The ALEC is very proud to acknowledge 9 tutors who made the various honor rolls for Spring 2025.
5 tutors made the Honor Roll with High Distinction. Those tutors are Anna Lena Adams, Julianne Flynn, Abigail Schade, Anastasiya Shyvilka, and Mediha Siddiqui. 2 tutors made the Honor Roll with Distinction. They are Lily Fee and Mallory Lorant. We also had 2 tutors make the Honor Roll. They are Anh Khoa Nguyen and Aaron Santa Cruz.
We are so proud of all our tutors!
The ALEC is privileged to have several pieces of art displayed in our Writing Center.
This summer and fall semester, visitors will have the pleasure of observing thought-provoking drawings done by SMU students in Ian Grieve’s drawing class (ASDR 5300). Students took inspiration from the artist Arinze Stanley, who often multiplies the number of hands in his drawings of people. The artists were to work on black paper with a white and possibly black charcoal. In this way, the process of drawing had to be reversed – instead of developing the shadows, students had to draw the light with white charcoal. This experience made the young artists more conscious and deliberate with such familiar processes as the creation of three-dimensionality and depth within their 2D works. The artists on display are Penelope Brushwood, Virginia Dean, Victoria Garcia, Kaitlyn Gonzales, Kaitlin Rue, Anastasiya Shyvilka, and Herold Zhang. Come by the Writing Center and view these wonderful works of art!
Bibek Karki, a former A-LEC tutor has been announced as one of Consulting-Specifying Engineer Magazine’s “40 Under 40”.
Bibek graduated in 2011 (BS) and 2013 (MS) in Engineering. As a Lyle engineering student, Bibek learned many leadership skills through his time as a tutor, mentor, and ambassador for prospective students.
We are very proud of our alumni, like Bibek, that demonstrates SMU’s incredible ability to attract the best.
The ALEC would like to announce the recipients of the Ben Thomas Award for Excellence in Tutoring. This years recipients are Lauren Figura and Anh Khoa Nguyen. Congratulations for all your hard work this semester!
The ALEC would like to congratulate 10 tutors that have gone through the extra hours of training to become CRLA certified tutors. CRLA is a program designed to ensure tutors have the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively support students. SMU has been a CRLA certified school since 2024 and is one of 300 schools in the US to have this international designation.
The tutors that have attained this certification are Abdullah Saifee, Anastasia Shyvilka, Aditi Brahmbhatt, Emmanuel Nworie, Pamela Gonzalez Barrios, Sofia Hueck, Avantika Chapagadikar, Jatin Yadav, Zaid Ghazi, and Faith Bellamy. We look forward to having these tutors use their acquired skills next semester!
MaryLena Bleile, a former ALEC tutor, has written an article demonstrating why the famous probability puzzle, the Monty Hall problem, is not just a game, but has a practical application when it comes to selecting a medication for conditions like ADHD. She used the paradox of choosing doors in a popular game show with changing medications, giving the reasons why a doctor may want to alter a medication. We at the ALEC are proud of our former tutor!
The article provides a fascinating look at probability and statistics and medications. The article, Not just a game: The Monty Hall paradox and medicine, can be found in Significance, Volume 22, Issue 3, May 2025, Pages 24–25, https://doi.org/10.1093/jrssig/qmaf025.
The ALEC wants to congratulate Lauren Figura, Logan Bell, and Vandit Bhakri for completing the extra 10 hours of both in person and online training to become CRLA certified tutors. SMU became a CRLA certified campus last year and are very proud of these students for putting in the extra time to complete the training.
Another set of training courses has begun with 10 more tutors working toward certification.
For the first time, tutor hiring, training, and supervision will be done by staff holding doctorate degrees. Dr. Adreana Julander, director, Dr. Nancy Larkin, assistant director, and Dr. Grace Okoro have all met the requirements for their doctorate degrees. This is a first for the A-LEC! Please congratulate these ladies on their accomplishment!
Southern Methodist University is pleased to announce that the Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center (A-LEC) has been awarded certification as a Level I certified tutor training program by the internationally recognized College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA).
For more than thirty years CRLA has been a leader in learning assistance, reading, and academic support programs with almost 1,300 members and over 2,000 certified training programs worldwide.
The A-LEC has worked hard to develop a tutor training program that meets CRLA’s rigorous standards and has successfully completed the International Tutor Training Program Certification (ITTPC) peer review process. Achieving certification means that the A-LEC has met CRLA’s high standards for tutor selection, training, direct service, and evaluation as an integral part of their overall tutoring program.
Please join us in congratulating the A-LEC on a job well done.
The A-LEC would like to congratulate several tutors for their accomplishments this semester.
Duke Bartholomew, Nino Castellano, and Ethan Zech for the Ben Thomas Excellence in Tutoring Award; Malachi Steward for the Tau Sigma Undergraduate National Fellowship Award and the Gilman Scholar to France Award; Sneha Alex for the Honors Program; Blake Wallace for the Honors Program and the Religious Studies Writing Award; Yumiko Hastings for Phi Beta Kappa; Anna Lena Adams for Tau Sigma; Faith Bellamy for the Hamilton Undergraduate Research Award; and Kshounish Bhadra-Bhaduri for the Chalk Scholarship Award for Excellence in Physics.
