The University of Wisconsin Colleges, comprised of 13 campuses throughout the state including UW-Waukesha, has been selected through a national competition to participate in the “Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year” project.
One of only 10 “Founding Institutions” chosen from among 87 competing two-year colleges, the UW Colleges met the project’s criteria of a strong campus commitment to students and a readiness to engage in evaluation and improvement. The Policy Center on the First Year of College, located at Brevard College in North Carolina, is spearheading the project.
Research long has indicated that students who successfully make the transition into college during their first year of college are much more likely to continue. The Foundations of Excellence project is designed to help campuses improve the first-year experience they provide for new students, keeping more students on track for graduation.
UW-Waukesha currently has a program in place called “Engaging Students in the First Year” (ESFY) to help new students find their comfort level amid new experiences in college. The current program includes elements such as a first-year seminar, with lessons covering time management, test taking, and study skills.
“This type of seminar helps students learn what is expected of them in college and it also connects them with their classmates during their first days on campus,” UW-Waukesha’s coordinator for ESFY, Christel Taylor, commented. “Our research clearly demonstrates that students who take First-Year Seminar have higher GPA’s than do students who do not take the course, and they are less likely to leave us. We also offer learning communities, in which students take several classes with the same group of students and approach a subject from several points of view.”
UW-Waukesha’s ESFY program also includes a common campus reading that is incorporated into many different courses as well as into a variety of campus events. This year’s readings are Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and Chris Hedges’ War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning.
“We understand freshman year can be challenging, and we already have some strong programs in place to help our students do well,” Barb Kauth, assistant dean for student services acknowledged. “But we are looking forward to being part of this national project and learning new ways to make that critical first year even more successful.”
Increased attention on improving new student experiences will benefit students by helping them meet their educational goals and will give institutions another tool in helping keep students on task.
As part of the project, the 10 selected institutions will measure their effectiveness in recruiting, admitting, orienting, supporting, advising, and teaching new students. They then will be able to make improvements to student learning, success, and persistence to graduation. The resulting blueprint will represent the first nationally-integrated examination of the many elements that get students off to the right start.
Students interested in enrolling for fall 2005 at UW-Waukesha are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. For more information, call (262) 521-5200 or visit waukesha.uwc.edu.
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