The new Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Anthony Johnson, has put an advisory council in place for the Living Learning Centre in an effort to better manage and develop the program for the 2012/2013 academic year. The Living Learning Centre, LLC, is a Title III sponsored program.
The program is aimed at holistically developing youths in an effort to embark on leadership opportunities at Grambling and abroad.
Dr. Johnson, who is also the LLC program coordinator, convened a meeting with the 12 committee members last month in Lee Hall Conference Room to further encourage and advise the committee members of their specific functions and responsibilities.
During the meeting, Ayanna Lindsey was elected as the committee president. A secretary and public relations chair will be named and confirmed shortly. The Advisory council is comprised of members in the community, Student Government Association, Grambling’s community and other leaders in LLC program.
During the meeting, Dr. Johnson expressed the importance of the LLC.
“I think it’s a very important process for Grambling State University since it can assist in giving a boost to the retention and graduation rates of our university,” he said.
He credited University President Dr. Frank G. Pogue and Provost Dr. Connie Walton for their vision in supporting the program, which he said help create well ’rounded’ students, while getting them acclimated to the college process and set the pace for a successful college journey.
“The LLC will help them in the initial point and once they become sophomores and juniors we hope that the result will boost the quality of students,” said Johnson.
He added that most of the students are first generation students to attend college and the LLC will ensure that they are aware of the college process.
Dr. Johnson said that GSU is one of the first Historically Black Colleges and Universities to embark on such a program and is hoping that the program will become a model for other institutions to begin LLC initiatives.
The LLC program caters for approximately 80 students and according to Johnson plans are a foot for implementing a process of checks and balances to ensure that the maximum benefits is derived from the program.
“We will track these students as they matriculate through their program because we want to know if the program is being successful and we’ll build on the data that are obtained so that we can improve the program where necessary,” he said.
After the meeting, several members of the committee were invited to tour the computer lab facility that is located in Douglass Hall. GSU’s LLC mission statement states, “To help student foster academic and social success as they make the transition from highschool to college.”