BY VICTORIA YU

TIGER TV ONLINE REPORTER

The Center for Academic Success opened a new tutoring center in Middleton Library on Wednesday, October 7.

“We were very interested in consolidating our centers into one place so that students don’t have to run all over campus,” said Susa Saale, the academic support coordinator. “This allows them to get all that help in one place.”

Previously, tutorial centers were located at Coates, Allen and Nicholson.

However, the tutorial center in Allen is still open in case of library overflow, said Melissa Brocato, the CAS director.

Also, the physics tutorial center in Nicholson remains open because the CAS partners with the physics department to provide physics tutoring, she said.

Brocato said one main tutoring center “better utilizes human resources that we have because we are short staffed.”

Saale said four to six tutors are usually present at one time.

Emily Buser, a biology senior and tutor at the center, said the center sometimes gets upwards of 20 students who need help in the same subject.

But she said the consolidation is beneficial for students.

“It’s better for students who need help in more than one subject,” she said.

The center offers tutoring in math, chemistry and biological sciences, Saale said.

A signup sheet located outside the center indicates about 100 students a day utilize the facility, she said.

“I think the appeal is the fact that there are people who have taken the courses before and have an understanding of what the materials are about,” she said. “Maybe some tutors know what the professor expects with material they have seen before rather than another classmate who’s in the same situation.”

Ryan Roebuck, a petroleum engineering junior, has visited the center three times.

“I usually come here to get things explained more in depth than in class,” he said.

Saale said tutors go through a two semester training program.

“The learn techniques to help other students become independent learners,” she said.

Brocato said funds for the center came from Student Government and a private donor.

She said Colorado Robertson, the 2008-2009 student body president, supported the idea to consolidate the tutorial centers.

“He really took the idea and ran with it to put the center in the library,” Brocato said.

Saale said she hopes students can come into the tutorial center without being intimidated.

“We feel like we create a friendly atmosphere where people can come in and not feel threatened by us at all,” she said. “The idea is that we’re here to help and no question is too trivial for us to respond to.”