The School of Health Sciences on the Marion campus, launched in 2014, also is finding ways to help students overcome academic and life challenges.
The Phase II renovation project on the Health Sciences campus that was completed in the spring of 2020 included a designated space for student success on the Marion campus, according to Dr. Lou Fincher, senior vice president and dean of the School of Health Sciences.
“We built out this space with the strategic goal of growing and extending the level of student success services for our students on the Marion campus,” she said.
“The Marion campus is basically an extension of what is offered students on the Emory & Henry campus,” said Dr. Amy Hopkins Mason, who has assumed the role of the new Academic Success Coordinator at the Marion facility.
“Hiring Dr. Hopkins Mason as the new Academic Success Coordinator was a key step in our efforts to expand the student success infrastructure and programming on the Health Sciences campus,” said Fincher. “We were very fortunate to attract someone with her background and experience in working with health profession students.”
Promoting and enhancing student success on the E&H Health Sciences campus is a key initiative within the current strategic plan. The Marion campus serves as the home for the College’s School of Health Sciences and School of Nursing, which provide graduate programs in physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, and clinical mental health counseling, as well as the new Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program.
“Given the academic rigor and time intensive nature of these health science programs, it is essential that we provide our students with the resources and programming to support and enhance their success in not only completing their academic degree program, but also in meeting their goal of becoming a licensed healthcare professional,” Fincher said.
Representatives from People Inc., Enterprise, Concord Wealth Partners, Food City, CGI, General Shale and the Virginia Department of Transportation fielded questions with senior students recently as they prepared to enter the workforce. Representatives were available to the students for networking and discussing open positions that the students could turn into careers after graduation. The inaugural lyceum event was productive, resulting in many students from the College receiving interviews at Food City’s corporate offices, CGI federal consulting and Enterprise holdings.