Mind

Create a First-Year Experience for All Students

Rationale

First-year programming has long been recognized by the American Association of Colleges and Universities as one of the most consequential high-impact practices (HIP) that colleges can adopt in their efforts to attract and retain students. Aimed specifically at newly arrived students, the First-Year Experience has the greatest potential of any HIP to develop cohesion among the first-year class and relationships with participating faculty and staff. Numerous academic studies have demonstrated that first-year programs can help students transition from high school to college and find a sense of belonging on campus, setting themselves up for success in college and enhancing feelings of community for everyone on campus. Expansion of First-Year Experience to include all students will also be particularly important in helping the University of the South attract and retain the next generation of college students who will be more racially and economically diverse than our current student body.

Description

The College will offer a universal, cohesive, first-year experience that builds on strengths of our campus, current first-year programs (Finding Your Place, PRE, international student orientation, orientation, athletics), and local resources, while ensuring equitable access for all students. The program will emphasize the transition to college, academic exploration, experiential learning, academic resilience, belonging, community, and placemaking. Such a program that includes all first-year College students will begin the process of developing relationships and fostering an inclusive community among students of all backgrounds.

Unlike a traditional first-year seminar based solely in the classroom, this initiative will entail a campus-wide collaboration that provides a holistic experience integrating curricular and co-curricular engagement through a combination of coursework, community-focused activities, orientation activities, environmental and outdoor opportunities on the Domain, early career exploration, and wellness.

Keys to a successful FYE will be a cross-campus partnership that ensures universal access to all students to achieve the following:

  • Early arrival for all first-year students.
  • An experiential four-credit-hour academic course that integrates the liberal arts with big questions and contemporary challenges from the local to the global. Students will collaborate on a final project that will create a product beyond a paper or exam.
  • A one-credit-hour “Sewanee 101” course designed to prepare students for success at the University of the South. This would include a more intensive period corresponding to the traditional orientation period but would be scaffolded and extended into the semester with onboarding activities woven throughout. Similar offerings that help students connect to offices and mentors and to progress in vocational and personal discernment at each step in their education would be offered in their second, third, and fourth years.
  • Peer mentoring to support belonging and academic success. Peer mentors will engage in academic and co-curricular leadership training to prepare them to effectively support first-year students.
  • Introduction to the Domain as an inclusive and multidimensional living and learning environment. The program will offer a diverse menu of options for students who have varying needs and preferences. Activities to include:
    • Arts activities.
    • Athletics.
    • Community engagement.
    • Cross-cultural engagement.
    • Outdoor activities.
  • Cognizant of the differing interests and time commitments of students (e.g. athletes who will need time to practice before the semester starts), we envision offering a range of experiences with the goal of making sure that all students have the ability to participate in the First-Year Experience.
Supporting Tactics
  • Identify and incentivize faculty and qualified staff to teach the four-credit-hour course, but more importantly incentivize departments to think creatively about developing FYE courses that could also count toward general education and/or major requirements.
  • Identify and incentivize staff to teach the “Sewanee 101” course.
  • Convene interested faculty and staff from the Office of Career Readiness and Student Success, duPont Library, Student Life, the Wellness Commons, the Sewanee Outing Program, the Office of Residential Life, and other relevant offices on campus to develop the curriculum of “Sewanee 101.”
  • Develop a peer mentoring program led by a staff or faculty member to identify and train older students to serve as peer mentors for the four-credit courses and “Sewanee 101” courses. This program could serve as an opportunity for students to gain valuable training in leadership.
  • Bring together the Office of Civic Engagement, the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Sewanee Outing Program, the Dean of Students Office, the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Center, and community partners to help develop curricular and co-curricular programming that focuses on our local community and underscores our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.