The Office of Academic Support & Retention facilitates academic workshops focusing on a variety of topics that are available to student groups, student organizations, university departments, and course instructors. Each interactive workshop is about 45-60 minutes. Workshops may be delivered either virtually or in-person. You can request your preference and, if in-person delivery is requested, approval will be determined on a case-by-case basis depending on a variety of factors, including but not limited to, predicted number of attendees, space availability, and facilitator needs.

Available Presentations:  

Academic Resources 

Students will learn about various academic support resources at the University of Iowa and why it’s important to use them and will develop a plan for instructor’s office hours. Offered and beneficial throughout the whole semester.

Intended Audience: All students can find this workshop helpful, but students earlier in their academic career may benefit more than ones later in their career.

General Study Skills 

Students will develop a method for how to study, learn about the study timeline, and be equipped with practical study strategies that they can use throughout their academic career. This workshop is most beneficial between weeks 1-12 of the semester (Before Fall Break/January-March).

Intended Audience: All students can find this workshop helpful as there are skills that can be applied to all types of course and at all levels.

Reading & Note Taking 

Students will learn strategies for reading textbooks and scholarly articles and methods for taking notes in class. This workshop is most beneficial between weeks 1-12 of the semester (Before Fall Break/January-March).

Intended Audience: All students can benefit from this workshop as reading and lectures are common across many courses.

Resiliency 

Students will learn about resiliency, including what it is, why it is important, the barriers to being resilient, and how to apply strategies to bounce back in times of stress. Offered and beneficial throughout the whole semester.

Intended Audience: All students – even ones who are not currently battling through stress.

Daily Habits of a Successful Student

Students will learn about the 5 daily habits that can help them with their academic success. This workshop is most beneficial between weeks 1-10 of the semester (August-October/January-March).

Intended Audience: This workshop is targeted for students early in their academic careers to help set them up for success early. Student organizations might benefit from other workshops that focus on more specific skills.

Time Management 

Students will learn how to effectively prioritize, create a time management plan, and other practical tips for managing time and commitments. Offered and beneficial throughout the whole semester.

Intended Audience: All students can benefit from this workshop as these skills can be applied widely, even after graduation.

Tackle Midterms Like a Pro

Students will learn how to apply metacognition to help them study for midterm exams, plan study sessions and commitments around exams, and mentally prepare for exams. This workshop is most beneficial between weeks 1-11 of the semester (Before Fall Break/January-March).

Intended Audience: All students can find this workshop helpful as there are skills that can be applied to all types of course and at all levels.

Tackle Final Exams Like a Pro

Students will learn how to apply metacognition to help them prepare for final exams, apply effective time management practices for the end of the semester, develop a study schedule, and start mental preparation for before, during, and after final exams. This workshop is most beneficial between weeks 11-15 of the semester (After Fall Break/April).

Intended Audience: All students can find this workshop helpful as there are skills that can be applied to all types of course and at all levels.

Contact: Request a presentation here. For more information regarding any of the workshops, please email uc-retention@uiowa.edu 

Material/Space Requirements: Projector/Screen 
Presentation Length: 60 Minutes 
Availability: Can accommodate requests for workshops in the evenings and anytime during the work day.   

More Information on the Tutor Iowa website

Financial Literacy Services staff are available to present to your group or student organization. Presentations can be tailored to your group's specific needs.

Available Presentations:  

• Creating and maintaining a budget 
• Credit reports and scores 
• Loan Basics 
• Loan Repayment 
• Understanding Financial Aid 

Contact: To request a Financial Literacy program, fill out our Program Request Form
Material/Space Requirements: Computer/Projector
Presentation Length: 60 Minutes 
Availability: Week nights available if given advanced notice  
More Information: https://financialaid.uiowa.edu/financial-wellness

To schedule please contact : ashley@iowahillel.org 

Availability: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Sunday 

1. Judaism 101 and Ask a Rabbi: A beginners guide to learning about Judaism where we will have a Rabbi present to answer anything you've wanted to know about Judaism.
2. Understanding Antisemitism: We'll be learning about the history of antisemitism, how it exists today, and what microaggressions look like. 
3. Jewish Holidays 101: Learn about the beautiful traditions and meaning behind the upcoming Jewish holidays! This educational opportunity can be done multiple times, as it will be different throughout the year.
4. Jewish Foods: There are so many incredible traditionally Jewish foods to enjoy and depending on if someone has an Ashkenazi, Sephardic, or Mizrahi background, those traditional Jewish foods can really be quite different. Join us and try and learn about the various cuisines that make up traditionally Jewish foods and the dietary laws that are followed. (In-person this would be limited to 50 people, but if we did this over Zoom there isn't a limit, and instead we would send out the ingredient list so that we could make a dish together.)
5. Challah Baking at Hillel: Making challah to enjoy on Friday night when the Jewish sabbath begins is a beautiful tradition. Learn about the tradition of challah baking and make some to take home! (In-person this would be limited to 50 people and we would supply the ingredients, but over Zoom there isn't a limit, and we would send out the ingredient list for people to purchase on their own in advance and make it together.)

The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center is a world-class facility with a national reputation for excellence. 

The Center directly serves more than 20,000 undergraduate students from the Henry B. Tippie College of Business, College of Engineering, College of Education, College of Nursing, College of Public Health, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

More Information: https://careers.uiowa.edu

Know the Law Guide

The numbers say it all: More than 1,200 UI students were charged with alcohol and drug violations last year. Here at Student Legal Services, we don't want you to become one of those statistics. Too often students unnecessarily plead guilty or consent to searches in situations where they are simply confused about what legal rights they can exercise.

