The Student Success Center

The Student Success Center supports the academic achievement, personal success, and professional aspirations of our students. The academic assistance and resources provided include: academic advising, tutoring, test proctoring, help with study skills, time management strategies, accessibility services, and accommodations. The Writing Center, located in the Student Success Center, educates and empowers students to hone their writing skills and grow as writers. Assistance is available for students of any major, with any writing, at any stage of the writing process. The Writing Center helps students develop strategies for the writing process, offer specialized workshops, and provides helpful resources. Career services helps students with résumés, interviewing skills, career assessment, internships, graduate school support, and networking.

Academic Advising

Each student is assigned an academic advisor upon matriculation; when possible, the advisor is chosen to reflect the student’s proposed major. When the student formally declares his or her major, a faculty member in that discipline is assigned as the new academic advisor. Students with multiple majors will have multiple advisors. Students are encouraged to work closely with their advisor to plan their semester schedule and overall course of study; however, the student bears the responsibility for fulfilling all requirements for graduation. Students, particularly undecided majors, can also receive academic advising and academic assistance in the Student Success Center.

Reasonable Learning Accommodations

Benedictine College complies with federal law requiring reasonable accommodations for individuals with documented disabilities that may affect their performance in a class or otherwise affect the individual’s ability to enjoy the programs and services offered by the College. If a student requests an accommodation from a faculty member, the faculty member should direct the student to contact The Director of Accessibility Services located in the Student Success Center.

The Reasonable Learning Accommodations Committee, composed of faculty and support staff, suggests or recommends accommodations, mobilizes learning resources, and advises and supports students with learning disabilities on campus.

As part of the admission process, it is helpful for the student and parent(s) to provide current documentation (psychoeducational assessment results, medical testing results, and/or other diagnostic materials no more than three years old) prior to enrollment, such that any reasonable accommodation can be provided by the beginning of classes. If documentation is not provided before enrollment, accommodations may be delayed. 

Center for Service-Learning

Benedictine College created the Center for Service-Learning in order to facilitate the implementation of service-learning for our faculty, students, and community partners. Service-learning is an academically rigorous form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs, together with structured opportunities for reflection designed to achieve and assess desired learning outcomes. (Adapted from a definition by Dr. Barbara Jacoby.)

This teaching method is highly adaptable and its structure can vary significantly from course to course. Three characteristics these types of courses – in their variety of expressions – have in common are as follows:

• Careful Selection: The assigned service experiences align with one or more of the course’s learning outcomes
• Critical Reflection: Structured and challenging critical reflection opportunities integrate the service with other course content
• Mutually Beneficial: Service experiences address unmet, community-identified needs and advance students’ academic, moral, and/or personal growth

The service-learning program at Benedictine College is rooted in, guided by, and an expression of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and our identity as a Catholic, Benedictine institution. We believe it advances Benedictine College’s mission to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.

Library Services

The library holdings are the combined collections of Benedictine College and St. Benedict’s Abbey, numbering approximately 250,000 books and bound periodicals. The library subscribes to a collection of over 380,000 electronic books and provides access to over seventy periodical databases. 

The new Benedictine College Library will continue to be under construction for the 2024–2025 academic year. Our collection of over 250,000 books and bound periodicals will not be accessible during this time. 

A limited reference collection, chosen by the faculty and deemed necessary for students’ academic success, will be available in the Dining Hall boardroom. Interlibrary loan (ILL) services will be housed there as well. An experienced library staff member will be available to assist students with research and acquisition of materials both individually and through group instruction during this time period.

Policy on Non-Returned Library Books

Library materials are for the use of the Benedictine College community. Students who fail to return books borrowed from the library within 10 days after the last day of exams will be assessed a fine of $20.00 per book. Seniors graduating in May must return books prior to Commencement. The library staff will attempt to contact students by email and by campus mail with reminders to return their library books. Ultimately, the students are responsible for returning their library books.

Publications

The Circuit (the campus newspaper), bccircuit.com (the online news), and the Raven (the college yearbook), are edited by the students of the college. These publications encourage journalistic ability and serve as a means of communication for the students and faculty.

Loomings, a magazine of the arts sponsored by the English Department, is published yearly by the students. It includes poetry, short stories, essays, art, photography, and musical compositions submitted by students and faculty.