LINN  — State Tech VP of Student Affairs Dr. Chris Bowser announced at the June Regents meeting that the college has hired Student Wellness Coordinator Mandy Adams to work with the Counseling Services Team. She will assist with critical early alert case management and transition to helping with all early alerts.

Adams will speak to students about life issues that may be impacting success in the classroom and works with the assigned counselor or Dr. Bowser to coordinate services.

With a caseload of between 20-25 students Adams meets with on a weekly basis, 106 students sought long-term mental health care for a total of 675 sessions.

Dr. Bowser noted that 76 students have graduated or are on track to graduate; eight left but plan to return; and 72% of Adams’s long-term patients have completed or are still enrolled and on track to complete their studies.

Weekly counseling sessions address a wide range of topics, including anxiety (stress, panic attacks, OCD), social anxiety (depression, sadness, grief, difficulty with motivation), relationships (intimate relationship issues, family dynamics, gender/sexuality, struggles with making friends, roommate issues), and trauma (PTSD, personality disorders, struggles with utilizing healthy coping skills).

Students may utilize TalkCampus, a downloadable app allowing students to be a part of “a safe, supportive community any time of day, anywhere in the world,” Dr. Bowser noted. “Students have access to instant, ongoing mental health support with trained peer supporters and professional staff.”

TalkCampus can be used on its own or with other counseling services on campus or in the community.

Dr. Bowser added that any student could access the platform for additional support for any symptoms or stressors that may arise.

The Crisis Helpline is a 24/7 phone service staffed by master-degree level counselors.

In the 30 days preceding the meeting, Dr. Bowser said the app had been accessed 106 times, with all students between 18-24. The average chat session was 18 minutes.

Students sought help with “relationships” the most.

Other categories were “overwhelmed, mental health, depressed, friends, studies, health, anxious, and lonely.”

At this time TalkCampus has not elevated any conversations to the counseling team for assistance.

In other news, Dr. Bowser said that while early alert reports steadily climbed since being implemented in 2020-21 (1,723), going to 2,681 in 2021-22, and 2,948 last year, the time between the report and response decreased from 2.7 to 2.07 to .79 days in the same three-year period.

The majority of early alert topics involved students earning a D or F (1,686), followed by attendance (906), not turning in assignments (875), low test scores (688), irregular attendance (332), currently failing but can still pass (287), and missed test (209).

State Tech provided 3,728 individual tours in 2023, with the previous two years at 2,157, 1,499 in 2021, and 726 in 2020. Bus tours also increased, with 104 this year, 84 in each of the last two years, 14 in 2020, and 67 in 2019. Show-Me State Tech had slightly fewer students at 972 this year, with a high of 996 last year, 960 in 2021, 373 in 2020, and 463 in 2019.

• In Student Housing news, State Tech created one “triple” room in each cottage and added new furniture. This gave the college the ability to increase capacity from 144 to 153 without building a new structure.

— In Fall 2023, 88 students plan to return to housing.

— State Tech is continuing its partnership with Lincoln University, with 60 on the current waiting list. Dr. Bowser explained the partnership creates the potential to offer students a dorm room at Lincoln; 30 took advantage last fall.

— Summer Projects, including deep cleaning, adding new blinds in each room, and Resident Assistant training.

— Move-In is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 20.

— Off-campus availability is in pretty good shape with the continued construction of new apartments by private business owners.

• In November of last year, an interest meeting was held for all students regarding the formation of an Esports Club.

Forty students decided to pay dues and become the founding members of the program and competed in the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports spring season.

— Seven teams were created, and four individuals stepped up for competition across seven different games: Call of Duty, Rocket League, Rainbow 6 Siege, Valorant, Overwatch 2, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

The Rocket League and Call of Duty A Team placed high enough during the regular season to play in the postseason tournament for their title.

Individually, Lucas Toebben competed in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, and Joel Vaughn battled in Mario Kart for titles.

State Tech’s Student Government Association (SGA) hosted a trivia night and a Super Smash Brothers tournament.

