Resources

If, while taking classes this semester, you find yourself experiencing insufficient resources or living circumstances dangerous to your well-being, please know that you may contact one of our college counselors for a free and confidential consultation.  Examples of insufficient resources might include lack of adequate food access, shelter, child-care, transportation, clothing, or money for books. Circumstances potentially dangerous to your well being might include abusive relationships, depression, addiction, to sudden loss of income. 

If you are facing any of these or similar situations, please do not hesitate to let a campus counselor, student success coordinator, or other faculty or staff member know so that they may inform you about short or long-term strategies for finding the resources you need or navigating obstacles to your quality of life or academic progress. 

The Student Care and Advocacy Office has a fantastic team. Their job is to help you with non-academic issues. You can contact them at sca@pstcc.edu. 

Please share this information with any of your peers who may encounter any of these situations during the semester. 

Pellissippi State Community College is committed to the wellbeing of all students. If you or someone you know at Pellissippi feels overwhelmed, hopeless, depressed, and/or is thinking about suicide, the following supportive services are available: 

• • • The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) provides access to trained telephone counselors, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

    • The Crisis Line by texting “TN” to 741741

    • The Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 (press 1) or text 838255

    • The Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or they offer live chats at their website (provides access to trained counselors for LGBTQ+ youth)

    • The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) at 800-950-NAMI (6264) or text NAMI to 741-741 (a support line for people living with a mental health condition and their family/friends/caregivers.)

    • Stomp Out Bullying's support line for people enduring in-person or cyberbullying at 9-800-420-1479

    • Self Injury Hotline (to overcome self harm) 1-800-366-8288

    • RAINN has a support line or live chat for sexual assault survivors at 1-800-656-4673 or on their website

    • Additionally, counseling is available to Pelli students at all campuses. Email to set up an appointment counseling@pstcc.edu.

Pellissippi offers free, confidential counseling services to all students. Counselors offer major counseling, for example, to help you to pick your major or potential careers. They also offer traditional counseling, grief counseling, and other support. All of their services are completely free and confidential, and you do not need insurance. 

There are counselors on every campus, and the counselors can be reached over the phone or in Zoom appointments.

Click here for more information on the counseling services available (for free) to Pellissippi students.

To schedule an appointment, email counseling@pstcc.edu or call (865)  694-6480.

Click here for more information on the Pellissippi Pantry, which provides free groceries (and household, pet, and hygiene products) for students who could use them (either short or long-term). They can provide support for your family, if you live with family. You do not have to provide proof of income, and all services are confidential. 

For more information,  email ppantry@pstcc.edu or call (865) 539-7417.

You can also stop by the pantry (in the portables by the Bubble) for a free snack bag whenever they are open. 

Additionally, Second Harvest can help you to locate additional food pantries near you to help provide groceries for you and your household. You can access their list of resources here. 

Pellissippi offers free academic support and tutoring to all students. You might hear about the academic support center, the writing center, or the English lab. These tutors will either provide written feedback to you through email or meet with you in one-on-one video conferences. I highly recommend that you take advantage of this fantastic service. The tutors can help you to understand your assignments, improve your work, or build other skills. While you may not feel like you need tutoring, I see my students with As working with the tutors as often as students who are struggling, as this can help you to stay successful and get one-on-one support. Tutors can also help you with skills like time management and navigating online classes. 

I encourage you to use the tutoring services, especially when you are drafting major essays.

I encourage you to use the tutoring services, especially when you are drafting major essays.

• Here's a guide to effectively using the tutoring center: Tutoring: Getting the Most Out of the Writing Center

• Click here for the Academic Tutoring Center's official website. It includes more information, including tutoring schedules.

• In addition to in person tutoring, you can send email work to writing@pstcc.edu.

I have designed this class with accessibility in mind. This is to benefit all students and to foster an equitable, welcoming, supportive learning environment.  Accessibility and equity are central to my approach to teaching. Course materials are designed to be accessible in a variety of ways, including adding alternate text for images and designing documents to be screenreader compatible. Adding closed captions to videos, for example, benefits students who are Deaf, but it also benefits students who are watching the video at work or while someone is sleeping nearby. I also check that text will be clear to individuals who are colorblind, for example. 

• Click here for accessibility information about Brightpace, our learning management system that houses our class website. 

• Click here for accessibility information about Google, as we will use Google sites, docs, and slides in this course. 

• Click here for accessibility information about Zoom, which we will use for synchronous meetings. 

Pellissippi State affirms its commitment to ensure that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to access online information and functionality. If you encounter an accessibility issue in this course, please notify the instructor (klwithington@pstcc.edu).  I am constantly trying to improve, and I am open to feedback. 

Students that need accommodations because of a disability, have emergency medical information to share, or need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated should inform the instructor immediately, privately by email, phone, or in her office. Students must present a current accommodation plan from a staff member in Services for Students with Disabilities in order to receive accommodations in this course. Services for Students with Disabilities may be contacted by sending email to disabilityservices@pstcc.edu. Their office is on Hardin Valley Campus. I am happy to connect you with that office if you need help setting up an accommodation plan. 

In other words, we want you to be successful at Pellissippi and in this class. If you have an accommodation plan or any other needs or concerns, please speak with me. If you do not have an accommodation plan or a registered disability, but there is something that would help you to be a successful learner in this class, please speak with me. You are not obligated to disclose physical or mental health information to me, but anything that you do tell me is confidential. We can discuss accommodations without you needing to tell me details of your personal health information. 

I try to make all elements of the class as accessible as possible, which benefits everyone.

Everyone at Pellissippi State Community College is responsible for maintaining a work and study environment that is free from discrimination and harassment (including sexual harassment and sexual misconduct).  Pellissippi State will not tolerate discrimination or harassment because of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, disability, age, or status as a covered veteran.  The College will not subject any student to discrimination or harassment under any educational program and no student shall be discriminatorily excluded from participation nor denied the benefits of any educational program on the basis of race, color, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, disability, age, or status as a covered veteran.

Sexual misconduct is a form of sex discrimination that is prohibited by federal law and regulation.  The College is committed to the elimination of any and all acts of sexual misconduct on its campuses.  Sexual misconduct includes dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault.  To that end, the College provides a number of pathways for reporting sexual misconduct and resources to assist those who have been a victim of sexual misconduct.

If you have personally experienced discrimination or sexual misconduct, or if you have witnessed someone else being victimized or discriminated against in other ways, please report the incident to Pellissippi. If you want to speak to your instructor, you can, but you are not required to. You have the right to directly contact the Equity and Compliance Office directly. Click here for that office's contact information, to access a complaint form, or to read Pellissippi's official procedures and policies.