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Resources to Support Your Students

22Feb’22

Support for Your Students

This page includes resources to help instructors connect their students with support for their academic and personal wellbeing.  

If you are with a student in a life-threatening crisis or immediate danger, call Penn’s Department of Public Safety at 215-573-3333 (24/7) or call 511 from a campus phone. You can also call Penn’s HELP Line at 215-898-4357 (24/7) for time-sensitive help navigating resources for health and wellness.

For all other circumstances, the Office of the Vice Provost for Education (VPE) has created a flowchart to help you find appropriate support for your students.  

Flowchart: Finding Help for Your Students

Academic Advising

Course Action Notices 

Instructors can use the Course Action Notices (CAN) function in Courses@Penn to submit a Support Notice to a student having difficulty in their class or view an Absence Notice submitted by a student who will be absent from class. These notices also go to the appropriate advising offices. 

For Undergraduates 

Faculty concerned about a student may consult with the academic advising office in the student’s school. These offices can help students having academic or personal difficulties and connect them with additional support. 

For Graduate Students 

For graduate students, contact the graduate dean or student affairs office for their school.  To find the school contact for graduate students, consult the VPE flowchart on helping students in need.

Weingarten Learning Resource Center

General Academic Support and Disabilities Services

Weingarten Learning Resource Center provides 

  • Learning consultations which focus on academic skills and strategies such as test taking to time management. 
  • Academic Tutoring which give students subject-specific peer tutoring services to supplement support from faculty, TAs, and instructors. 
  • Disability Services which ensure equal access to all Penn programs to students with documented disabilities.  

Additionally, CETLI has created a resource page in conjunction with Weingarten to provide guidance on academic accommodations and accessible teaching practices for students with disabilities. 

NOTE: should you receive an email from Disability Services about an accommodation you should support that student as much as you can. However, if you think the accommodations will fundamentally alter the student's ability to learn in your class, call or email Disability Services for a conversation about how best to support your student in your class. 

Additional Academic Support

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Wellness at Penn offers support, resources, and practical tools for health and wellness for the University community.

  • Students with concerns of a personal, emotional, social, or educational nature may visit Student Health and Counseling to get free and confidential support for their mental health and wellbeing.

  • Wellness at Penn has created an online, self-paced program in Canvas called be aware to help faculty, staff, and students recognize signs of stress, distress, and crisis, learn skills to care for yourself and others, and connect with support resources. The program allows anyone to self-enroll and complete the modules on their own time.

Visit the Wellbeing Initiatives page to learn more about Wellness at Penn's programs to support community members experiencing stress, distress, and crisis.

Supporting Your Students

More Resources

Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Innovation