Filene Center for Academic Success
The Filene Center for Academic Advising is an integrated hub for personal advising, professional mentorship and career success. Staff inspire and empower students and alumni to develop a comprehensive approach to planning for and achieving success both at Wheaton and in an increasingly more global world. In partnership with academic advisors, students will explore their strengths and curiosities and be connected with relevant resources and experiential opportunities. In building an institutional culture of inclusive and holistic advising, staff collaborate with and consult faculty and staff mentors in a manner that helps them to serve the current academic planning and future post-graduate needs of students.
As one center, both Academic Advising and Career Services offer workshops throughout the year on such topics as self-exploration, academic planning, navigating opportunities for study abroad, undergraduate research and postgraduate study, resume writing, researching, interviewing, and job-search techniques and strategies. Students can develop and refine their pathways that include academic pursuits or career and professional skills through frequent workshop attendance and use of the Center’s resources.
Academic Advising: Network of Support
Wheaton’s advising model includes a range of supports that reflect the core values of the Compass Curriculum: exploration, purpose, and connection. Every student is supported by a team of mentors and advisors, including a Mentored Academic Pathway (MAP) Advisor, a Student Success Advisor (SSA), and major advisor(s).
Mentored Academic Pathway (MAP) Advisor:
Students are matched with a faculty MAP Advisor at the start of their Wheaton journey through their First Year Experience course. MAP Advisors serve as students’ primary academic mentors, guide them in purposeful academic planning, and help them make meaning of their liberal arts experience. MAP Advisors:
- Guide students in navigating the Compass Curriculum
- Meet one-on-one with students each semester
- Engage with MAP questions and participate in MAP Day
- Host cohort meetings and help students track academic progress using DegreeWorks and Starfish
- Offer guidance on course selection, Sophomore Experience options, and honors/scholars opportunities
- Support petitions, probation concerns, and academic policy navigation
Student Success Advisors (SSAs):
Each First Year Experience cohort is paired with a Student Success Advisor from the Filene Center. SSAs offer holistic support throughout the college experience, and play a critical role in early alert response and academic planning. SSAs:
- Collaborate with MAP Advisors to support students
- Assist with policy questions, degree audits, and petitions
- Provide targeted support for students facing academic challenges or on probation
- Connect students to campus resources and opportunities
Major Advisors:
Once a student declares a major, they are assigned a major advisor or advising team within their department. Major advisors:
- Ensure students fulfill departmental requirements
- Support career and graduate school planning
- Address academic concerns within the major
- Collaborate with MAP Advisors and respond to early alerts or other concerns
Peer Advisors:
Peer Advisors support new students during Orientation and throughout their first year, offering guidance on course selection, registration, and college adjustment. They are also available to provide one-on-one academic coaching in areas such as time management, reading strategies, note-taking, and test preparation.
Tutoring and Strategic Learning Support
Wheaton College’s tutoring program is designed to support students holistically as they develop the habits, mindsets, and skills needed for academic success. All tutoring services, whether focused on writing, research, course content, or general academic strategies, promote strategic learning by helping students become more intentional, reflective, and effective in their approach to learning. Through collaborative sessions with trained peer tutors and faculty, students build core skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, time management, and metacognitive awareness, all of which contribute to their growth as independent and confident learners.
Types of Support:
Peer Subject Tutors are available for drop-in or scheduled support in a variety of disciplines, located in the Filene Center atrium. Trained student tutors reinforce course content, help students work through assignments, and offer strategies for mastering challenging concepts. Peer Tutors also help students build academic skills such as time management, organization, test preparation, and active reading.
Peer Writing Tutors are available for drop-in or scheduled support in the Scholars Lab, Wallace Library. They support writing across the curriculum, come from a wide range of majors, and have completed EDU 220: Introduction to Tutoring Writing.
Peer Research Tutors provide support for all stages of the research process, from narrowing a topic to evaluating sources to creating citations. Based in the Scholars Lab, they are available on a drop-in basis to assist with projects from any academic field.
