Student Success Resources

Student Success Center

The Student Success Center provides tools and resources for William Carey students in a welcoming environment. The goal of the department is to help students achieve personal growth and academic success while successfully completing a degree program at William Carey. The Student Success Center provides a wide array of services to help students achieve this goal. Whether guiding students through their academic experience with student success coaching services, helping students explore college majors and clarify their career goals, or providing tutoring services that helps students meet the challenges of college academics, the Student Success Center is a valuable resource for William Carey students. For more information about services provided through the Student Success Center, please contact the Student Success Center at studentsuccess@wmcarey.edu, visit the Student Success Center in the King Student Center, room 336, or visit https://wmcarey.edu/Office/student-success.

Student Success Coaching

Student Success Coaching is available to all students at William Carey University. Individual student success coaching and workshops focus on addressing specific areas of concern within academics and campus life. Topics typically covered in coaching sessions include organization skills, note-taking strategies, test preparation, test-taking strategies, managing test anxiety, study strategies, goal setting, and time management. Students are welcome to attend workshops and to set up individual appointments to address specific areas of concern.

Tutoring

The Student Success Center offers students access to online tutoring from TutorMe.com. This online tutoring service provides Carey students with a live tutor, 24 hours a day. Tutors are available to work with students in a wide range of subjects. Tutoring sessions feature audio or video communication, screen sharing, a virtual whiteboard, and a chat feature to give students an efficient in-person lesson. TutorMe.com is available through the Student Indigo Portal.

Technology Resources

William Carey University provides a variety of technological resources to support student learning. These resources include a student email account, Indigo Portal, Canvas, remote access to library database resources, free on-campus access to the university’s wireless network, CareyAir, and a free copy of Microsoft Office 365. Upon admission to the university, new students receive from the university a welcome email that contains their student ID#, username, student email address, and instructions for setting up and accessing their accounts and other online resources. The welcome email is sent to the personal email address the student provided at the time of application. New students are required to set-up and confirm access to their accounts as soon as possible so that faculty and staff may contact them via their student email account. Readmitted students must reset their campus password before being able to access their student accounts. Students, faculty, and staff are required to use their WCU email account when communicating about university business; using a personal email address may jeopardize the security of one’s academic and personal information. Alternatively, students and course instructors may communicate about course materials and assignments via the Canvas platform.

The Indigo Portal is a self-service online platform that allows students access to their university information including course offerings, enrollment, class schedule, unofficial transcripts, billing information, financial aid information, and grades. The portal also allows students to pay tuition and fees online. William Carey University does not mail term grade reports.

Canvas is a web-based learning management system used for communicating about and engaging students with course content, assignments, discussions, and online conferences. Canvas is used for online course delivery as well as for enhancing delivery of in-person courses. Canvas access is available through OneLogin at https://wmcarey.onelogin.com. Canvas user guides, browser/iOS requirements, and other Canvas resources are available at https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Guides/ct-p/canvas_guides.

A downloadable technology guide is available at https://www.wmcarey.edu/page/information-technology/student-it-guide. The guide is updated regularly to reflect any changes as we are constantly working to bring new and improved services. For additional information and resources, visit the Office of Information Technology at https://www.wmcarey.edu/office/information-technology.

Finally, the university takes the privacy and security of your academic records and personal information seriously. As such, William Carey University will never ask you for your password or send you emails that require you to verify (enter) your password, social security number, or other personal information. Likewise, the university complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) in protecting your academic and personal data. For more information on the university’s policy, visit Policy on Privacy of Student Records (FERPA). Federal policy information can be found here.

The Center for Creative Scholars

The Center for Creative Scholars is a research and service entity that serves students, teachers, and other academic professionals. The CCS secures grants, manages the Creativity Exploration Workshops associated with the graduate concentration in gifted education, and supports student-generated research. Organized in 1992, the Center originated Creativity events for K-12 students. For two decades, the Center has managed government licensure and grants for work with the National Assessment of Academic Progress. Publications stemming from Center work are available online through various databases, including ERIC (https://eric.ed.gov/).

Bachelor of General Studies

The Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) is a 128-hour, flexible degree plan oriented primarily toward nontraditional students. This degree option offers students with diverse educational experiences, including those with technical backgrounds, the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree, and, because the degree allows for interdisciplinary study, it may appeal to students who have unique educational and/or career goals for which a traditional degree is not offered. The BGS degree is not available for students who must meet certain state or national licensure/certification requirements (e.g., nursing, teacher licensure, music therapy, etc.).

The Student Success Center on the Hattiesburg campus serves as the point-of-contact for students who want to explore their various educational and career goals, to include this degree plan. However, students who choose the BGS are not advised by the Student Success Center but are referred to the appropriate academic department(s) for advisement and course registration.

Degree requirements include the following:

Completion of the University and General Education Curriculum (UEC/GEC);
Completion of the Program Curriculum, which consists of a minimum of 36 hours from one area of study or a minimum of 18 hours from two different areas of study (also referred to as ‘concentrations’);
A concentration may consist only of those courses affiliated by approved major, minor, or departmental concentration;
Student must officially declare their chosen area(s) of study, which determines the department(s) that advises the student throughout their studies;
Completion of at least one Writing Intensive designated course, preferably from the area(s) of study declared by the student;
Completion of a total of 128 credit hours;
A minimum GPA of 2.0 is required for each area of study declared by the student; and
Must meet any additional requirements as enumerated in the Administration of the Academic Program section of this catalog.
Clinical course credit may not be used to satisfy the Program Curriculum requirements described above but may count as General Elective credit.

Programs

• Bachelor of General Studies (128 hrs)