OUE Cultivate Well-Being

Cultivate Well-Being

OUE strengthens Georgia Tech’s culture of well-being.

OUE helps to create an environment of holistic learning where all members of our community can grow and learn to lead healthy, purposeful, impactful lives.

3rd Annual SLS Summer Internship Program Pairs Students with Partners to Support Georgia during Covid-19

Georgia Tech’s Serve-Learn-Sustain (SLS) program, which offers students from all colleges opportunities to collaborate with diverse partners on key sustainability challenges, is continuing to provide internship opportunities for students amid this global crisis. The third summer of the internship program provides partners throughout Georgia with support and resources while also providing students with practical experience in applying the knowledge and skills they have learned at Georgia Tech to address some of the most pressing issues of our time.

GT to Offer New Course Promoting Personal Finance Literacy

Starting in Summer 2021, Georgia Tech will offer an opportunity for students to improve their financial literacy and well-being. GT 4100: Fundamentals of Personal Finance is a one-credit course developed to prepare students for financial planning during and after college. The course began in 2018 as a special topics course (GT 4801) taught by Jonathan Clarke, associate professor of finance in the Scheller College of Business, in coordination with the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE).

Exploratory Advising Meets Higher Demand, Virtually

Exploratory Advising saw a 130% increase in exploratory advising appointments from last year.

Offering virtual appointments allowed Undergraduate Advising & Transition (UAT) to increase exploratory advising appointment availability and to offer appointments at unique times. Exploratory Advisor, Stephanie Aluko, collaborated with international students to offer appointment times that accounted for time zone differences.

“Participating in SLS programming completely changed my trajectory. The lessons I’ve learned and the connections I made through these programs have given me the opportunity to find meaningful full-time work in the social impact sector. SLS was also instrumental in helping me build the perspective necessary to engage in this work in a way that is uplifting and deeply respectful of the subject matter expertise of those already engaged in this work. [Through the SLS Internship Program] I supported the work of Carrie’s Closet by helping them introduce advocacy into their mission by helping create and advocate for a Foster Child Bill of Rights. As a non-profit that previously focused mostly on direct service, Carrie’s Closet was forced to pivot extensively due to COVID. By introducing advocacy as a central part of their work, Carrie’s Closet is now in a position not only to continue to impact lives during COVID, but to fill needs on a more macro, systemic level than they could by only doing direct service.”

Rachel Dekom—SLS Intern

SLS Equity & Justice Work 

During the racial justice uprisings of the summer and early fall of 2020, SLS offered or collaboratively led several programs addressing topics of racial equity, power, and social change such as: 

Over 100 GT 1000 & 2000 Courses Move Online

GT 1000 & 2000 are courses committed to supporting the successful transition and experience of new Georgia Tech students. In order to provide this valuable resource, UAT transitioned 100+ classes from residential to hybrid or fully remote format. They collaborated with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE) to redesign the curriculum and instructor training process to align with best practices for remote teaching.

Some fully in-person courses were reintroduced in Spring 2021, allowing incoming first-year and transfer students to have a residential class experience—despite COVID restrictions moving most courses online/hybrid.

Academic Coaching

Coaching Appointments Completed

Part-Time Coaches Hired (4 are graduated students)

New Full-Time Hire (Travis Batiste)

UAT Hosts Largest Success Summit to Date

The Success Summit is an event especially created to offer Tech students tools and practical resources to successfully transition to the Institution or to the next semester, depending on the student. In Fall 2020, the traditional 4-hour in-person Summit transitioned to a 5-day, Canvas-based eSummit. In Spring 2021, 209 students registered.

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