Faculty Writing Associates are members of the English Department who teach writing courses and provide individualized writing support by appointment. They assist students with academic and co-curricular writing in any discipline, at any stage of the process, from brainstorming to final drafts, and also regularly support students working on capstones, independent research, and Honors Theses.
All peer tutors are nominated by faculty and receive ongoing training and professional development. The tutoring program fosters active, inquiry-based learning and is a cornerstone of Wheaton’s commitment to academic excellence.
Starfish Student Success System
Wheaton uses the Starfish Student Success System to foster a coordinated, proactive approach to student support. Starfish connects students with their advisors, instructors, and support staff in real-time, allowing for early intervention when academic, engagement, or wellness concerns arise. Faculty and staff can raise “flags” when concerns emerge or send “kudos” to recognize student achievements. Students receive direct communication with guidance and resources, while advisors are notified when multiple alerts indicate a pattern that may require additional outreach or support.
The system is designed to empower students, promote timely assistance, and strengthen collaboration among the student success network. It supports a culture of care where students are seen, supported, and guided toward resources that can help them thrive academically and personally.
Accessibility Services
Accessibility Services coordinates accommodations and support for students with documented disabilities. The office works closely with students, faculty, and staff to remove barriers and create an equitable academic environment. More information is available on the Accessibility Services page of the college website.
The Accessibility Services Office, located within the Filene Center for Academic Success, is committed to ensuring that all Wheaton College students have equitable access to the academic, residential, and social aspects of student life. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the college provides reasonable accommodations to eligible students with documented disabilities.
Accessibility Services engages students in an individualized, interactive process to determine accommodations that support their full participation in Wheaton’s educational programs and services. These accommodations may include, but are not limited to, adjustments to the learning environment, housing arrangements, or access to college facilities and experiences. All accommodations are designed to ensure access without altering essential program requirements or placing undue burden on the institution.
Students seeking accommodations must self-identify and complete the following steps:
- Register with Accessibility Services via the Accommodate portal
- Submit documentation aligned with college guidelines for physical, psychological, learning, or attention-related disabilities
- Meet with a member of the Accessibility Services team for a confidential intake and interactive conversation to determine appropriate accommodations
Academic accommodations are approved on a rolling basis, but students are encouraged to begin the process early, as eligibility determinations may take up to 10 business days. Housing accommodation deadlines are:
- March 1 for current students
- July 1 for incoming students
Accessibility Services is a collaborative campus partner that works closely with faculty, residential life, and student support teams to uphold Wheaton’s mission of inclusion and student success.
For more information, students can contact Accessibility Services at accessibility@wheatoncollege.edu.
The Life and Career Design Institute is an integrated hub for one-on-one career coaching, professional mentorship, and career success. Staff inspire and empower students and alumni to develop a comprehensive approach to planning for and achieving success both at Wheaton and in an increasingly global world. In partnership with staff, students explore their strengths and curiosities and are connected with relevant resources and experiential opportunities. In building an institutional culture of inclusive and holistic advising, the LCDI team collaborates with and consults faculty and staff mentors to best support students.
The Life and Career Design Institute offers programs throughout the year on such topics as self-exploration, future planning, navigating new opportunities, resume writing, researching, interviewing, and job-search techniques and strategies. Students develop and refine career pathways and professional skills through frequent workshop attendance and use of the Institute’s resources.
Students are encouraged to work with a professional Career Navigator or a Career Peer Advisor (CPA) in the Life and Career Design Institute. Students schedule appointments in Handshake or drop in to speak with a CPA during their office hours without an appointment. Career Navigators support students throughout their experience at Wheaton and as alumni.
For Students, Career Navigators will:
- Be a resource for career-related conversations including internships and post-graduation planning (jobs, fellowships, pursuing additional graduate school)
- Connect students with campus resources and alumni that will help them explore career interests
- Provide general career and program-specific career resources
In addition to advisors assigned by the college, Wheaton students may also consult with program faculty with expertise in the professions related to their programs.
