in the local community. These projects provide students with valuable and practical first-hand experience in research design, questionnaire construction, interviewing, computer use, data analysis, and report writing.
In the past few years, students have worked on the Roanoke Valley Poll (an annual community survey of social and political attitudes), conducting a statewide survey conducted during Virginia's 1997 campaign for Governor and a community impact study of Roanoke College.
The Information Services department manages all computer support for the College. The Roanoke College campus is a fully networked campus with data, voice, and video services extending to all campus buildings and residence hall rooms. The eight student computer laboratories with networked multimedia computers distributed throughout the campus provide the students with excellent access to the computing facilities.
The campus network — RCNet — provides students access to a wide range of resources. The World Wide Web and
e-mail services can be accessed from the public access laboratories as well as the student's residence hall room. Over 200 microcomputer applications are available including spreadsheets, word-processing, and database applications from the student computer laboratories. Sixty computers also run the UNIX operating system for students studying Computer Science.
On entering Roanoke College the student begins immediately utilizing the information resources. All entering students are provided e-mail accounts and the resources required for publishing their own World Wide Web homepage. Students are also provided access to a private network storage area that is accessible from the student computer laboratories or from a personal computer in the residence hall room. Within the first several weeks students are introduced to these services through freshmen advising groups and workshops conducted by Information Services.
Computers are an integral part of the curriculum at Roanoke College. The General Education Curriculum as well as the Computer Science and Computer Information Systems curriculums rely on the excellent access to information and services provided by RCNet.
The Libraries of the Cabell Brand Center for International Poverty and Resource Studies is a research study and action center which examines, understands, and networks the interrelation of two of society's most important issues: the short-term and long-term implications of international poverty, and world resource usage and potential limitations with environmental interrelationships.
The Center, with its various programs, and library and networking facilities, offers both an opportunity and challenge to students to study the two critical issues of resource limitation and global poverty and to become involved in action programs of their choice. You may visit the Center's Homepage at http://www.cbcenter.org/
The Fintel Library is named in honor of Dr. Norman Fintel, the eighth president of Roanoke College, and his wife, Jo, both of whom served Roanoke College from 1975 to 1989.
Extensively renovated and expanded in 1991, the Fintel Library offers 433 seats, including individual and group study carrels. The Library subscribes to over 750 periodicals and newspapers and has in excess of 185,000 volumes in open stacks. It is a selective depository library for United States Government Documents. Material not available at the Fintel Library can usually be obtained through Interlibrary Loan. This service enables patrons to borrow books and other materials via a worldwide computer network.
The Fintel Library shares an integrated computerized Library catalog with Hollins University. This allows for searches of both libraries' holdings, including books, periodicals, audio-visual materials (videotapes, laserdiscs, audiotapes, etc.), and government documents. Searches may be done in the Library or from the Roanoke College WebPage.
The Library offers access to WEB-based research systems for searching journal and reference sources, as well as the holdings of other Virginia libraries, and academic libraries worldwide. Other services are listed on the library's WebPage.
The Fintel Library houses the Roanoke College Archives. In addition to the College's archival materials, it also includes rare books, the papers of both former Secretary of the Treasury Henry H. Fowler and former Congressman James R. Olin, and the photographs of E. Howard Hammersley.
The Fintel Library staff is dedicated to assisting students with informational and research requests. Individual reference appointments may be scheduled for assistance with research. Bibliographic instruction classes (including Internet workshops) and tours are also available. The library staff welcome suggestions for service and materials; suggestions may be made via the Library computer system or in person.
Hours:
Fall/Spring Semesters:
Mon. - Thurs. 8:00 a.m. - 12 midnight
Friday 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Sunday 12 noon - 12 midnight
Summer School Sessions:
Hours vary; please consult the Library section of the Roanoke College WebPage.
Breaks:
Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m - 4:30 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday Closed.
Roanoke College Media Services, with offices located on the first floor of the Fintel Library, is a full-service facility for the audio-visual needs of the campus. Media Services provides audio-visual carrels for viewing and listening to media materials, and equipment for use in preparing and giving presentations.
The Media Services staff are also available to assist students, faculty, and staff with their presentations. Full-time Media Services staff are available Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and other hours by arrangement.