For nursing students at East Tennessee State University, academic support can mean more than finding help with a difficult class. The Jessica Colter Academic Student Success Center is expanding those resources while honoring the legacy of the nursing student for whom it was named.
The center celebrated its renaming Sept. 22 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Room 346 of Nicks Hall. The center was renamed following a transformative donation from the Jessica Colter Memorial Scholarship Foundation, established by Jennifer Gass in memory of her daughter, Jessica Colter, who died in 2020.
Gass has supported the Academic Student Success Center through multiple donations, helping provide resources designed to support nursing students throughout their academic careers.
Kacie Hauldren, executive director of the Jessica Colter Academic Student Success Center, said the center builds on a previous effort to provide academic support to nursing students.
“Back 20 years ago, we had a success center. It was called the Nurse Center, and that was started with Carolyn Merriman and Dr. Priscilla Ramsey,” Hauldren said. “And it stayed here for about 12 years, but funding and other things kind of went away, so the center just kind of shut down. And so it’s nice to know that that won’t happen now, because we have those funds.”
Today, the center offers a variety of academic and personal resources for nursing students. Success educators work with students to identify factors affecting their academic performance and connect them with resources that can help.
The center also provides supplemental instruction, which consists of peer-led group study sessions designed to promote active learning. Sessions are offered for challenging nursing courses such as pathophysiology and pharmacology, as well as several chemistry and science courses.
Students can also take advantage of peer mentoring and tutoring. Appointments for these services can be made through Navigate360.
Beyond academic resources, the center provides students with a place to study, relax and connect with others. The space is stocked with snacks, and students receive motivational messages throughout the week.
The center also provides financial assistance for students experiencing unexpected financial challenges. Emergency funds can help students cover expenses such as textbooks, rent and groceries, allowing them to address immediate needs while continuing their education.
Additional workshops are planned for the center, covering topics such as perfectionism, test-taking, resilience, job interviews and class preparation. Registration information will be shared through flyers posted around campus.
“Whenever I was a student here, it wasn’t well known that there was any faculty or anybody here to support you if you needed anything,” Hauldren said. “So I really hope this demonstrates that turning point that we’ve seen in the College of Nursing and that a lot of our faculty are very engaged with the students, and our staff too. They care so much about our students and want to see them succeed.”
Through the partnership between the Jessica Colter Memorial Scholarship Foundation and the Academic Student Success Center, the university hopes to continue Colter’s legacy by giving nursing students the resources and support they need to reach their goals.
“We want to ensure that for anybody who wants to be a nurse, we can help them reach that goal that Jessica was not able to meet,” Hauldren said.