Experiential Learning
Learning from experience provides Wheaton students with the opportunity to preview potential career paths, experience “real world” connections to their course work, choose their academic majors and minors with greater discernment, and learn more about their emerging interests, strengths and values. Whether undertaken during summers, winter breaks or incorporated into the academic year, internships, jobs, practicums, shadowing, career conversations and co-curricular activities enable students to experience and learn from and about the world beyond Wheaton. Students partner with faculty and staff to explore opportunities in a wide variety of organizations, including museums, banks, hospitals, national media outlets, social service organizations, government agencies, and investment companies. Through this coaching partnership, students learn to reflect upon and connect their interests and values to future career and educational choices.
By developing a relationship with their academic and career navigation team early, and continuing to meet with them often, students can integrate experiences with their academic interests, and build a portfolio of skills and relevant activities to successfully pursue graduate school, national fellowships, and competitive employment opportunities. This synthesis of knowledge and skills from both inside, and outside the classroom is the essence of the Wheaton Edge.
The Wheaton Edge
The Wheaton Edge combines the guarantee of funding for experiential learning with the high-quality educational program for which the college is known, including:
- personalized support for each student from professors and staff to set goals, plan a course of study and explore interests on campus and beyond.
- a rigorous, interdisciplinary liberal arts education through our Compass curriculum that provides numerous opportunities to link the liberal arts to the wider world,
- a residential campus experience directed by students, offering myriad opportunities to shape the Wheaton experience and develop leadership skills.
The Wheaton Edge formalizes the college’s long-standing commitment to providing an outstanding liberal arts education that includes real-world experience. Students will become eligible for summer funding by working with The Life and Career Design Institute over the course of several semesters, culminating in the sophomore or junior year. The Institute’s program for internship preparation is designed to ensure that students are prepared to make the most of their funded experience. The college has more than 25 years of experience in actively helping students explore their interests through internships, research projects, service work and other experiential learning opportunities. It’s an integral part of the program that enables our students to follow their passion and achieve success after graduation.
Year-round Funding Opportunities
With the support of foundations, alumni and college funds, The Life and Career Design Institute administers several funding opportunities which award stipends from $2000 to $5000 to students who secure summer internships, service experiences, and/ or structured independent research in the United States and abroad. Small financial stipends are awarded for winter-break experiences, conference attendance, and to defray the cost of commuting to an off-campus opportunity during the school year.
Balfour/Trustee Scholars
Some students are designated Merit Scholars in the Wheaton Admissions process and have a summer stipend designated for use during the summer immediately following their sophomore or junior year. The Life and Career Design Institute collaborates with these students to explore summer opportunities and/or faculty-led trips which can be supported with the stipend. This stipend may also be used to support an academic abroad program that has a significant internship component.
Off-campus Jobs
The Life and Career Design Institute collects local and regional off-campus job postings for summer and term-time employment. Our staff partners with students to explore part-time and/or seasonal summer job options. Students can attend thematic workshops offered throughout the academic year pertaining to part-time and summer job search strategies.
Marshall Center for Intercultural Learning
The Marshall Center staff provide support and services designed to positively impact the success and retention of students of color. We also work to engage the broader campus in learning around Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB).
The Marshall Center aims to affirm each student’s unique identities, to build a community that draws from them and to cultivate leaders who will introduce to the world the value of human diversity. Each and every member of the Wheaton community has a role and responsibility in this process.
The Center’s offerings include an Early Arrival Program, overseeing the campus Intergroup Dialogue program, mentoring and coaching with individual students and clubs, as well as sponsoring cultural and heritage month programs.
All programs of the Marshall Center are an extension of the college’s commitment to DEIB as an educational asset.
Center for Global Education
The Center for Global Education (CGE) serves as a hub of resources for students, faculty and staff who wish to engage with the world. We offer opportunities for students of all majors and interests to study and intern in some of the most unique locations around the world. The Center is also a place our international students can come for that additional bit of support as they adjust to their home away from home. Additionally, the Center supports faculty as they develop academic experiences that help students encounter, negotiate and understand global issues in relation to their own lives.
