Administration
Interim Director, Bulldog Achievement Resource Center
Stacy C. Gilbert
The Bulldog Achievement Resource Center (BARC), provides substantial academic and co-curricular support for first-year and continuing students. Students can receive academic advising and other assistance in the BARC; in fact, the staff advises all students who have not decided upon a major, working closely with other departments across the University to help them choose a major. The BARC staff has established relationships with student affairs, financial aid, the registrar, career and personal counseling, residential life, the academic colleges, and many other entities so that students can be directed to and receive any academic and co-curricular assistance that they may need to succeed.
Three main categories of students are served in the Division of Basic and Career Services:
- First-year students who have not yet decided upon a major and who are exploring;
- Students who previously had declared a major but need time to consider changing to another major; and
- Students who have not met specific academic requirements for placement in a major and need a home until grade point average and other requirements are met.
Bulldog Achievement Resource Center (BARC)
The Bulldog Achievement Resource Center (BARC), located on the main floor of Wyly Tower, provides learning assistance in a variety of classes, including tutoring in math (including basic), chemistry, physics, biological sciences, and English and supplemental instruction (SI) in a few courses that have been historically difficult for students. The Writing Center is also housed in the BARC. It provides writing assistance to students for any course at Louisiana Tech that requires completion of formal writing assignments. The BARC also functions as a clearinghouse of information for students, provides supplemental advising in some academic areas, and refers students to other campus-based student services.
The BARC administers the UNIV 100 and UNIV 101 (University Seminar) classes which new first-year and transfer students are placed during their first quarter at Louisiana Tech. These seminar classes continue the student ‘connection’ process started during the summer orientation that many new students attended in the summer before enrolling full-time at Tech. Not only are students reintroduced to Louisiana Tech and the opportunities, responsibilities, and regulations but also to topics, such as time management, study skills, and diversity, which can help new students be successful after their Tech experience has begun.
Also housed in the BARC is the First-Year Experience (FYE) program, a collaborative effort with the Division of Student Affairs. The FYE program goals and priorities are closely related to those of the BARC, and it provides opportunities for new students to be introduced to and experience life at Louisiana Tech through activities designed specifically for first-year students. The First-Year Convocation, held on the night before classes begin in the fall quarter, is a forum for new Tech students to meet the academic leaders of the University, to learn about and begin to appreciate the Tenets of Tech - twelve guiding principles that students should aspire to uphold during their academic career at Tech and beyond, and to participate in their first Louisiana Tech tradition by depositing the Tech Medallion into the Lady-of-the-Mist fountain as a symbol of their investment in their academic pursuits, with the promise to return to each of them a medallion inscribed with their graduation year upon their graduation from Tech.
The FYE program also promotes the First-Year Common Read, a book that new students are expected to read and discuss as part of their University Seminar class. This Common Read discussion is often enhanced by contracted speakers who are associated with or discuss topics related to the Common Read book or by other activities that emphasize the theme of the Common Read.
Additionally, the FYE program works closely with other organization or departments, such as athletics, residential life, and the Student Government Association, with established activities for new Tech students. The FYE promotes these activities to first-year students and encourages them to participate.
For additional information about the BARC and the FYE program, view their web pages at www.latech.edu/barc and www.latech.edu/fye or call about either program at (318) 257-4730.
Developmental Education Program
This program is intended to assist academically under prepared students in developing their abilities to meet the requirements of college-level courses. If students are not prepared to attempt college-level work in English or math as determined by their math or English ACT subscore, their SAT math or writing subscore, or their ACT COMPASS placement score for the math or writing skills, then they are placed in the developmental English (ENGL 099 ) or developmental math (MATH 099 ) course. Their progress in completing a developmental course is monitored by BARC staff.
A student must register for and successfully complete all required developmental courses within the first four quarters of enrollment at Louisiana Tech University. A maximum of three (3) attempts (including drop “W” attempts) will be allowed for the course. The student will be suspended from the University for failing to meet developmental course completion requirements if successful completion is not achieved after a maximum of three (3) attempts, or if the four-quarter time limit is not met. Students will not be permitted to declare and register for a degree program until developmental program requirements are successfully completed.
Class attendance in the Developmental Education Program is mandatory. After four (4) unexcused absences, the student will automatically be given a grade of “F” in the course. Withdrawal from the developmental education classes will not be permitted unless there are extenuating circumstances. If a student needs to reduce his or her course load, the student will be required to drop any regular courses before any course in the Developmental Education Program is dropped.
If a student is suspended for failure to meet developmental course completion requirements, he or she may appeal for reinstatement to the Developmental Suspension Appeals Committee, chaired by the Director of the Bulldog Achievement Resource Center. If a student elects to appeal, the appeal should be submitted before the suspension quarter begins so that it can be acted upon by the Developmental Suspension Appeals Committee by noon on the day of General Registration/Fee Payment. If the appeal is approved by this committee, the Director will notify the University Registrar, and the reinstated student’s registration status will be activated.
No credit is allowed in any curriculum for any courses with a catalog number beginning with 0 (e.g., ENGL 099 or MATH 099 ).
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