5 Fast Facts with Dr. Steven Jacobson

1. Your professional background includes overseeing student housing at a major university. As part of the Town Hall sessions this summer and winter with campus faculty and staff, you mentioned plans that could possibly lead to on-campus housing for students. What's the status of those plans?

Touro University California is currently in the early discussion stages on how to offer our future students the ability to live on campus. After surveying students about their housing preferences, we are now reviewing the housing market in the local area, evaluating potential on-campus building(s) to renovate, and identifying consultants who will help us in developing our next steps. While there is no set timeline, we are excited about this new opportunity, and look forward to offering our students the ability to live on campus and be close to their classes.

2. The U.S. Supreme Court this summer struck down race-based considerations in admissions at public colleges and universities, bringing the nation in line with California and several other states that have previously done so. Touro University California, as a private university, boasts a diverse student body in its various graduate-level programs and a vibrant Mosaic diversity scholarship program to support students of diverse backgrounds. What is the brief summation of the strategy Student Affairs will use to encourage diversity in the programs offered at Touro?

The decision by the Supreme Court has required colleges and universities across the United States to review and reassess their admissions policies. At TUC, even though we still will collect race and ethnicity data from applicants, we are following the Court's ruling by not utilizing or reviewing this data as part of the applicant admissions process. While this process might be different from our practices in the past, the University still believes in the importance of recruiting and supporting a diverse student body. We will continue exploring ways to advocate for equitable access for quality professional and graduate education for all students, work to identify financial support for those who face financial inequities, and will continue our mission to lead, to serve, and to teach our students within a foundation of social justice.

3. What do you see as the three most significant resources that are available to Touro students?

The TUC Student Affairs Division's mission is to provide transformative educational co-curricular experiences and services for our students that lead to their success. To achieve this, we offer resources that help our students academically, physically, mentally, and socially. Some of these resources include:

• Physical and Mental Health Support – There are two primary offices that focus on student mental and physical health. The first is Student Health Services, which offers our students a variety of services including medical care evaluations, treatment of acute symptoms, physicals, and vaccinations. The second is Student Counseling, which offers a variety of mental health services for students who are facing such things as anxiety, depression, grief, challenging academic performance, and relationship issues. All services are free to students and there is a counseling support phone number for students to call if they need assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Student Success Services – The Student Success Services Center works with our students to provide one-on-one, strengths-based learning and wellness support. The Center offers students many different services including academic tutoring, wellness and self-care programming, disability services and accommodations, and study plan formulations as well as stress management and burnout prevention, test-taking strategies, and time management programming.
• Student Activities – While succeeding in academics is important, TUC also believes that it is equally important for students to have a quality experience outside the classroom. This is where the Student Activities office comes into play. This office is responsible for campus co-curricular/social student programming and events, leadership development, advisement of the Student Government Association, and in the coordination of new student orientation. In addition, Student Activities oversees the activities and budgets of more than 70 different student clubs and organizations.

4. What important resources, in your opinion, are underutilized on campus?

Fortunately, most of our services in Student Affairs are utilized often by our students. The only thing I would suggest is for our students to take advantage of our services earlier in their academic career. Unfortunately, some students reach out for our services after they have faced a difficult exam or until the end of the term when we have fewer options to help them. I would encourage our students to reach out to the Student Affairs team early whenever they face a challenge. We are here to help!

5. A new academic year is nearing its midpoint. What is your most memorable experience from past new-student orientations and the first weeks of a new fall semester?

I have been fortunate over my career to be part of many new student orientation programs. Even though it is a lot of work to prepare (we start planning six months before the event), it is one of my favorite times of year. One of my most memorable orientation experiences has been here at Touro University California. On the first day of orientation, we asked our new students to participate in a service activity at one of 10 different nonprofit organizations around Solano County. It is amazing to see how excited our students were to work with these organizations, and I am so proud of them for being willing to help our community. Thanks to our new students' efforts, we were able to provide more than 500 hours of service to our community.