Learning Strategies Center

The Learning Strategies Center (LSC) is the center of academic assistance for the college. The LSC provides students with opportunities to practice and enhance their academic skills and some hands-on skills, as well as develop study strategies necessary for success in the CIA's degree programs. Assistance with academic areas may take the form of peer tutoring, supplemental practice materials, academic advising, content workshops, and study strategies. Additionally, the college has two tutoring centers on campus where students may work with peer tutors to improve their skills in academic content areas. The LSC also assists students with basic hands-on skills such as knife cuts, piping skills, hollandaise or mayonnaise production, and produce or meat identification. Students can request hands-on skill assistance through our learning specialist in Roth Hall room S-212.

The Learning Strategies Center also houses the Office for Disability Services. We believe that students with disabling conditions improve the diversity and vitality of our student body. As such, the LSC is dedicated to ensuring that disabled students have equal access to all programs and curricula. To learn more about the available support services, please contact the disability support specialists in Roth Hall S217.

In addition, the LSC administers the Faculty, Alumni, and Host Mentor Programs, which provides students with the opportunity to work one-on-one with a member of the CIA faculty or CIA graduate. The program allows students to gain another perspective on their classes and the industry, develop networking skills, as well as providing a role model to talk with and help them achieve their goals.

Other Services
Tutoring services, disabled student services and the Faculty, Alumni and Host Mentor Programs are the major components of service that the Learning Strategies Center provides to students. The LSC also helps students by providing:

• one-on-one academic advisement with a professional staff member
• study skill strategies and time management tips
• a listing of off-campus support services such as the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation

All services provided by the LSC are free to all CIA students.

Tutoring
Tutoring services are open to all CIA students. The college has two tutoring labs in which students can work with a peer tutor. In the main Tutoring Center, located in Roth Hall, room S212, the LSC provides peer tutoring in all subjects. In addition to this one-on-one tutoring, the main Tutoring Center also offers a number of workshops targeted to supporting students in some of the more challenging classes such as Wines and Spirits and Accounting. The LSC also has a learning specialist on staff to assist students with their studies.

The LSC provides tutors for the Writing Center (see page below), housed in room 103 of the Education Annex (McCann), which offers peer tutoring and assistance with grammar, as well as review sessions for the Second Semester Writing Examination.

The two tutoring centers are not only good places to improve your study or practice skills needed for courses, but they're also ideal places to study with peer tutors who can answer questions and help students learn the material for a particular class.

Students who have special qualities in helping others and are maintaining a 3.0 or better grade point average can apply to be a peer tutor. This is a rewarding position that also helps you to reinforce the knowledge you have gained in their classes. To find out more about this opportunity, please stop by the Learning Strategies Center, room S212 in Roth Hall.

The Writing Center
The Writing Center, located in the Education Annex (McCann), room 103, is the hub of writing activity on campus. Here, students meet with peer tutors to work on issues in content, organization, style, grammar, and mechanics. Tutoring is tailored to specific writing concerns, including the correct use of outside source material, proper MLA (Modern Language Association) documentation, and preparation for the writing comprehensive exam. The overall goal of the Writing Center is to help students become better writers as they carry out their assignments. Students can visit the Writing Center Monday–Thursday from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. and Friday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Disability Services
The Learning Strategies Center (LSC) offers support services to students with disabilities. The LSC will assist qualified students in attaining reasonable accommodations and support services.

Our disability support specialists are available to discuss students' specific needs in the classroom, kitchen, and residence hall. Reasonable accommodations may include readers, note-takers, priority seating, enlargement of notes, tape recording a lecture, books on CD, interpreters, testing accommodations, assistance with lifting, or individualized schedules, depending on the student's documentation and specific functional limitations. After reviewing the documentation and interviewing the student, a disability support specialist will determine and recommend appropriate accommodations for each student's course of study. Students with disabilities needing remedial academic assistance or further academic skill development will need to work with individual faculty members or the learning specialist.

Accommodations for students with disabilities are based on individual needs and functional limitations. It is the student's responsibility to initiate a request for services and remain involved as a committed learner who has taken charge of his/her own needs.

Due to confidentiality laws governing institutions of higher education, students must disclose their disability and request accommodations from each instructor and/or other staff members and departments on campus. Students with disabling conditions need to request accommodations for every class, quiz, midterm or final exam as well as for costing and writing practical exams and externship. Accommodations are not provided retroactively. Students need to notify instructors of their disability and need for accommodations by day two of the seven day class, day four of a three or six week class, and week three of a fifteen week class. The instructor is responsible for providing academic accommodations in the classroom.

