First- and Second-Year Student Success (FSYSS)
Formerly known as the Undergraduate Student Success Center
Committed to your success
First- and Second-Year Student Success (FSYSS), formerly known as the Undergraduate Student Success Center (USSC), provides academic advising and student support services to aid the University in increasing its student success rates. FSYSS’s services are accessible to all students but are notably geared toward assisting first- and second-year students.
FSYSS's organizational units are designed to assist students in developing positive relationships with faculty, staff, and other students, which will foster a strong academic and co-curricular foundation at CSU and provide programs for students to learn the skills, habits, and dispositions they need to achieve academic success.
The First- and Second-Year Student Success office contains three units: Academic Advising & Coaching, OASIS, & Strategic Programs. Its organizational units provide academic advising; online and face-to-face tutoring and supplemental instruction; retention tracking; and support for developing social and “soft skills.”
LaKeisha Jenkins Washington
Executive Director, First- and Second-Year Student Success
Email: ljenkinswashington@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6049
Academic Coaching and Advising
Academic Coaching and Advising serves new, first-time (NFT) and continuing students with fewer than sixty cumulative credit hours. Beginning in fall, 2024 both first-year and sophomore students will be advised within the FSYSS unit. Student Success Coaches will continue to meet one-on-one with students and assist them in setting and clarifying academic goals and negotiating the challenges of their first college experience.
FSYSS Student Success Coaches view advising as an opportunity to expand students' understanding of the meaning and purpose of higher education and foster their intellectual and personal development toward academic success and lifelong learning. Students and their FSYSS Student Success Coaches are partners in assuring students understand the pathways and requirements for their majors and identifying the steps for achieving the student’s personal, academic, and professional goals. The student and the FSYSS Student Success Coaches have clear responsibilities and share responsibility for ensuring the advising partnership is successful.
Lakeysha R. Smith
Director, Academic Advising and Coaching
Email: lsmith1@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6354
Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services
More support services
What is OASIS?
OASIS stands for the Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services. Are you a student seeking help in a course in which you are struggling? You have come to the right place! The OASIS program offers many ways to receive the help that you need.
OASIS provides academic support to all students in various subject areas. OASIS offers course-specific one-on-one tutorial sessions with a peer tutor or Content Specialist. Additional services include Drop-in Tutoring, Online Tutoring, Learning Skills Workshops, Finals Review Sessions, and Resource Lending to help students confidently complete their current courses.
Mission
The mission of OASIS is to assist students in developing their learning skills, improving their study skills, and achieving their academic goals.
Terron Dames
OASIS Coordinator
Email: tdames@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6247
Strategic Programs
The Strategic Programs unit is instrumental in the development, implementation, and analysis of varied retention strategies for students’ success. This area provides creation and implementation initiatives that address the Six Pillars of Access and the social developmental requirements of freshman cohorts and rising sophomores. Strategic Programs houses the USS 1000 - Undergraduate Success Seminar course, USS 1200 - Undergraduate Success Skills course, and the Marauder Achievement Program.
Strategic Programs collaborates on initiatives with other units within the First- and Second-Year Student Success, Student Affairs, each college, Marauder Leadership and Engagement, Career Services, Academic Empowerment and Accessibility, Residence Life, and Counseling Services to ensure students develop an academic and social balance that will enrich their collegiate experience.
FSYSS Staff
Connect with an FSYSS team member TODAY!
LaKeisha Jenkins Washington
Executive Director, First- and Second-Year Student Success
Email: ljenkinswashington@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6049
Robert J. Vidal
Program Manager
Email: rvidal@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6419
Lakeysha R. Smith
Director, Academic Advising and Coaching
Email: lsmith1@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6354
Student Success coaches
Ray Moon
Student Success Coach
Major departments: Agriculture and Life Sciences, Manufacturing Engineering, Math and Computer Science, and Water Resources Management (A-K) within the John W. Garland College of Engineering, Science, Technology, and Agriculture
Email: rmoon@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6356
LaShawn Shepherd
Student Success Coach
Majors departments: Agriculture and Life Sciences, Manufacturing Engineering, Math and Computer Science, and Water Resources Management (L-Z) within the John W. Garland College of Engineering, Science, Technology, and Agriculture John W. Garland College of Engineering, Science, Technology, and Agriculture
Email: lshepherd@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6184
Joi'e White
Student Success Coach
Major Departments: Social and Behavioral Sciences within the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education
Email: jwhite51@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6416
Carlos Rodgers
Student Success Coach
Major Departments: Humanities and Communications, Composition, and Languages within the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education
Email: crodgers@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6026
My’Kell Howard
Student Success Coach
Major Departments: Accounting and Business Administration (A-K) with the College of Business,
Email: mhoward@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6158
Fougere Jacquelin
Student Success Coach
Major Departments: Accounting and Business Administration (L-Z) within the College of Business
Email: fjacquelin@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6657
Tara McCormick
Student Success Coach
Major Departments: Professional Education and School of Agricultural Education and Food Science, within the College of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education, & students without a major
Email: tmccormick@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6178
Retention specialists
Kalesha Scott
Retention Coordinator
Email: kscott19@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6085
Cadmus Inniss
Retention Specialist
Email: cinniss@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6553
Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services
Terron Dames
OASIS Coordinator
Email: tdames@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6247
Dawn MD Mumford
Mathematics Specialist
Email: dmumford@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6389
Kandice Lamar
Reading Specialist
Email: klamar1@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6436
First-Year Experience
First-Year Experience and Student Success provides retention-focused programming for first year and transfer students. The unit is staffed by a coordinator who oversees all aspects of students' first year and the Marauder Achievement Program at Central State University.
The coordinator supervises Marauder Achievement program advisors and monitors all sections of the USS 1000 courses and USS 1200 courses. In addition, Marauder Achievement advisors provide intensive support to students on academic probation and oversee all aspects of the Marauder Achievement program. Furthermore, these staff members facilitate social- and academic-focused programming while creating a student-centered learning environment in the USS 1200 course.
Kalesha Scott
Retention Coordinator
Email: kscott19@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6085
Retention and Academic Success
The Office of Retention and Academic Success is instrumental in the development, implementation, and analysis of varied retention strategies for students’ success. It integrates varied resources and collaborates with Student Affairs and Enrollment Management to ensure students have a solid educational foundation coupled with a rich collegiate experience.
LaKeisha Jenkins Washington
Executive Director, Student Access and Retention Center
Email: ljenkinswashington@centralstate.edu
Phone: 937-376-6049