Meet the Tutoring Center at the Bankier Library Learning Commons

Who We Are…

At The Tutoring Center at the Bankier Library Learning Commons, students can get help developing effective study skills and working on their coursework and assignments. The Tutoring Center is staffed by full-time and part-time professional tutors who work with students individually and in small groups.

“We specialize primarily in the social sciences and business subjects,” said Frank DeVita, one of the four full-time learning commons assistants. Students can get help with psychology, economy, accounting, business, marketing, history, philosophy and math courses. These services are available for all Brookdale students free of charge.

The full-time learning commons assistants are DeVita, Karen Sieben, Amy Gingold and Helen Anne Johnson. In addition, part-time tutors include Andrew DiGivonanni, Marlene Goldberg, Theresa Kosko and Ruben Gomez.

“We are all very knowledgeable about the subjects that we tutor,” said Sieben.

What We Do…

“We visit the classrooms every semester in the beginning of the term to introduce ourselves and let the students know we are available and what we do here,” said Johnson.

“A lot of times students are scared to come over here,” said Gingold. “They seem very scared and nervous until you start talking to them,” she said. “But when they come in and they’re nervous, we know how to approach them, how to talk to them, how to get them to open up.”

“I think the students are nervous because they don’t know what to expect,” said Sieben. “They should know that we sympathize with the students and were in their place too when we were in college,” she said. “We are nice and we are kind,” she said about all of the learning commons assistants.

“Once a student does work up the nerve to see us and ask for help, they keep coming back over and over again each week,” said DeVita.

“It’s a beautiful library with beautiful surroundings and it’s a really comfortable environment,” Sieben said. She added that the atmosphere also helps students feel more comfortable asking for help.

I Didn’t Know That…

“Brookdale has over 20 places that offer different tutoring services depending on what subject you are taking,” DeVita said. Since The Tutoring Center is located in the Bankier Library, while working on homework and projects for class, many students approach the tutors with questions from a myriad of different subjects and areas.

If the student is asking about a topic not covered by The Tutoring Center, the staff developed a handout of all the tutoring resources offered by the college. “If we can’t help them, we use the handout to direct the students to the correct place to get the help that they need,” DeVita explained. “If they have a question about something we can help them with we will, but if it’s something we can’t help with, we will refer them to the proper place to go.”

How Students Can Get Help

“Primarily we see students who are doing their homework, can’t figure something out and then they come to see us with a question,” DeVita explained. “Being located in the library works out well because often students don’t know they are going to have a problem until they have a problem,” he said. When students are working in the library and begin to struggle, they can walk in without an appointment to The Tutoring Center.

“We also keep our hours posted on the board in the front of the library so even if someone isn’t sitting at the desk or if the person they are looking for is not working at that time, all of our hours are clearly posted. We have handouts of our hours so the students know when help is available,” said Gingold. The tutoring schedule can also be found online.

Students can also schedule a tutoring appointment by call 732-224-2999 or emailing tutoring@brookdalecc.edu.