The Rocket League team won a featured game against Central Community College on the EsportsU Twitch stream. Team Captain Ryan Statton was interviewed after the match.

State Tech VP of External Relations Shannon Grus told Regents that 300 companies attended this year’s Career Expo. However, more than 40 were turned away. She is working with academic affairs to develop a new plan for the Career Expo to accommodate more employers.

• Over the last six months, State Tech hosted over a dozen lunch-and-learns and company tours. “Scott Peters did a great deal of work to accommodate so many employers in a very busy spring schedule while facilitating the data collection for the 99 percent placement of all graduates,” said Grus.

• The State Tech Cup raised over $35,000. “Nichole Engelhardt took this on and did a fantastic job,” said Grus, noting that 21 teams participated, up from 16 last year.

Teams moved all over campus to compete in various events.

• A golf tournament is scheduled for Sept. 22 at Oak Hills Golf Center in Jefferson City.

• The sponsorship campaign kicked off with high expectations. “Last year, we raised just under $90,000,” said Grus.

• The Dollar Up campaign went out with students for internships in all areas this year: 25 companies for HEO, PMT, Civil Construction Tech, UST, Automation and Robotics, Civil engineering, HVAC, and Diesel Technology have 48 interns among them; six EDS companies are participating with 14 interns.

VP of Academic Affairs Angie Gaines thanked the State Tech faculty for a successful 2022-23 academic year, delivering 1,161 sections of quality instruction.

Additionally, Gaines reported that the following had been accomplished by the Academic Affairs Department since the January Regents meeting:

— Implementation of a new scheduling format, which enables improved time and space utilization and accommodates future growth.

— Creation of operating budget plans to assist department chairs in planning program spending.

— State Tech collaborated with 186 advisors during meetings at the SP23 Advisory Council.

— Facilitation of faculty input to multiple building projects.

— Planning for the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Comprehensive Evaluation Visit in early spring of 2025 for reaffirmation of accreditation. State Tech has formed a steering committee and five criterion committees, attended training, developed a timeline, and assigned 18 component owners who are now identifying and gathering evidence for the assurance argument.

— State Tech secured approvals from the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development (MDHEWD) and HLC to offer an Associate of Applied Science in Agriculture Operations, with options in Business and Production, beginning Fall 2024. This program, which was presented to the board in January, prepares students to be successful in a variety of agriculture-related careers; from MDHEWD and HLC to offer two new certificates in Business Administration: Entrepreneurship and Supervisory Management; and from MDHEWD for the name change of “Utility Systems Technician” to “Utilities Technology.”

— Academic Deans Shawn Berhorst and Jeremy Goss have joined Academic Affairs. Berhorst will lead Agriculture, Business and Computer Development, and Health Sciences, and Goss will lead General Education and Transportation. Their first day was June 1.

Gaines thanked Deans Ben Berhorst, Chris Muenks, and Ken Thompson, her Assistant – Faith Joyce, and Academic Affairs administrative assistants Madelyn Doyle, Stephanie Higginbotham, Mikeli Lueckenotte, Brianna Piles, and Amanda Powers, whose efforts made these accomplishments possible.

Faculty Senate President and Science Department Chair Randy Rice said the organization over the next year would be primarily focused on ensuring the college grows academic programs strategically. Faculty workloads need to be a factor in considerations, he added.

• The Staff Senate sent a staff climate survey out in the spring to gather ideas on ways to increase employee participation in different events on campus. This information has been shared with President Dr. Shawn Strong, and a quick action item was recently providing a food truck on campus for all employees.

• Nicholas Moffat (Computer Networking & Cyber Security), Aspen O’Bannon (Automotive Technology), Ian Williams (Electronics Engineering Technology), and Bradley Wright (Precision Machining Technology) were named to the All-Missouri Academic Team for Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. Students earn this honor based on their academic achievements and excellence outside of the classroom.

Staff Senate members include Amanda Barch (Admissions), Makayla Broeker (Marketing), Hanna Hensing (Housing Manager), and Mikeli Lueckenotte (Administrative Assistant to the Dean).