"Bruin Guide to Surviving College" is an online guide created by Academics in the Commons - a UCLA academic support program offering free workshops, tutoring, mentoring, and many other services to students.  This website is the result of the research and experience of the dedicated students.  This website is developed for students by students.  Therefore, the materials presented are directed towards each student’s individual needs and developed from fellow students’ perspectives.

The School of Education created a course to train undergraduate students to serve as leaders who would provide quality academic support workshops to other students.  The course required a commitment of three quarters.  During these three quarters, students were divided into teams and assigned a particular topic to research and eventually to develop into a workshop.  The topics were chosen because the students felt that they were the areas where they and their fellow students needed the most support.  The workshops were designed to give students a better understanding of their current skills and abilities.  Many of the resources from our "Academics" guide were taken from individual workshops. 

With proper guidance and direction from the instructors of the School of Education, students enrolled in this course worked together to create valuable, informative, and quality workshops and guide to support the student body.  They also are trained by College Counseling to be peer mentors for incoming freshmen and transfer students.  Over the three quarters together, the class learned to function as a unit by sharing and critiquing ideas.  They became part of a team dedicated to continuous improvement. 

Our workshops, tutorials, and mentoring reach across thousands of UCLA students each school year.  As a result of encouraging positive feedback, information was compiled for an online audience.  The workshop leaders transferred materials from their workshop presentations to an online bruin guide for the purpose of reaching more students through a  different medium.  This is how the "Bruin Guide to Surviving College" got started.  We hope that this guide is helpful to you.

Bruce Barbee, Director of Academics in the Commons _______________ 

Hi, and welcome to Academics in the Commons and Covel Commons.

I have been fortunate to work at UCLA for my entire professional career, starting with working in the residence halls and the Dean of Students Office.  I then directed UCLA's Orientation program for twenty years and am now responsible for the academic support services in Covel Commons, which make up "Academics in the Commons."  My wife, Maria, and I live in Woodland Hills.

I did my undergraduate work at UC Berkeley with the intent of becoming a lawyer, but one year into law school caused me to realize that this was not such a great idea.  I then decided to pursue higher education as a field of interest, received a Master's degree in Higher Education from Indiana University and my Doctorate was in Education from UCLA.  In addition to administering support services in Covel, I am also an adjunct professor in UCLA's Graduate School of Education, teaching classes for undergraduates focusing on the college experience (Education 80 and Education 92F) and classes that prepare students to become section leaders for Education 80 (Education 92A and B) and classes that train and support those students serving as workshop leaders and peer mentors for the College of Letters and Science (Education 92C, D and E).

I also serve as a resource for the counseling services in Covel and particularly enjoy working with students who are trying to improve their academic performance and/or have concerns related to succeeding and persisting at UCLA.

Tamrat Beyene, Coordinator of Athletic Tutorials ____________________

I graduated from UC Davis with a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics.   While pursuing further graduate education in African Studies at UC Los Angeles, I began to tutor for the Academic Advancement Program (AAP), where I became acquainted with student athletes' academic needs.  Tutoring student athletes was a unique opportunity I was given, and enjoyed.  This tutoring experience motivated me to participate in the creation of an athletic tutorial unit for the athletic department in collaboration with administrators of the UCLA Athletic Department.

The year 1984 marks the inception of the College Tutorials unit for student athletes.  The Athletic Tutorial Unit is designed to meet the unique academic needs of student and is made flexible enough to accommodate the volatile time schedules student athletes face from both academic and athletic fields.

Jeff Craw, Assistant to the Director ____________________________

I graduated from UCLA in the spring of 2005 with a B.A. in Psychology. During my sophomore year at UCLA I was fortunate enough to meet Dr. Bruce Barbee, the Director of Academics in the Commons. I took several of Dr. Barbee's classes, including Education 80 and the Education 92 series. Under Professor Barbee's direction, I helped create and conduct a workshop on Memorization Techniques for Academics in the Commons. Additionally, as a class mentor I assisted future workshop leaders in the creation and implementation of their own presentations for Academics in the Commons. In the fall of my senior year, I tutored Education 80 for Professor Barbee under the guidance of Athletic Tutorials.

Upon graduating from UCLA, I began to work on my high school teaching credential while coaching boys and girls volleyball. After a semester, I realized that my ideal vision for a career in education would involve working with college students, not high school students. This realization led to a decision to pursue an M.A. in Psychology in hopes of one day teaching at a junior college or state university. Starting in January of 2007, I will work on my master’s degree at Pepperdine University. In addition to graduate school, a desire to work with college students was furthered by being hired here at Academics in the Commons in early October.

I look forward to my time at UCLA and the opportunity to impact, influence, and assist college students as they discover more about themselves and their direction in life.