Sam Houston State University Undergraduate Catalog 2006-2008
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Academic Support Services

Advising (Student Advising And Mentoring Center)

Located in Academic Building IV (south of the Lee Drain Building, corner of Avenue I and Bowers Blvd.), the Student Advising and Mentoring Center (SAM Center) at Sam Houston State University offers academic counseling and enrichment services to all undergraduate and graduate students. The Student Advising and Mentoring Center is a resource dedicated to helping students adjust to academic life at Sam Houston State University. Services available include career testing, aid with time management and/or study skills, GRE and GMAT preparation, locating tutors, and special programs for the delivery of student populations served at Sam Houston State University.

The SAM Center is housed on the second floor of Academic Building IV. The Center can be contacted by e-mail at SAMCenter@shsu.edu or by any of the following telephone numbers: (936) 294-4444; toll free, (866) 364-5211; in Houston area, (281) 657-6432.

Academic Advisement

Sam Houston State University encourages all students to seek Academic Advisement and requires that students in one or more of the following categories be subject to Academic Advisement prior to registration:

  • All undergraduate students whose current overall SHSU GPA is below 2.50.
  • All undergraduate students who do not have an SHSU GPA, i.e., new freshmen and new transfer students.
  • All undergraduate students subject to TSI regulations.

Each student who is subject to Academic Advisement will report to the Student Advising and Mentoring Center (SAM Center) to consult with an academic advisor. Students who are classified as “General Studies” students, i.e., no declared major, will also be advised in the SAM Center. Students who have declared a major will be advised in either the Center or assigned an advisor within their major department/program.

Each student subject to Academic Advisement must be advised prior to the beginning of advance registration. Students subject to Academic Advisement will not be permitted to register until they have been advised. Students subject to TSI regulations are subject to TSI advisement. Students are urged to review the academic calendar which provides the dates for advance registration. Students should schedule their advisement session with an advisor at an early date to ensure that the advisement procedures occur prior to advance registration.

Questions relating to Academic Advisement should be directed to the Executive Director of the Student Advising and Mentoring Center, located in Academic Building IV. Telephone: (936) 294-4444 and e-mail: SAMCenter@shsu.edu.

Computer Services

The University utilizes gigabit connectivity for all campus buildings including residence halls. Each resident has his/her own high-speed Internet connection. Also, wireless access points are provided throughout the main campus. Client machines supported are PC (Windows XP) and Macintosh workstations. Labs are operated by the Department of Computer Services and are open 24 hours a day during the week with extensive weekend hours. Software for these client machines is maintained on a Linux server and is available to all clients connected to the campus network (SAMnet).

From the University SamWeb, students can activate and begin using their SHSU computer accounts as soon as they are accepted to the University. To ensure prompt communications, the University will send official statements and documents via the students’ e-mail addresses. The username provided by SHSU will also be used as the e-mail address. The assigned email address is the username followed by @shsu.edu (for example: username@shsu.edu). Computer Services provides POP and IMAP e-mail services that can be accessed through locally-installed mail clients or through the University web site. The use of University email is governed by the Computer Services Acceptable Use Policy. Any ex-student who has completed at least 15 hours of course work at SHSU is eligible to continue to use an SHSU Alumni e-mail account. Alumni e-mail accounts will remain active as long as the account is used within a consecutive six month period. Ethernet ports are provided for each student living on-campus.

Students are encouraged to apply for part-time employment with Computer Services. Opportunities exist to participate in building and maintaining the computing infrastructure at the University. The Computer Services department employs more than 100 students as lab assistants, telephone operators, night time system operators, web designers, programmers, helpdesk assistants, and software/hardware technicians. For more information visit: http://www.shsu.edu/~ucs_www/staff/grads.html.

SHSU’s Computer Services website is: http://www.shsu.edu/~ucs_www/. Questions regarding SHSU’s computer resources may be addressed to HELPDESK@SHSU.EDU or (936) 294-1950.

Institutional Research

The Office of Institutional Research conducts research and analyses to support administrative decision-making and develops management information systems to provide information necessary for assessment of education and noneducation programs at Sam Houston State University. Also, this office maintains a library of reference materials on planning and institutional research, designs research methodology to achieve specific goals, and coordinates university-wide institutional research activities for strategic and tactical plans.

Reconciling the potential conflict between traditional collegiate values and accountability methods, the Office of Institutional Research monitors institutional effectiveness activities, determines appropriate types of assessment, and helps ensure that assessment results are used in program improvement.

