Dec 04, 2024  
2024-2025 Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Catalog

Student Affairs



The department of Student Affairs (DSA) aims to enrich the overall student experience while at Goodwin University. Its overarching goal is to foster student involvement in areas ranging from counseling and wellness to student engagement. Additionally, DSA seeks to aid students in making meaningful connections between the material learned in the classroom and the various leadership opportunities afforded to them throughout their time at Goodwin. DSA strives to meet the basic needs for University life and create a positively impactful campus environment.

More information about these resources can be found on the Student Affairs website.

Orientation

All new students must plan to attend one of the mandatory scheduled orientations. New student orientation is designed to provide students with the resources needed to be successful at Goodwin University. During orientation, students meet university administrators, staff and faculty and student leaders, and are provided with valuable information about critical campus services.

For questions regarding orientation, contact Vanessa Pergolizzi, Student Engagement Manager, at 860-913-2160, or by email at vpergolizzi@goodwin.edu. 

Please see the Orientation website for more information.

Academic Success Center

The Academic Success Center seeks to promote and foster student learning and development by providing individual and group tutoring for Goodwin’s developmental and university-level courses.

The Academic Success Center will help students identify strategies that enhance their understanding of concepts, develop critical thinking, and develop study skills, and ultimately improve their ability to successfully complete a course.

The Academic Success Center provides consistent support and guidance throughout the learning process and encourages students to be actively involved in their learning. Tutoring is not a substitute for attending class. Students should regularly attend class and come prepared to participate in their learning.

In addition to general tutoring, the Academic Success Center is focused on developing Writing Skills. Professional Writing Tutors are available to assist students through the process of writing on a walk-in and appointment basis. Tutors will offer critical feedback about writing, answer questions, and guide students to available resources. Students are encouraged to come into the center to receive assistance, study, work on assignments, and ask questions as they arise. The Academic Success Center has computers that students may use anytime it is open. Students are strongly encouraged to use these computers to work on assignments.

The Academic Success Center also provides testing services for students who have missed an exam in their class or who have accommodations approved by the Office of Disability and Access Services. Students must get written approval from their professor to utilize the testing center. In addition, students with documented accommodations may have their tests proctored in the testing center. Testing at the Testing Center is available by appointment only.

Office of Disability and Access Services

The Office of Disability and Access Services (ODAS) collaborates with Goodwin’s diverse community to ensure that all aspects of campus life - learning and working- are universally accessible. ODAS provides resources, education, and direct services so that Goodwin students may have greater opportunities to achieve equity and social justice. ODAS leads the campus community in its commitment to recognizing disability as a valued aspect of diversity, embracing access as a matter of social justice, and designing more welcoming and inclusive environments. ODAS promotes self-advocacy, disability pride, self-determination, and universally accessible design principles so that everyone has full access to institutional life.

The ODAS assists students with disabilities in securing reasonable accommodations and services that will promote success and integration into the University. Goodwin University complies with the mandates created by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Students who have a documented disability are strongly encouraged to contact the Disability and Access Service Manager as soon as the student is enrolled of their enrollment so that accommodations are in place on the first day of matriculation. Guidelines and policies are provided to students who request this information.

If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Disability and Access Services at 860-727-6718 or by emailing AccessAbilityServices@goodwin.edu. Information is also available on the Goodwin University website.

Career Services

Career Services assists students and alumni develop professionally as they continue their journey toward their chosen career. The Mission of Career Services is to support and empower Goodwin University students in developing, evaluating, and effectively implementing their career plans. To fulfill this mission, Career Services assists and along with other resources provides opportunities for students to become the best possible, career-ready candidates.

Students are encouraged to develop relationships with a career specialist early in their academic careers. Our specialists assist students with every stage of the career-planning process. We offer a variety of information and resources to help students and alumni achieve their career goals including:

  • Individualized career counseling
  • Interest inventories and assessments to help relate their strengths to career objectives
  • Career workshops and “Lunch & Learns” (examples - résumé and cover letters, mock interviews, job-search skills, and networking)
  • Assistance with internship opportunities
  • Job listings for off-campus employment
  • Recruitment activities including on-campus interviews and career fairs
  • Additional career planning and research resources

Although every effort is made to assist graduates in securing employment, no guarantee or representation of placement is made or implied.

