Learning Assistants in Grant Towers will be more accessible next semester, thanks to a collaborative effort between Student Housing and Dining Services and the Academic Advising Center.

“We consider the Learning Assistant to be a liaison, an outreach from our area,” said Michael Broshears, coordinator of the Academic Advising Center. “They might be a first contact for students who are in transition or reassessing their academic situation.”

Previously, LAs were available in the facility by appointment only.

Starting in fall, LAs will spend half of their 20-hour week at a satellite advising office located in the lower level of Grant Towers. The office will have posted hours of operation and will be staffed by graduate LAs.

The LAs are positioned in Grant because of the large number of freshmen that live there.

“Grant is a first-year experience hall for freshmen who don’t know their majors,” said Chante Hill, a junior psychology major and community adviser for Grant Towers North. “I think it’s a really good idea, since the LAs will be working one-on-one with students.”

The Right Track Program, which the LAs are a part of, was developed to put Grant resident students on the “right track” academically. The Web site advertises regular hours for LAs at an information desk in the lobby of Grant South.

“There’s no such thing as that,” said Elan Savitt, a freshman business finance major, of the information desk. “If they had packets or people you could see, I would definitely go there because I have questions about my major.”

Savitt said he knows a lot of people who would use the services of the LAs if they were more accessible, but he doesn’t know anyone who’s actually talked to one.

Any student who is unsure where to go for advising can visit the Academic Advising Center office Web site, www.advisingcenter.niu.edu.