With the exit of Katie McCray, former manager for Educational Support Services, students have experienced a number of hurdles and delays in their requests for testing accommodations throughout the initial portion of this semester.  Sarah Gumm, program coordinator in Student Success and Educational Support Services, stepped in part-time for the first three weeks of October but officially took on this role full-time as of Oct. 18.     

“I’m an alumni of Whitworth’s class of 2014 and am excited to have returned to my alma mater. I am excited about being part of the way that Whitworth helps its students thrive academically, socially, and spiritually,” said Gumm. “I remember how I felt that all professors and staff genuinely cared about me as an individual, and I want to make sure current students feel that too.”     

With this transition in leadership, Educational Support Services (ESS) will remain exactly as it has in past years, retaining all resources and only seeing slight adjustments while staffing numbers are increased. Previously, there were one to two people in ESS’s office, and switches in employees have lowered this number to one. The Student Success Center is currently lending a hand to maintain intakes and testing throughout this segment of growth.   

“Everyone connected to the office is working hard to make sure this transitional period is as smooth as possible. Mandolyn Hume, assistant director of Student Success, is working hard to make sure intakes for accommodations are occurring,” said Gumm. “I am learning all the systems and processes that are currently in place. I am also leading the way on rolling out our ESS portal software. I’ve been learning a lot very quickly.”  

Gumm noted that students are most likely noticing delays in their ability to schedule exam times, this being due to the lack of staff and the implementation of new software. This leaves the ESS office available only for testing half-days, three days a week.  

“We are hopeful that as things settle into our new normal, we will be able to offer more hours again by [the] semester’s end,” Gumm said.     

The use of a new software, AIM, to run Whitworth’s ESS portal will offer students and faculty increased independence and autonomy in the process of acquiring accommodations. 

“It will also dramatically simplify the process for students to schedule time to take exams in the ESS office. The current process for scheduling students in the ESS office is very labor intensive for staff members, so we are very excited about this change,” said Gumm.