The Academic Resource Center (ARC) received certification from the International College Learning Center Association (ICLCA) for the 2025-2028 cycle on Oct. 16.
Nicole Paternoster, director of the ARC, said the certification is “just another milestone” for the center, noting that this was the ARC’s first time applying for the ICLCA certification.
“I just thought it was important…to recognize that what we’re doing here is good work and what the tutors are doing is fantastic,” she said. “In my time working in tutoring centers, these are some of the most dedicated students that I have ever worked with.”
According to Paternoster, the ICLCA highlighted the ARC’s strengths in providing interactive academic spaces, offering a variety of tutoring services and maintaining a strong organizational framework.
“The reviewers found that the ARC staff has created outstanding programs and services and a strong learning environment to support student success,” Paternoster said.
The ICLCA also noted areas for improvement, including limited support staff and a lack of data on the ARC’s development of student learning objectives, Paternoster said.
While the ARC received certification as a learning center, it did not yet meet the criteria to become a designated “learning center of excellence,” a higher level of recognition. Paternoster said that is their “next goal.”
“We had a 79.33,” Paternoster said. “We needed a 90% to get the learning center of excellence. So we’re close, and we’re gonna get there in four years.”
Over the past year, Ted McCulloch, the ARC program coordinator, said the center focused on marketing and outreach to increase student engagement.
“I think when [Paternoster] was first hired, we serviced about 10%, and now we’re up to 18 or 19% of the student body,” McCulloch said. “But I think a ton of people still don’t know about the ARC, so we do a lot of outreach to stakeholders on campus about, ‘Hey, the ARC is important.’”
Paternoster, who joined SHU in 2022 after working at larger institutions, said she feels a sense of community is built through the ARC.
“The second I came here, I felt extremely welcomed,” Paternoster said.
McCulloch said much of the ARC’s recent success can be credited to Paternoster’s leadership, noting that she spearheaded the pursuit of both the [College Reading and Learning Association] (CRLA) and ICLCA certifications.
“None of that existed before she was hired in 2022,” McCulloch said. “We talk about it like a brag, because we’re one of like ten universities in the nation that is certified by the ICLCA.”
Through the CRLA, the ARC uses the International Tutor Training Program Certification to certify its tutors. The ARC recently achieved level three certification, the highest distinction.
“It is much more about being a leader of the tutors,” Paternoster said. “It shows really good skills they can take into any job, learning how to deal with conflict, diversity, and supervising and evaluating peers.”
The CRLA also recognizes one tutor per year with the Outstanding Tutor Award through its International Tutor Training Program Certification. This year, Lauren Cinquino, a senior biology major and peer tutor and academic coach at the ARC, received the international award.
“She is very much deserving of this, so we are ecstatic,” Paternoster said.
Cinquino said she did not need an award to validate her work as a peer tutor, adding that seeing the students she’s helped succeed is the most rewarding part of the job.
“I don’t need praise to feel rewarded in this position,” Cinquino said. “But watching the light bulb go off is such a rewarding experience.”
This was Cinquino’s second nomination for the Outstanding Tutor Award.
“I was very honored to be the representative for Seton Hall, and I worked very hard on the application the first and the second time, but I didn’t really think I was gonna get it,” she said. “This is international, so the chances of me, from this small school in New Jersey, winning is very unlikely. So, when I found out I got it, I was blown away.”
“I love what I do, and I am really excited and happy about this award,” she added.
The application consisted of two letters of recommendation, transcripts and a student essay.
“The prompt for the essay was about what administrators can do to help students succeed,” Cinquino said. “I talked about creating a mandatory orientation for S.T.E.M. students. In high school, it’s twenty kids with worksheets, but when you get to the large S.T.E.M. lecture halls that can go up to two and a half hours, students don’t know how to succeed.”
Cinquino began working as a peer tutor and academic coach in her sophomore year because she enjoyed teaching and wanted a way to keep old information fresh in her brain in preparation for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).
“It was a bit of a challenge at first, because I was overwhelmed and didn’t want to burn out, but after Nicole and Ted helped me figure out how to balance my time and take breaks, I really enjoyed what I did,” Cinquino said.
Now, Cinquino works as an academic advisor at the ARC.
“Academic coaching [is] more like, ‘how to be a successful college student,’” Cinquino said. “I do some more generic things like study skills and time management, as well as more specific pre-med advising.”
From her work at the ARC, Cinquino said she has learned time management and how to instill confidence in herself and others.
“It’s built a lot of confidence in myself, to know that I do know these things, and I know how to articulate these difficult subjects to others,” Cinquino said.
Cinquino said her tutoring approach was informal and student-centered.
“My favorite technique is coming up with analogies,” she said. “How can I make this more digestible to someone who doesn’t understand it? But also, how to teach them how to be independent and use their resources, giving them the tools they maybe weren’t given in high school to be successful in college.”
For students hesitant to visit the ARC, Cinquino said she knows it can be overwhelming, but it is an open, welcoming environment.
“I think it’s very mature and noble for somebody to be like, ‘Hey, I know I am struggling, and I am going to do something about it,’” she said. “We don’t want to see you struggle and not have somewhere to turn, so let us be there for you.”
Solomon Lee is a writer for The Setonian’s News section. He can be reached at solomon.lee@student.shu.edu.
