The Office of Student Success in the College of Arts and Sciences | Maxwell School provides an unmatched level of expertise in international student success, integrated academic and career advising and more.

We offer the following customized, strategic and data-informed services to address both challenges and opportunities for individuals, teams and organizations seeking to develop and enhance their offerings.

Contact Ling Gao LeBeau at lglebeau@syr.edu for any inquiries.

Professional Development Workshop

• Customized workshop development
  • Developing tailored content aligned with the needs in advance
• Interactive online delivery
  • Engaging participants through interactions, discussions and live Q/A
• Workshop materials
  • Sharing templates, handouts and other necessary resources to support learning and implementation
• Post-Workshop Consultation
  • Up to 2 hours of personalized follow-up to address questions and implementation strategies

Program Design

• Comprehensive program design for a department/unit or an entire campus utilizing the concept and five pillars of International Student Success Model

Program Review

• Review international student support programs across the institution or departments and recommend improvements, including establishing new services, enhancing existing programs, reorganizing support structures or implementing assessment methods

Programmatic Assessment

• Design assessment methods and help an institution or unit collect and interpret data regarding international student success programs

Customized Service

• Provide any customized service to meet the needs and outcomes of an institution or a department/program/unit.

Testimonial

The Office of Student Success delivered an impactful professional development workshop to 10 Rockford University faculty members in 2025, titled "Facilitate ENL Students' Learning at Rockford University." Post-workshop assessments revealed unanimous agreement among participants that the training provided valuable strategies for supporting English as a New Language students both in and outside the classroom while creating more inclusive teaching environments. Faculty praised the workshop's organization and all indicated they would recommend this valuable training to colleagues.

Our Trainers

Ling Gao LeBeau  is Director of International Student Success at Syracuse University.

LeBeau is a scholar practitioner in the field of international higher education and academic advising with years of experience in teaching, advising, research and administration. Her work experiences include:

• Teaching undergraduate and graduate students
• Advising international students and scholars
• Directing study abroad programs
• Developing international partnerships
• Leading and implementing campus internationalization

LeBeau has served and currently serves on multiple leadership committees of AIEA, NAFSA and NACADA. A frequent presenter and publisher on the issues of international higher education and academic advising, LeBeau is also the creator of the International Student Success Model of Syracuse University and the founder of International Student Academic Success community for NACADA.

LeBeau holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education and M.S. in Language Education from Indiana University Bloomington.

Steven Schaffling  is the Assistant Dean of Student Success for the College of Arts and Sciences and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Schaffling has over 18 years of academic student support experience with a special focus on academic and career advising and its intersection with retention and student success.

Schaffling is the strategic leader of an office of 35 academic and career advising professionals responsible for supporting 5,500 undergraduate students, over 20 percent of whom are international students. He conceptualized the idea of embedding an international student success expert within the office of academic advising with the goal of implementing effective practices for students and advisors within the academic advising unit. Additionally, Schaffling serves on the leadership committee for NACADA.

Schaffling earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Villanova University and an Ed.D. in higher education administration from Northeastern University.

Stephen LeBeau  is an accomplished higher education administrator with over 25 years of experience in student success, online education, teaching and learning, and instructional design. In his current role as director of operations for the Office of Student Success at the College of Arts and Sciences | Maxwell School at Syracuse University, he oversees multiple initiatives that directly impact student achievement, including orientation, readmission and degree completion processes.

Previously, LeBeau served as associate director for Kean Online at Kean University, where he spearheaded the development of groundbreaking online programs. At Western Carolina University, as an education developer, he designed highly-effective courses and provided consultation on innovative teaching methodologies. At Indiana University Indianapolis, LeBeau served as the public speaking program director, where he dramatically expanded course capacity, created an online public speaking course and founded a highly successful student support center. LeBeau holds Ed.S. in higher education and Master's in English (linguistics) with a TESOL certificate from Indiana University.