How the Office of Student Affairs Helps Any Student with Any Need
The Office of Student Affairs can be found in Woodland Hall on Chatham’s Shadyside campus.
Across Chatham University, there are offices ready to help students with various academic and extracurricular needs. Think of the Office of Student Affairs – an “umbrella office” housing the Offices of Student Engagement, Residence Life, Counseling and Health Services, and more – as one of the first places any student would go to when they have a question.
How can Student Affairs help me?
Counseling and Health Services can offer physical or mental health treatment and support for students.
Residence Life can support students with questions related to living on campus.
Its emergency fund can help students with unexpected financial concerns.
Students can visit the essential needs corner in the Health Center to get free grab-and-go items.
Reach out to the Dean of Students with concerns or ideas about student life
Simmone Bell, Chatham’s Director of Student Success & Retention Initiatives, says that even if the Office of Student Affairs can’t directly help a student with their inquiry, they can usually aid in finding another office on campus that can.
In the interview below, which has been edited for length and clarity, Bell discusses the ways the office helps everyone studying at Chatham, whether they are undergraduates, graduate students, online students, or living at Eden Hall. “We want to make sure that we’re supporting all Chatham students,” she said.
What should students think about when they think of the Office of Student Affairs?
We want to be a resource for students. The nice thing about Student Affairs is that we have expertise in a lot of different areas, and we have connections to other offices and know where students can get help.
How can students best get in touch with the office?
Whatever is easier for them. There’s always someone at the front desk. If they can’t make it into the office, we check email all the time. If they need a more immediate answer, showing up and emailing is best. But we are also on social media.
Why should students reach out to Student Affairs?
Simmone Bell is the Director of Student Success & Retention Initiatives in Chatham’s Office of Student Affairs.
They should use us as a resource because we care. That’s why we got into this field, and that’s why we show up every day. We were all college students at one point, and remembering that is sometimes our job. People come to Chatham with different experiences, and before we can help them, we need to get to know our students better so we can see what they need.
Student affairs is a mixture of support resources and people. Even when you think about the offices that encompass Student Affairs, each one of us plays a different role in how we support students. We’re boots-on-the-ground a lot, and we see students in different capacities. Sometimes we see them while we’re running an event. Student Affairs encompasses a wide range of support and care.
What are some resources Student Affairs offers that people might not know about?
The one that students don’t know about is the emergency fund. That’s definitely a resource that any student can use, it’s need-based. They can stop at Student Affairs to ask how they can apply for it. If they experience a house fire or really bad car trouble, or there was a death in the family or they lost a job and they need resources, those are the things that the student emergency fund has resources for.
We also have an essential needs corner, and I don’t know that students know that exists all the time. We’ve been trying to grow it in different ways. They’re basically grab-and-go items centered around basic needs: food, hygiene. I would like to see students take advantage of it. It’s in the lobby of the Health Center. There’s a shelving unit with a lot of those things.
Mick Stinelli is a Writer and Digital Content Specialist at Chatham University. His writing has previously appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and 90.5 WESA, and he has a BA in Broadcast Production and Media Management from Point Park University. Mick, a native of western Pennsylvania, spends his free time watching movies and playing music.