{"id":111280,"date":"2026-10-09T21:58:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T21:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=111280"},"modified":"2026-10-09T21:58:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T21:58:59","slug":"academic-enhancement-center-cuts-ribbon-on-new-and-improved-drop-in-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/10\/academic-enhancement-center-cuts-ribbon-on-new-and-improved-drop-in-location\/","title":{"rendered":"Academic Enhancement Center cuts ribbon on new and improved drop-in location"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Oct. 09, 2026 \u2013 The Academic Enhancement Center recently celebrated the grand opening of its newly renovated drop-in space inside the Robert L. Carothers Library. The AEC, part of the Fannon Institute for Student Success, provides a broad range of academic support services, including academic coaching, writing and speaking assistance, and tutoring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its mission is to help students successfully navigate the demands of their coursework. The newly renovated space was made possible through a donation from Diane \u201974 and Kent \u201974 Fannon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AEC receives more than 15,000 visits annually, supporting students across a variety of disciplines, including nursing, math, business, writing and chemistry. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Improvements
Improvements to the space include wall-mounted TV screens, enhancing tutors\u2019 ability to better share visual materials and allowing students to see from wherever they\u2019re sitting. (Credit: Chloe Kessler)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house featured remarks from AEC Director Jennifer Burgess and Fannon Institute for Student Success Executive Director Kim Stack. The event also gave Diane and Kent an opportunity to connect with tutors and explore the new technology now available to students in the renovated space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKent and Diane hadn\u2019t seen the space at all and they were really impressed by it,\u201d said Burgess. \u201cI think any time you make a financial contribution, it’s one thing to be told how the money is being spent, but it’s another to physically see and hear about its impact. I think the open house served as a powerful reminder of how impactful donations like these can be.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the ceremony, Burgess shared before-and-after photos highlighting the transformation of the space, noting that the drop-in area had long needed upgrades. Improvements to the space include wall-mounted TV screens, enhancing tutors\u2019 ability to better share visual materials and allowing students to see from wherever they\u2019re sitting. A state-of-the-art speaker system will also allow audio to be projected to specific areas or throughout the entire space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the screen dedicated to biology tutoring, we had the virtual reality software up and in the next pod we also had a chemistry tutor hook up his computer to show the periodic table while talking to people about what he loves about tutoring.,\u201d said Burgess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The renovated space reflects the center\u2019s commitment to student success while creating new opportunities for collaboration, engagement and academic growth. For Burgess, the event underscored the value of the relationships formed between student tutors and their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe part that was really fulfilling for me was that people got to see the relationships we cultivate every day between our student staff and those students they are working with who may be struggling and are seeking academic support. It\u2019s incredible to watch those relationships flourish,\u201d said Burgess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Academic Enhancement Center\u2019s drop-in space is open Monday through Thursday from noon to 7 p.m. Students can also schedule appointments with an AEC tutor via: https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/aec\/scheduling\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Oct. 09, 2026 \u2013 The Academic Enhancement Center recently celebrated the grand opening of its newly renovated drop-in space inside the Robert L. Carothers Library. The AEC, part of the Fannon Institute for Student Success, provides a broad range of academic support services, including academic coaching, writing and speaking assistance, and tutoring.  Its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":111295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111298,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111280\/revisions\/111298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}