Joan Ruelle presents at the 2022 Institute for Chief Academic Officers

Ruelle, dean of the Carol Grotnes Belk Library, presented “The Library as a Shared Space Focused on Student Success” on Nov. 7, 2022.

Dean of the Carol Grotnes Belk Library Joan Ruelle presented “The Library as a Shared Space Focused on Student Success” at the 2022 Institute for Chief Academic Officers in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 7.

Joan Ruelle, dean of the Carol Grotnes Belk Library

The Institute for Chief Academic Officers is a partnership between the Council of Independent Colleges, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, and the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Ruelle’s presentation was in collaboration with Karen A. Campbell, provost and senior vice president at Albright College, and Luke Vilelle, university librarian at Hollins University.

“The Library as a Shared Space Focused on Student Success” examined how the library has long been considered the heart of the campus and is now reinventing that role to anticipate the changing needs of students. Building on traditional library strengths as a community center and collaborator, libraries are increasingly sharing spaces with academic success units, from career centers to peer tutoring services to information technology help desks. The presenters question and discuss how these departments can retain their important individual identities and purposes, yet also fuse their services and energies to create an updated, dynamic approach to support student success. The presentation explored potential benefits to these collaborative partnerships including as a tool for recruitment and cost-saving. Participants learned how to plan for a transition to a student success model in a library and were able to gain insight from the presenters into best practices for enabling integration of academic success services among new building partners.

Read more about the Institute for Chief Academic Officers here.