MSSU Student Success director earns lifetime certification

(From Southern News Service)

Stephanie Hopkins, Baxter Springs, Kan., Director of the Student Success Center at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, is the recipient of a Level IV Learning Center leadership certification from the National College Learning Center Association (NCLCA).

LCLC (Learning Center Leadership Certification) provides individual learning assistance professionals a nationally-recognized credential and set of standards by which to foster their future growth and development.

The Level IV is a lifetime certification.

The Level IV criteria included over 11 years of experience in a post-secondary education learning assistance capacity, in addition to letters of recommendation and performance appraisals.

Hopkins was also required to show evidence of working toward an advanced degree, demonstrate scholarly pursuits as an editor and/or author of three or more articles in professional association journals or other forum; take part in NCLCA conference presentations; and create reports for institutional use during the last five years, among other criteria. 

Hopkins has worked in higher education for 22 years.

She has 11 years of learning assistance experience, starting in Project Stay at Missouri Southern before being named Student Success Center Director in 2011. She is a past winner of the Superior Service Award from MSSU (2013). She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in marketing from Missouri Southern and a Master of Science in Human Resource Development and a Specialist in Education with an Emphasis in Industrial Education from Pittsburg State University.