Newton Gresham Library

The Library contains more than 1.3 million books, bound periodicals, and government documents and a variety of formats, including multimedia, microforms, microfiche, phonograph records, videotape, and newspapers. The library subscribes to over 3,000 periodicals, an increasing number of which are available electronically. As a depository for selected federal and state government publications in a separate collection of over 230,000 print and non-print documents, the library also serves the citizens of five adjacent counties. The Library’s Thomason Room houses over 12,000 rare books and other materials on Texas, the Southwest, Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, the Civil War, Library Science, Criminal Justice, and other topics. Other groups of materials housed in the Newton Gresham Library include paperbacks for recreational reading, current periodical issues, new books, and a children’s literature collection. A multimedia lab, music listening room, study carrels, a small lounge area furnished with vending machines, and a copy center, including a public fax machine are provided for the convenience of students and faculty. Library resources may be electronically accessed through an online catalog from hundreds of library and campus computer workstations, as well as remotely via the Internet.

The campus network may be used to search for full text in electronic databases. The library maintains database licenses for important databases such as ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, PsycINFO, CJ Abstracts, NCJRS, Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, and Biological Abstracts and ScienceDirect. OCLC’s FirstSearch makes databases such as WorldCat, AGRICOLA, and Business and Management Practices available to SHSU students. TexShare, the statewide electronic resource-sharing program, provides access to a variety of electronic databases and thousands of full-text journal articles. A complete list of the electronic databases and electronic journals can be viewed from the Library’s web page at http://library.shsu.edu. These resources are available from home, campus offices and computer labs. Access to online catalogs of libraries throughout the United States, including nearby university libraries such as the University of Houston, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas is available via the Internet. Books, articles, documents, and other items which are not available locally may be requested through the OCLC interlibrary loan system, a database of over 35 million bibliographic records to the world’s literature.

Sixteen librarians, twenty-six support staff, and a number of student assistants provide reference, interlibrary loan, circulation, acquisitions, and other library services to the faculty, staff and students of the University, as well as to visiting scholars and off-campus users. The University Archives, located on the 4th floor of the Library preserves the history of the campus, as well as a collection of faculty monographic publications. A multimedia lab and classroom, staffed by Computer Services department, is available during regular library hours. The seventy networked workstations in this multimedia area may be used to access the periodical and information databases, as well as the library’s multimedia (CD-ROM) collection of over 500 library-use-only CD-ROMs. This multimedia collection is listed in the online catalog and is available to all library users. To assist library users in utilizing library material and services, over fifty printed guides and bibliographies have been developed by library faculty and staff. They are available in print format in the reference area, and are accessible electronically from the library’s home page. The home page also provides access to information on the library’s services for off-campus and distance education students (http://library.shsu.edu).

Mathematics Tutoring Center

The University provides free personal tutoring services to all students enrolled in freshman or sophomore mathematics and statistics courses, excluding the calculus sequence, in the Mathematics Tutoring Center (Farrington Building). Students enrolled in the calculus sequence or higher level courses are encouraged to seek assistance from their instructors. The Mathematics Tutoring Center is staffed by graduate students from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and select undergraduates majoring in mathematics. Hours of operation and availability of tutors are posted on a semester to semester basis. For information regarding the center, contact the Department of Mathematics and Statistics (Lee Drain Building, Room 420, (936) 294-1565).

Reading Center

The Reading Center assists students, faculty, and staff with professional and academic endeavors. The primary goal of the instructors is to empower all students with effective reading strategies and the confidence to excel in their expository reading. To this end, the Reading Center tutors provide students with one-on-one and small group reading instruction. To facilitate faculty members, instructors can make reading strategy presentations in the classroom. One-session workshops on various reading strategies will be offered throughout the school year.

In addition to serving undergraduates to develop reading strategies and/or prepare for the THEA, the SHSU Reading Center can also be used by those whose first language is not English to prepare for the TOEFL. Also, students preparing for post-baccalaureate educational endeavors can use computer-assisted tutorials for the reading/verbal sections of the: GRE, GMAT, LSAT, PCAT, or MCAT.

The Reading Center is an entity of the Language, Literacy, and Special Populations Department in the College of Education. The staff includes a full-time Reading Specialist and graduate assistants who are trained as reading tutors. For assistance, visit the 1st floor of the Farrington Building, or contact the Reading Center by telephone at (936) 294-3114 or fax (936) 294-3560. Web: http://www.shsu.edu/~rdg_www/

Writing Center

The Writing Center at Sam Houston State University helps all University students, staff, faculty and community members. The Writing Center was created to help individuals become better writers and develop more confidence in their writing abilities. To this end, the Writing Center tutors provide one-on-one and small group writing instruction. One-session workshops on various topics relating to writing are offered throughout the school year.

Students may seek assistance for any type of writing needs ranging from English composition essays to science lab reports, résumés, scholarship and job application letters, even theses and dissertations. Writing Center tutors do not merely correct a student’s writing, but rather help students learn prewriting, revising, and editing skills.

The Writing Center’s staff includes a full-time member of the English faculty and graduate and undergraduate students from a variety of majors who are trained as writing tutors. Contact the Writing Center: telephone (936) 294-3680, FAX (936) 294-3560, e-mail wctr@shsu.edu, http://www.shsu.edu/wctr.