Students interested in study abroad opportunities may consult one of the advisors in the Center for Global Education. Both peer and professional advisors are available to assist Wheaton students as they explore global learning opportunities.
The Center offers a wide range of study abroad programs, the result of numerous connections and partnerships with overseas institutions. These programs are located in countries as diverse as Australia, South Africa, Argentina, China, Denmark, Bhutan, Japan and Madagascar. As extensions of Wheaton’s curriculum, these opportunities enrich the academic experience of students and provide unique cross-cultural insights. Generally, students participate in study abroad during their junior year, but sophomores and seniors (first semester) can also receive consideration in relation to their plan of study and preparation. Most forms of financial aid and merit scholarships may be used on Wheaton study abroad programs. The Center provides services to Wheaton’s growing and important population of international students, visiting scholars and language assistants. It works closely with the Worldfest Committee and other student groups to bring cross-cultural programming to campus. The Center is committed to institutionalizing global education values on campus— one of the significant ways in which Wheaton is transforming itself to make its educational experience relevant for the 21st century. For further information, visit the Center for Global Education (5 Howard Street) or visit our website to learn more about our Global and Intercultural offerings.
Wallace Library
The Madeleine Clark Wallace Library, housed in an historic building at the heart of campus, serves as the intellectual hub of the college. The library provides access to hundreds of thousands of books and ebooks and thousands of media items such as DVDs and LPs. Over 80 research databases provide access to thousands of academic journal articles, magazines, and newspapers, with some specializing in archival materials, images, and streaming video. These electronic resources are available anywhere on campus, as well as off campus. The textbook reserve program ensures that almost all required textbooks are available for students to borrow. The library also loans items such as chargers, adapters, and board games.
The library houses the Marion B. Gebbie Class of 1901 Archives and Special Collections, which contains archives, rare books, and manuscripts related to the history of the college. The library also houses the IT help desk, peer writing tutors, and faculty writing associates.
If students need materials not available through Wallace Library, they have access to materials in other libraries through the local Higher Education Library and Information Network (HELIN) Consortium and through interlibrary loan.
Research and instruction librarians are available for consultation about individual research over chat, via email and by scheduling one-on-one appointments. They maintain a variety of guides to help students get started in their research. Librarians teach more than 100 classes each year, ensuring students develop critical research and technology skills. Specialized instruction in the Archives exposes students to research using primary source materials.
The library is open about 100 hours per week during the academic year. The building has wireless access, public computers, printers, and listening/viewing facilities for multimedia materials. The library’s public computers offer productivity software, specialized academic software, and assistive technology applications. Collaborative workrooms, group study spaces, individual carrels, study tables and comfortable seating arrangements are located throughout the building.
Office of the Registrar
The Office of the Registrar handles all matters pertaining to course registration and academic records, including transcripts and letters certifying enrollment at the college. The schedule of classes, catalog and course selection process, through which students can complete their registration (as well as many forms and publications), are available online through the Office of the Registrar. Declarations of majors and minors are filed in this office by the established deadlines. Students can also find answers to many of their academic, registration, and graduation questions at the information desk in the Office of the Registrar or by contacting the office at registrar@wheatoncollege.edu.
Wheaton College Early Education Center
The Wheaton College Early Education Center WCEEC is a child laboratory serving children ages 2.9 to 5.0, designed as a real-time research opportunity for college students studying child development. The WCEEC is dedicated to the study and research of child development in collaboration with children and families in a unique educational setting. Each semester, PSY 203 Child Development and PSY 455 Research Capstone students participate in observational studies at the site as part of their coursework. Students from various disciplines, including Education, Anthropology, and Sociology, also engage in research, internships, and other opportunities as part of their academic curriculum.
Founded in 1931, the Wheaton College Early Education Center is committed to advancing the field of child study and research. As a laboratory school, it focuses on providing high-quality preschool education while implementing best practices for young children. The center fosters a nurturing educational environment for preschoolers and their families and is a valuable resource for child development studies.
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