In an effort to provide more specialized advising and counseling services, an expansion of services has been announced by the Counseling and Career Services division. The moves include relocating three full-time counselors/advisors to specific academic divisions, as well as the addition of three new positions.
Counseling Center employees Kimberly Groce, Jerrell McGowin and Sandro Tuccinardi will relocate to specific academic divisions. They join Sue Travis and Brad Hoth, who already provide counseling/advising at the academic division level. Each of the counselors/advisors bring a specific level of expertise to the areas in which they will advise students, and according to Vice President of Student and Academic Services, Linda Blakey, it is a model that has already seen proven success.
“They all have years of experience, but also have particular strengths. For example, students in the Business and Computer Technologies division will now benefit from Sandro’s expertise in IT and computer programming,” Blakey said. “We have had specialized counseling in the areas of Health and Advanced Technologies for a while now and it works extremely well. With these moves, a large majority of WCC students will have access to counseling focused on their particular career area.”
Groce will be available to students in the Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences division. Her background includes helping students achieve success in the Academic and Career Skills area. McGowin, who has expertise working with students to overcome test anxiety, will work in the Math, Science and Health division.
To round out the advising and counseling services, two new college student advisor positions and one professional counselor position was created. Cristina Buzas and Whitney Lee, both current WCC employees, will step into the college student advisor roles. Buzas has been manager of new student orientation since 2010. Lee has been working as a student success specialist and has experience at a number of education institutions including Macomb Community College and Western Michigan University. New employee James Bauer joined WCC March 3 as a professional counselor. He has many years of experience at schools and universities, including the College for Creative Studies and Baker University. He also is a past president of the Michigan Counseling Association.
“This mix of advisors and counselors will ensure that we can provide better, focused services on a year-round basis,” said Blakey.