If you’re a student at Hawai‘i Pacific, you’re part of an important learning community. After all, you’re here for an education. But behind the scenes, there’s another community that is constantly trying to enhance HPU’s goal of being as student-centered as possible. Faculty, staff, and administrators make up this other learning community. Collectively, they know a lot about the obstacles students face as they make their way through a degree, so this year they’re focused on working together to clear the path.

One obstacle students across the country encounter is the organizational wall between academic services (courses, majors, tutoring, the library) and student services (advising, counseling, registration). To succeed, students need both kinds of services, yet at some universities the people who deliver services in one area don’t communicate with those in another. They put up walls that make it more difficult for students. Clearly that’s not being student-centered.

This month, we have made sure there won’t be walls between academic and student services by combining the two under one roof. Academic Affairs is now the administrative home of the four colleges as well as a new office called Student Academic Services. This office brings together Tutoring and Testing, Undergraduate Academic Advising, Counseling and Behavioral Health Services, the Registrar’s Office, Honors Programs, Career Services Center, Student Life and First-Year Programs, Residence Life, and off-campus Housing. When all the activities covered by Student Academic Services are coupled with the academic curriculum and the mentorship our faculty provide, Academic Affairs becomes the primary point of contact for students once they are admitted, all the way through graduation and beyond.

I encourage you to work with our faculty and staff to clear your own path. Make use of office hours to speak to your professor outside of class time. Meet with an advisor on a regular basis, so you have an academic plan to follow. Take advantage of our tutoring services, whether in person at the Tutoring and Testing Center or online using Smarthinking. If you’re having a rough semester and need someone to talk to, make an appointment with Counseling and Behavioral Health Services. And as you think ahead to life after HPU, visit the Career Services Center to explore ways to make the most of your degree.