To obtain services, students are required to provide the LSC with recent professional documentation of their disability. This information will be kept confidential and must be received at least one month prior to their start date. Should students decide to disclose their disability once on campus, they must submit current professional documentation to the LSC to receive accommodations. Students must be registered with the LSC in order to receive accommodations. Learning disability documentation or ADHD documentation should not be older than three years, except where appropriate documentation is provided by a professional indicating that new testing would not be required, given the individual circumstances. Students with outdated documentation may receive accommodations while actively obtaining new documentation. Provisional accommodations are given for two months while the student is obtaining new documentation. If updated documentation is not submitted within that time frame, the provisional accommodations are discontinued. For additional information, stop by Roth Hall, room S217, to speak with any of the LSC staff.

A qualified student with a disability is one who:

• Self-identifies himself or herself to the LSC office in a timely manner.
• Provides the college with comprehensive, current, professional documentation of a disability.
• Provides documentation which clearly indicates the student's functional limitations and the need for academic adjustments, auxiliary aids or services.
• Needs those adjustments, auxiliary aids or services to participate in and /or benefit from the college's programs and activities.
• Is able to benefit from the adjustments, auxiliary aids or services.
• Can meet the academic and technical standards set out by the CIA.

Testing Accommodations
Some students with disabilities need alternative testing accommodations. Examples of these include, but are not limited to: test content read to them; tests written in large print; extra time on tests; assistance in filling out Scantron sheets; and tests taken in a less-distracting environment.

If the LSC is the location for a test accommodation, students need to schedule it with the LSC at least forty-eight hours prior to the day of the test. If the appointment is not made within forty-eight hours of the test date, the student may not receive accommodations for that test. Appointments for alternative tests are made around the actual time the class is taking the test, or at a time that does not conflict with the student's class schedule. Once the student makes an appointment to take a test in the LSC, the instructor will receive an email with the date and time of the test. The instructor is then responsible for delivering the exam prior to the scheduled test and picking up the completed test.

Course Substitutions and Waivers
There are no course waivers granted on the basis of disability at the CIA. Additionally, the CIA does not modify course content or requirements.

A petition requesting a course substitution is an option for students. According to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, colleges have the right to deem which courses are essential to their curriculum. Students may submit a petition for a course substitution, however, if the course is deemed to be essential, the request will be denied.

Age of Documentation Requirements
The following outlines the requirements for submitting documentation requesting disability services at the CIA:

• Learning Disabilities or ADD/ADHD: documentation must be less than three years old from the date the student requests services from the CIA. Additionally, the psychoeducational evaluation must be based on an adult test format such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Test.
• Psychiatric Disabilities: documentation must be less than a year old from the date the student requests services from the CIA. This documentation must be updated annually.
• Rehabilitated Drug Addiction/ Alcoholism: documentation must be less than a year old from the date the student requests services from the CIA.
• Hearing Impairments: an audiogram by a licensed audiologist and any addition medical documentation must be less than three years old from the date the student requests services from the CIA. Information regarding the functional limitations should be included.
• Medical and/or Physical Disabilities: documentation must be provide the nature of the disability, diagnosis, resulting functional limitations, physician recommendations for appropriate accommodations and be less than a year old from the date the student requests services from the CIA.
• Visual Impairments: documentation must be less than a year old from the date the student requests services from the CIA and should be performed by an Optometrist or Ophthalmologist. This documentation must be updated annually.
• Temporary Disability due to Illness or Injury: documentation verifying the nature of the condition, stating the expected duration of the condition and the describing the accommodation is necessary. The verification of temporary disability must be no older than 60 days.

Technical Standards
In order to reflect the requirements and standards of the foodservice and hospitality industry, The Culinary Institute of America requires that all students meet certain essential functions/technical standards which are essential for successful completion of all phases of our education programs. To participate in and successfully complete the CIA's degree, non-degree and/or certificate programs each student, with or without reasonable accommodations must be able to meet our essential functions/technical standards.

The mission of The Culinary Institute of America is to teach students the general knowledge and specific skills necessary to grow into professional positions of influence and leadership in the food and hospitality industry. Contemporary culinary, baking and pastry, and hospitality education requires that the acquisition and utilization of professional knowledge be accompanied by necessary sets of skills and professional attitudes. The Culinary Institute of America requires that all students meet certain essential functions/technical standards which are essential for successful completion of all phases of our education programs, and which reflect industry requirements and standards.