Includes information on:

• Criminal Law
• Tenants' Rights
• Small Claims

Read the Know the Law Guide

Landlord-Tenant Presentation 

We will go over the responsibilities of both landlords and tenants to help you prevent possible legal issues in the future. We will give you information on how to protect yourself from expensive mistakes or overreaching landlords. 

Contact: Request a presentation here. 
Material/Space Requirements: Projector 
Presentation Length: 60 Minutes 

Availability: We cannot schedule presentations with less than two weeks prior notice. Once we have checked our schedule, our office will contact the listed event coordinator to confirm date and time. We do try our best to accommodate the requested date and time, but we may need to contact the event coordinator to discuss alternative dates/times. 

More Information: https://studentlegal.uiowa.edu

Organization: UI-PSP ( Pain Management, Substance Use-Disorders, Palliative Care)

Presentation title: Safe Substance Use and Awareness
Description: 

*Sensitivity warning: This session may contain some sensitive information as it will be talking about substance use*

This is an interactive presentation about safe alcohol and substance use. The workshop isn't focused on promotion of substance use. Rather this provides education on how to handle high risk situations involving drugs and alcohol and recognizing when steps need to be taken to ensure a person's safety. Opioid overdose training will also be provided. 

 All of these talks would be supervised by a licensed pharmacist and are intended to educate and promote awareness in these areas.

Contact information: uiowapsp@gmail.com
Material/space requirements: A/V, sound
Presentation length: 60 Minutes
Availability: please contact facilitator through email above

Further Information: https://uiowa.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/psp

University Counseling Service (UCS) is available to design and implement presentations, programs, or workshops on a wide variety of mental health topics for students, faculty, and staff. UCS staff members are also trained as consultants to work with groups to identify and work toward more effective personal, interpersonal, and organizational functioning. Let us know how we can help!

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Available Presentations:

Better Men. Better Hawkeyes. 

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  • Better Men. Better Hawkeyes. About the course: Better Men. Better Hawkeyes. is a free, one-hour program dedicated to promoting healthy masculinity across campus, specifically engaging groups where students who identify as men come together. The program intends to prevent sexual violence by fostering large and small group discussions about gender stereotypes and sexual consent among peers. This training: 
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      • Is open to all genders and welcomes a variety of perspectives  
      • Identifies behaviors found in healthy relationships 
      • Explores participant’s personal definition of sexual consent  
      • Teaches skills that can empower individuals to intervene in difficult situations  
      • Incorporates peer mentorship from student athletes and other student leaders 

Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D) 

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  • The Department of Public Safety offers Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D.) classes every semester. R.A.D. is the nation's largest self-defense course for women only. The R.A.D. approach to personal safety education embodies a practical blend of threat avoidance strategies and real-world assault resistance for women.  

Contact: Alton Poole alton-poole@uiowa.edu 

Material/Space Requirements: Computer with PowerPoint and sound capabilities.  

Presentation Length: 60 Minutes 

Availability: Varying (days, nights, weekends) 

More Information: https://police.uiowa.edu/training-programs 

101 Bystander Intervention

Participants develop skills for safely responding and intervening in problematic situations, acknowledge violence as a community wide problem, and recognize barriers to intervention. 

201 Bystander Intervention 

Intended for those who have previously experienced bystander intervention training. Participants develop a deeper understanding of perpetrator behavior, dynamics of sexual assault, and discuss ways to intervene when difficult power dynamics are at play. 

Queering Consent Workshop

Explores the history of consent practices in queer communities and the current landscape of consent in LGBTQ spaces and relationships.

Enthusiastic Consent Workshop

Discusses affirmative consent practices in a sex positive framework and offers students concrete examples of ways to incorporate enthusiastic consent into their lives. This workshop shows examples of what consent is not, talks about the ways we’re programmed from childhood not to expect consent, and includes small group work on how to ask for consent. 

Healthy Relationships Workshop 

Interactive workshop designed to encourage discussion and critical thinking around patterns of dating violence and dynamics of healthy relationships. Participants will also learn how to support individuals who may be experiencing relationship violence. 

A View Into Policy

An interactive workshop that aims to shed light on sexual misconduct investigations. The workshop covers the role of policy, types of misconduct described by policy and scenarios to help connect abstract policy constructs to real life, an investigation framework for resolving questions of consent, and alcohol consumption and incapacitation. 

Dismantling Rape Culture Workshop 

Interrogates the way that our society is set up to both subtly and overtly support sexual violence and offers participants a framework to challenge rape culture in their own lives. The session offers pop culture examples of rape culture, discusses the repercussions of not challenging this culture, and offers small group work on how to challenge it using popular song lyrics and/or scenarios. 

Responding to Disclosures 

This workshop is intended primarily for staff, faculty, and students who are not mandatory reporters on campus, but who want to know how to compassionately respond to disclosures of gender-based violence and discrimination. The program focuses on likely forms of disclosure, how to respond appropriately, and where to connect individuals to resources on campus and in the community. Participants will have the opportunity to practice compassionate responses using tailored scenarios. 

Contact: ui-violence-prevention@uiowa.edu 

Space/Material Requirements: 

• Internet 
• AV material 
• 1 room for every 40 people 
• Space to move and sit comfortably 

Presentation Length: 90 minutes 

Availability: Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Other times upon request. 

More Information: https://endingviolence.uiowa.edu/workshops-and-training/

Additional Workshops:

• Power, Privilege and Oppression 101: How systems operate
• Micro-Aggressions in Daily Life: 'Little' Things are Not Little! 
• Strategies for Would-Be Allies: Stepping Up to Make Things Better
• Shifting Attitudes: Responding to Prejudicial Remarks, Slurs and Jokes in the Classroom