The Center for Academic Success (CAS)

Mooney Hall Room 11
(973) 761-9740
https://www.shu.edu/center-for-academic-success/index.cfm
Hours: Monday- Friday 8:45 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
freshman@shu.edu

Vice President for Student Services: Monica Burnette, Ph.D.
Dean: Vaughn Calhoun, Ed.D.
Assistant Dean: Joshua Dornbos, M.S.W.
CAS Coordinator: Heather Brito

The Center for Academic Success (CAS)

Every entering student wants to succeed. Success is measured in many ways, but at Seton Hall University, we envision a type of success in which individuals are at their best socially and academically. The University aims to instill in its students a vision that involves forming students to be servant leaders in a global society.

The Center for Academic Success (formerly Freshman Studies) is an award-winning academic advising program designed to initiate students into college-level success. The particular objectives of this crucial first-year experience are:

• to help students adjust to life on a college campus;
• to assist in creating a social network; and
• to ensure that each student receives the best academic support available.

The Center for Academic Success uses three elements to accomplish these objectives: the First-year Advisor, the Peer Advisor, and the University Life course.

First-year/Student Success Advisors

During the University’s New Student Orientation, students meet the advisors in the Center for Academic Success. The advisors are highly trained professionals whose primary responsibility is to provide a constant resource person throughout a student’s first year at Seton Hall University.

First-year advisors teach the University Life Course that all first-year students take in order to ensure regular academic contact. Advisors help students take advantage of the many resources available at Seton Hall, including the Academic Resource Center, The Career Center, Health/Counseling Services, Campus Ministry, and many other resources campus-wide. Advisors also ensure that students are connected to their chosen academic departments and that the particular academic experience within each major happens according to plan. Students who are “undecided” about their major when they enter Seton Hall are provided additional resources to clarify career and professional goals. All students are encouraged, through formal programming and informal meetings, to connect to an academic department as soon as they feel comfortable. Every effort is made to place students into a major by the end of their first year.

The primary goal of the first-year advisors is to assist students in making choices regarding an academic program while simultaneously integrating them into the university's life and community.

Peer Advisors

Each first-year student is assigned a specially selected and trained peer advisor. The peer advisor, a successful undergraduate student representing the various schools and colleges in the University, works in tandem with first-year advisors to provide “firsthand” insight to the student. It is vital that new students connect to the existing student body, and peer advisors provide an immediate resource in accomplishing this objective. Peer advisors serve as student leaders who work to ensure personal support and assistance to our incoming students.

The University Life Course

Each first-year student is enrolled in a 1-credit academic course required for graduation that meets during the first semester. This University Life Course, taught by the advisor with assistance from the peer advisor, meets once a week for 50 minutes. The objectives are:

• to provide an academic context for resolving and planning academic and personal success;
• to familiarize students with University resources and opportunities;
• to introduce students to the expectations of college-level critical thinking; and
• to help meet the mission at Seton Hall University “to become leaders in their professional and community lives.”

First Semester of Coursework

The major programs in the University have common requirements for beginning students. This core curriculum, in combination with a declared interest or major, makes up the courses of the first term. Most entering students take five classes and the University Life Course. Because most courses meet three times a week for 50 minutes or twice a week for 75 minutes, and the University Life Course meets once a week for 50 minutes, the majority of Seton Hall students have a course load of 16 credits. Students who are admitted on a probationary basis or who have other time constraints to consider will take a course load of approximately four courses or 12 credits.