If you have questions, please visit Career Services in the Student Affairs Suite at Main Campus or the Career Services website goodwin.edu/career-services.

Counseling and Wellness Center

The mission of the Counseling and Wellness Center is to provide students with opportunities for personal, emotional, and academic development and to help guide them toward successful completion of their education. These services are confidential and offered at no cost to our students.

Our therapists will:

  • Provide a safe and nurturing environment where students can identify and align their personal and academic goals.
  • Collaborate with faculty and staff to help students develop self-knowledge, strategies, and coping skills necessary to succeed personally, academically, and professionally.
  • Provide individual counseling for any issue including, but not limited to, navigating life’s hardships, interpersonal relationships, and loss of loved ones. Our therapists are also skilled at being in conversations about navigating the effects of violence, traumatic experience and substance use. 

Students who use these services will enjoy a one-on-one relationship with a counselor. Group sessions are also formed throughout the year on a needs basis. Referrals to the counselor can be made by faculty, staff, or self-referral. Every referral remains confidential.

More information can be found on the Counseling and Wellness Center website

Student Engagement and Leadership

The University offers a broad array of student activities and recreational opportunities. Goodwin ensures that its diverse student body has numerous opportunities for enhancing growth and development.

The goals of the student organizations are:

  • To ensure that the educational potential of the co-curricular experience is realized;
  • To facilitate cohesion and social interaction;
  • To enable students to maximize their university experience;
  • To instill a sense of civic responsibility; and
  • To help students harness transferable leadership skills.

Students are encouraged to organize activities that provide leadership, enrichment, leisure, and fitness. Some of the special interest organizations are affiliated with academic departments. Recreational opportunities include men’s and women’s basketball, flag football, soccer and Dragon Boat Racing. There are various annual events that take place which bring students and their families to campus. Students regularly present ideas for new activities and events that help to guide and direct our engagement programming.

The University has a Beta Rho Delta Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, which recognizes and encourages student scholarship. The advisor confers membership on selected students who meet the criteria for eligibility to this distinguished organization. The inductees are expected to maintain their academic performance and to contribute to the institution through service-learning activities.

For questions regarding student engagement, contact Vanessa Pergolizzi, Student Engagement Manager, at 860-913-2160, or by email at vpergolizzi@goodwin.edu.

Please see the engagement website for more information.

Veteran’s Services

Goodwin University is listed among the top military-friendly colleges and universities in the United States, identified for providing educational benefits and resources tailored to the military community. We celebrate the service of American veterans by seeking to meet their need for career-focused programs that can be completed by taking advantage of our flexible scheduling options.

The office of the Veterans Coordinator is located in the Student Affairs Suite at One Riverside Drive. Our mission is to assist veterans, service members, and dependents with the transition from military to student life at Goodwin University. We encourage you to contact us with any questions you may have:

Craig Jordan, Veterans Coordinator, 860-913-2010, email cjordan@goodwin.edu

School Certifying Official, email registrar@goodwin.edu

More information about resources can be found on the Veterans Services website.

Allowing Veterans to Attend or Participate in Courses Pending VA Payment

Section 103 of Public Law (PL) 115-407, ‘Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018,’ amends Title 38 US Code 3679 by adding a new subsection (e) that requires disapproval of courses of education, beginning August 1, 2019, at any educational institution that does not have a policy in place that will allow an individual to attend or participate in a course of education, pending VA payment, providing the individual submits a certificate of eligibility for entitlement to educational assistance under Chapter 31 or 33.

Pending Payment Compliance

In accordance with Title 38 US Code 3679(e), Goodwin University adopts the following additional provisions for any students using Post-9/11 G.I. Bill® (Ch. 33) or Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment (Ch. 31) benefits, while payment to the institution is pending from VA.

Goodwin University will not:

  • Prevent the student’s enrollment;
  • Assess a late penalty fee to the student;
  • Require the student to secure alternative or additional funding;
  • Deny the student access to any resources (access to classes, libraries, or other institutional facilities) available to other students who have satisfied their tuition and fee bills to the institution.

However, to qualify for this provision, such students may be required to:

  • Submit their Certificate of Eligibility (COE) by the first day of class.