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Hope Rodefer

October 08, 2018

Rodefer Provides Support, Encouragement for Students at CMU-Q

By Angela Ford

Hope Rodefer has come to realize that “students are the same, whether they’re from Pittsburgh, Kansas or Qatar.”

As director of the Academic Resource Center (ARC) at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), Rodefer oversees a team that supports students in a wide variety of academic subjects.

“The ARC is here to support student success, and that can mean a number of things. We help students who are good become better, we help students who are struggling to understand the material, and we help students who lack confidence to develop resilience,” she said.

Originally from West Virginia, Rodefer is a specialist in English as a Second Language, who has spent most of her career in Qatar. In 2007, she was working with secondary school students at Qatar Academy when an opportunity arose at CMU-Q.

“I was thrilled when I heard CMU was coming to Qatar, because I had lived in Pittsburgh and was familiar with Carnegie Mellon,” she said.

A few years after the campus opened, she heard that CMU-Q was expanding the ARC and looking for a writing specialist. She got in touch with Chuck Thorpe, who was then the dean of CMU-Q, and started in August 2007.

The role of writing specialist was new to CMU-Q, and for the first few weeks of the semester, no students came to see her.

“I realized I had to break down that barrier. I started attending classes and attending student events. Once they got to know me, they started to understand how I could help them,” Rodefer said.

In 2011, she became director of the ARC, and she now oversees a team of educational support specialists.

“I think it’s critical to hire people who are team-focused. Throughout the semester, we have to rely on one another and trust one another to properly serve the students. I am blessed to have such a good team who are all on the same page,” she said.

Throughout her career, Rodefer has worked with a vast number of students in both the United States and Qatar, and she sees more similarities than differences.

“It doesn’t matter where they’re from, they tend to wait until the last minute to reach out for help. They need the same support, regardless of where they are from or where they are in their academic journeys,” she said.

She notes that empathy is a crucial part of her job.

“We often liken it to academic social work. In talking to the some of the students, you realize they’re struggling in class because they might have problems elsewhere in life. We can help by just letting them know lots of people have the same issues,” she said.

In addition to the staff specialists, the ARC employs upperclassmen as course assistants.

“We have had several course assistants who, in their earlier years, came to the ARC for help. It’s very satisfying to see students who once struggled to understand now helping younger students master the material,” Rodefer said.

In her 11th year at CMU-Q, Rodefer continues to learn new ways to support students.

“Last May we had a workshop from a colleague in Pittsburgh on supplemental instruction. The group study model has been very successful at CMU, and we are excited to use this new tool to help and support our students’ success.”

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar is CMU’s only undergraduate branch campus. Approximately 400 students from 38 countries study at CMU-Q in the areas of biological sciences, business administration, computational biology, computer science and information systems.