Eastern officially launched a new department in August 2026: the Center for Academic Planning and Empowerment. Known by its acronym CAPE, the department acts as an advising department, particularly for first-year and transfer students, and is located on the third floor of Centennial Hall. CAPE acts as an essentialized advising department, a step one for academic planning.
For students who are unsure where to begin, the center is meant to be a first stop rather than one more office to track down.
Sarah Todd acts as the director of First-Year Experience and Programs, meaning that she oversees all first-year and transfer students in INST 150 and INST 140, while Nicole Markert is the director of academic advising. Todd and Markert are further assisted by Julie Moore and Maggie Villari, who help advise online students specifically.
Together, the team is meant to cover students at different stages and in different learning formats, including those who rarely set foot on campus.
CAPE fills an advising gap for certain demographics of Eastern. Markert said that CAPE is here to “assist students with difficult transitions.” For example, the department helps guide transfer students, students who have not decided their major and “dual enrolment students, specialised populations on campus, nuanced situations need additional support.”
Transitions like these can be stressful. Transfer students often have to adjust to a new campus while working out how their previous credits apply to their new degree, and students without a declared major may feel pressure to commit before they are ready. CAPE aims to give those students a place to ask questions early, before small uncertainties become delays.
However, Markert added that although “we are very geared towards special populations, we also make it a point to say: we serve all students. If a student comes up and wants to plan the next couple of years, we help.”
Todd and Markert are planning various initiatives for the new program. According to Markert, this ranges from “re-imagining service hours on campus” to “creating policies with respective offices” at Eastern, related to increased retention. Markert and Todd also look at data concerning classes on campus, “analyzing what classes on campus are students thriving in and what classes could be improved.”
That work could help the university identify courses where students struggle and give departments information to improve them.
However, the main role of the office is to serve students. “We’re just trying to be another safe space for students on campus. … We want our office to be like a relaxing space for students to come … We’ve done our best to make it cozy, with a snack bar and mini fridge … students come up, say hi, grab a snack, go to class,” Markert said. In this way, CAPE acts not just as a new department, but as a fresh third space on campus.
