College of Southern Maryland (CSM) staff and students celebrated with Charles County dignitaries on Wednesday, Oct. 9, at the ribbon-cutting for a newly renovated James C. Mitchell Student Resource Center (SR Center), which had previously served the Health Technology Building (HT Building) at the La Plata Campus.
The SR Center is now open to serve as a welcome center and to provide vital support services in one location for new students and current students to access and interact with CSM’s offices of Admissions, Advising, the Hawk Hub, Counseling Services, Disability Support Services, and the Testing Center.
“This new Student Resource Center embodies our strategic focus on building a student-first culture where critical services are centralized for student success and support,” said CSM President Dr. Yolanda Wilson.
“Moving these services into the new Student Resource Center has also created space to launch several other new and exciting initiatives that you will be hearing about over the next year,” Wilson told the ribbon-cutting audience. “In the queue are a new multicultural center, a Center for Career Development and Success, an expanded footprint for the Southern Maryland Studies Center, a writing resource center, and the Michelle Simpson Center for Teaching and Learning.”
Wilson also acknowledged James C. Mitchell, the college’s former neighbor for whom the center is named.
“In 1965, the land we stand on today was purchased from the Mitchell family, and their family estate still surrounds this campus,” Wilson shared. “We paid $550 an acre for the 173.6 acres that encompasses this campus, for a total of $95,529 and 50 cents.”
Wilson added that while serving Charles County as a judge and newspaper owner, James C. Mitchell donated a legacy gift to the college to establish scholarships for nursing students. To honor Judge Mitchell at that time, the former HT was built in 1988 and dedicated to him. The nursing and health classes previously taught in the HT building were relocated to the Center for Health Sciences on the Regional Hughesville Campus in 2023.
That original HT Building “has now been renovated into this beautiful Student Resource Center. Your family’s legacy remains an integral part of our community,” Wilson said to his family members attending the ceremony (pictured right with Wilson), “and we are grateful for your connection to this place.”
“As the CSM Board of Trustees, we stand on the shoulders of so many dedicated former and current board of trustees whose strategic visioning and deep commitment to keeping education accessible and affordable has helped to guide CSM toward so many important milestone celebrations – such as today’s ribbon-cutting,” said Trustee Chair Shawn Coates. He added that “one such trustee” was his grandmother Veronica Coates who had served as a college trustee from 1976 to 1993, including five years as vice chair and two years as chair.
“I am confident she is smiling down upon the many achievements occurring at CSM, and upon the fact that these accomplishments do not happen because of any one singular effort or person,” Coates continued. “Our successes occur because of our collaboration with our partners and elected officials, our mutual investment in this regional community college and because of our commitment to putting student success at the center of all we do.”
With the project’s funding shared between the state and local jurisdictions, Coates reported that 75 percent of the funding was provided by the state of Maryland and the remainder by the Charles County Board of Commissioners.
“This $7.6 million building renovation simply would not have been possible without our elected state and county officials joining in a shared vision to create a student-first culture here at CSM,” Coates said.
Maryland Del. Edith J. Patterson offered congratulations on behalf of the Southern Maryland Delegation of lawmakers for the renovated facility and pledged to continue to proudly support CSM at the state level with a student focus, much like the SR Center. “We like to hear the issues and concerns of our student population [during Student Advocacy Day] and what’s critically needed for them to succeed,” she said.
“You’re enhancing the student experience and ensuring that every individual who steps onto this campus feels supported, welcome, and set on a clear path to success,” said Charles County Commissioner President Reuben Collins speaking on behalf of the Charles County Commissioners. “That is what is really embodied in this institution and this facility, providing opportunities for growth for all of our students who are seeking to continue to educate themselves.”
CSM’s Division of Student Equity and Success Vice President Dr. Tracy Harris, who oversees the services that will be offered at the SR Center, provided statistics on student services provided at the La Plata Campus. In the last year, the CSM enrollment team took 782 calls, registered 725 students, responded to more than 8,000 emails, evaluated almost 1,500 transcripts, and met with another 535 students through appointments or walk ins. The Admissions Services Center team received and answered more than 21,200 calls with 7,115 emails sent to students from the general [email protected] address.
“Imagine how many more students we can help in this centralized location,” he asked.
To help Harris further explain the impact of the SR Center was second-year Psychology student Mohammed Houmran, (pictured left) who works at the Hawk Hub – which serves as a central location for most services that a student might need. At the Hawk Hub, students can get assistance with frequently asked questions about CSM, the college experience, and student services and resources. They can also receive one-on-one or group help sessions for the college’s myLearning platform, the my.CSMD student portal, and Online Services. Hawk Hub staffers also provide registration assistance for credit and continuing education classes, tutorials on scheduling appointments with CSM staff, instructions for printing unofficial transcripts, and for obtaining official transcripts and enrollment verifications.
“We help connect students to the resources they need in order to navigate the campus and complete any task,” explained Houmran. “Whether we are introducing Early College students to the foreign environment that is a college campus or reintroducing our adult learners to the rapidly advancing technological environment of the modern-day school system, the Hawk Hub is equipped and capable of helping a large range of students regardless of circumstance.
“The Hawk Hub simplifies the entry process for students,” he continued, explaining that last year the Hawk Hub staff helped more 49,000 students with 2,800 of those in person.
“We help students like me bounce back from unexpected circumstances and unfortunate setbacks,” he said, explaining that he felt that CSM has always put his needs first and opened educational doors he thought had closed for him. “We empower students and equip them with life skills and teach them self-advocacy, so they not only help themselves but can help others now and moving forward. We help students plan their academic career within CSM and for years afterward.”
