The Study Place Project

What is The Study Place Project (TSP²)?

The Study Place Project (TSP²) is a new project designed to help first-year college students adjust to academic life at SUNY Cortland. As a TSP² participant, you will be invited to utilize the project’s dedicated study space located in the beautiful James M. McDonald Building. This space has been designed to provide you with a comfortable place in which you can focus on your studies. In the main study area, internet access will be limited to study-related technology and internet sites, and students will be asked to limit their use of non-study social media and cellphones to the adjacent break area. This way, you and the other students will have a distraction-free study space. Optional access to online music will be provided to give you the ability to listen to your favorite kind of music while you study.

Study Facilities

James M. McDonald Building

Jessi Barton, Artist

As a TSP² participant, you will be invited to utilize the project’s dedicated study space located in the beautiful James M. McDonald Building. This space has been designed to provide you with a comfortable place in which you can focus on your studies. In the main study area, internet access will be limited to study-related technology and internet sites, and students will be asked to limit their use of non-study social media and cellphones to the adjacent break area. This way, you and the other students will have a distraction-free study space. Optional access to online music will be provided to give you the ability to listen to your favorite kind of music while you study.

Study Skills Training

Studying in college usually requires students to develop new approaches to learning. Therefore, TSP² includes a brief, online course in effective study skills. This course has been developed by a team of highly successful SUNY Cortland students, and covers topics that often challenge first-year students (e.g. time management, study strategies, organization, note taking, and test preparation). Each weekly lesson can be completed in just a few minutes, during the first half of the fall semester, so that you are better prepared for your first midterm exams!

Peer Facilitators

You will also work with peer mentors who are trained to help you get the most out of your study sessions. These mentors are not tutors or teaching assistants. They are not here to tell you what or how to study. Their job is to help you figure out what you need to do to accomplish your goals. Our aim is to make sure that you have the ability to self-determine, self-evaluate, and self-correct your own study goals as needed.

Regular Study

Being successful in college involves dedicating sufficient time for study. So, we ask participants to set-up regular TSP² study sessions each week. We have afternoon, evening, and Sunday hours of operation, so that we can accommodate our participants’ busy schedules. Participants are free to change their study times, and they are welcome to come in for additional sessions whenever they need to.

Applying for TSP²

We're no longer accepting applications.

Funding for TSP² is being provided by the College’s Research and Sponsored Programs Office and by the William L Haines ’63 President’s Discretionary Fund. That means that there are no charges to participants. Space is limited, so interested individuals will be asked to submit a brief application (online application form). Applicants will be notified about their eligibility prior to the first week of the fall semester.

To help us evaluate TSP^2’s short-term and long-term benefits for our participants’ academic success and for their overall adjustment to college, we will ask participants to complete short questionnaires in the beginning and in the middle of their first semester. These surveys include questions about their attitudes toward school and learning, and about their personality and temperament. Participants who complete the second set of surveys will receive a $30 gift card from ASC. We also will ask permission to access our participants’ high school academic records through the Admissions Office, and their SUNY Cortland academic records through the college Registrar’s Office. We will protect our participants’ confidentiality, and they are free to withdraw from the project at any time without consequences.

For more information, contact Dr. Raymond D. Collings, in the SUNY Cortland Psychology Department, at Raymond.Collings@cortland.edu.