Introducing Chatham’s Academic Success Division
(James Garvin)
Students with questions related to academics, accessibility, international affairs, and career development now have a one-stop shop for answers: the Academic Success Division.
Chatham University’s new Academic Success Division creates synergy among four offices to help bring resources and opportunities to students in a new way, Associate Dean and Director of Academic Success Jeff Bukowski said.
“The big change is focusing on what we need to do to better prepare our students in order to face the challenges in their personal and professional lives,” Bukowski said.
A New Structure
Under the Academic Success Division, key resources will be shared among four offices:
This centralized structure helps these offices share relevant information with students about where they can find more resources.
For example, a student who goes to Career Development with questions about summer internships may be connected to the Office of International Affairs for additional information about internships that can be completed during a semester abroad, Bukowski said.
Dedicated Staff for Academic Advising
Jeff Bukowski is an associate dean and the director of academic success at Chatham, where he’s also an assistant professor of educational leadership. (Rick Muzzey)
While faculty will continue to provide academic advising, incoming students will be paired with a dedicated staff advisor for their first year at Chatham.
Staff advisors will help students create schedules for their first three terms. After the fall term of their second year, students will be paired with a faculty advisor.
Bukowski said that’s something new, and it is central to the division: “You have to know where you’re going, be on track, and understand those basic steps you need to take for your own academic progress and to move towards graduation.”
More Help for Students
Bukowski said the creation of the Academic Success Division was informed by students’ concerns, including their frustrations with obtaining answers and their confusion about where to go with their questions.
“All those things add up, and I feel like we’re working on removing those little things, as well as the big things, that have impacted students,” Bukowski said.
He said he hopes the division makes it easier to get students the help they need quickly.
“If there was a path [before], it may have been a little muddy, there might have been puddles, you might have gotten stuck,” he said. “We are trying to make a more accessible pathway moving forward.”
Some responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.
This story was updated on Sept. 8, 2025