In the age of COVID-19 and quarantine, connecting with others — even virtually — has become critically important to our mental well-being and general well-being. The Office of Undergraduate Studies is planning to make that easier for UNF students, even as UNF prepares to reopen campus.

For those who don’t know, the Office of Undergraduate Studies is made up of several units that are focused on the academic support of students in all six of UNF’s colleges. These unites are: academic advising, Student Academic Success Services (SASS), Exploratory Career Services, the Transformational Learning Opportunities program, and Living Learning Communities.

Spinnaker reached out to Cristina Helbling, Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Studies, to get the swoop on Undergraduate Studies’ reopening plans, the new networking tool, and what students can look forward to seeing from the Undergraduate Studies this coming fall semester.

UNF’s reopening

Just as UNF reopens and Ospreys return to the nest, the Office of Undergraduate Studies will be returning in a hybrid capacity.

“Undergraduate Studies is excited to welcome our new and returning Ospreys both in-person and virtually for the Fall semester,” Helbling said. “Our student-serving units, including academic advising and Student Academic Success Services (SASS), will be available at full capacity in multiple formats while meeting the university’s protocols for on-campus health and safety presented in UNF’s Return to Campus plan.”

For detailed information about how to access these services, Helbling asks that students visit the UGS website in August.

Looking forward to fall

It’s natural to have some worry that services won’t be provided as they once were pre-quarantine. However, Undergraduate Studies has a plan to provide the same services they did before.

“SASS will continue to provide the same wide range of support that students are used to,” Helbling assured.

In order to provide this support and make it the most accessible for all students, Undergraduate Studies has decided to provide some of their services virtually. This includes Supplemental Instruction (SI) and Pass.

“Peer tutoring will be available for many subjects both remotely and by appointment with in-person options,” Helbling said. “Academic Coaching will also continue by appointment both virtually and in-person. Our Student Success Webinar series will occur weekly during the fall semester with topics like note taking and time management.”

For those interested, an updated directory of Fall courses supported by SASS resources will be available online in August.

A new tool for the Osprey arsenal

In addition to the excitement around returning, Undergraduate Studies has a new tool for UNF students to utilize that will better help support them on their journey.

“As UNF continues to innovate and develop new tools to increase the holistic success of our students, Undergraduate Studies is pleased to announce the launch of a new collaborative resource to connect students with contacts on campus called the My Osprey Network,” Helbling said. “The Network assigns each student a set of personalized contacts based on their degree program and level. These contacts form an individualized support team for every Osprey.”

The Network — which was made possible through collaboration between many units on campus, including ITS, academic advising, Career Services, Financial Aid, the Graduate School, Housing and Residence Life, and One Stop —  will be accessible through a new tile in MyWings launching next month.

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