To participate in and successfully complete The Culinary Institute of America's degree, non-degree and/or certificate programs each student, with or without reasonable accommodations, must be able to:

1. Have the ability to sufficiently perform kitchen, externship, dining room, café and classroom activities and procedures. Examples of relevant activities include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
1. work in a refrigerated classroom;
2. lift and transport food, that may be hot, and other culinary or baking product, equipment, small wares, and utensils;
3. lift and transport trays with plated foods, small wares, and other items, and serve and clear tables where guests are seated;
4. safely pour and serve liquids and beverages, including hot liquids;
5. safely handle hot foods such as pulled sugar or other items coming out of a heat source;
6. safely use knives for food preparation and other commercial cooking, baking or serving utensils;
7. perform repetitive motion skills required in the kitchen and food industry, such as whisking, dicing or piping;
8. follow and maintain the National Restaurant Association's Serve Safe Sanitation standards for safe food handling;
9. safely and effectively operate standard commercial cooking and foodservice equipment
10. participate and/or work in an environment that commercial microwaves and convection ovens are being used continuously;
11. test and evaluate food and beverage products;
12. produce food products within the time parameters designated by a course objective within a class or for a hands on cooking or baking practical;
13. handle and cook different varieties of fish, seafood, beef, pork, chicken, lamb, venison or other meats, vegetable and fruit products;
14. handle and bake/cook using different flours including all grains, as well as chocolate, fruits and nuts;
2. Attend and actively participate in all classroom courses;
3. Attend and actively participate in production kitchen classes, instructional kitchen classes, dining rooms, café and/or laboratory classes or externship for a minimum of 7 consecutive hours per session and those sessions may start at different hours of the day;
4. Communicate effectively and professionally when interacting with peers, faculty, staff, other college personnel, guests and employers. Examples of relevant communication activity include but are not limited to:
1. use of effective verbal and/or non-verbal communication skills;
2. effective utilization of the English language;
3. ability to interpret communication from other people and respond in a professional fashion
5. Have the ability to meet and perform sufficiently all course objectives that are essential in all classroom, laboratory, dining room, café, externship and kitchen courses.
   
   Examples of relevant cognitive ability include but are not limited to, the ability to:
1. learn and benefit from the College's curriculum;
2. follow directions;
3. reason and perform independently;
4. process information accurately, thoroughly and to prioritize tasks;
5. demonstrate skills of recall using both long and short term memory;
6. apply knowledge;
7. perform mathematical computations;
8. write essays, reports and research project as well as other college level writing assignments;
9. demonstrate the conceptual, integrative, and analytical skills that are necessary for problem solving and critical thinking;
6. Have the emotional stability, behavioral and social attributes required to work individually and in teams within classrooms, laboratories, dining rooms, cafés, kitchen environments and externship. Examples of relevant activities include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
1. develop professional working relationships with classmates, instructors, guests, employers, and others;
2. function effectively under stress and effectively regulate one's own emotional reaction;
3. adapt to multiple situations and performing multiple tasks;
4. adhere to the College's student code of conduct;
5. exercise sound judgment;
6. focus and maintain attention on tasks;
7. self manage medical or emotional conditions;
7. Have the ability to sufficiently maintain the safety and well-being of fellow students without posing a safety threat to themselves or others in all environments on campus, during externship and other college sponsored trips;

Our disability support specialists are available to assist you in determining if your documentation is appropriate and current or to answer any additional questions. For further information about our disability services, please contact our disability specialists at 845-451-1219, or 845-451-1288.

The Faculty, Alumni and Host Mentor Programs
The Learning Strategies Center coordinates the Faculty, Alumni and Host Mentor Programs. Enrolled students have an opportunity to participate in an exciting program where they are paired with either a faculty member on campus or CIA alumni who has been in the industry for 10 or more years. The program provides students with additional guidance and structure as they pursue their culinary or baking or pastry career. The mentor acts as a role model to demonstrate the positive results of pride, professionalism, and hard work, and can help a student determine which area of the industry he or she is best suited for or most interested in pursuing. Mentors can also help introduce students to the wide network of other alumni and other professionals in the field. The Faculty, Alumni and Host Mentor Programs are voluntary programs that are designed for the benefit of students who want to enhance their educational experience to the fullest. To provide students with support while they are on their externships, the CIA has a Host Mentor Program. The Host Mentor will be an alumnus in the city a student chooses to go to for their externship. The Host Mentor will help the student know where to find appropriate housing, introduce them to other restaurateurs, the area purveyors, manufacturers, farmers, seafood markets, as well as other areas of interests such as sports, arts, etc. The program will give students an opportunity to use their time while on externship for continued learning and to begin establishing their own professional network. To learn more about the Faculty, Alumni and Host Mentor Programs, please contact the Learning Strategies Center Coordinator at 845-451-1283.