WAUKESHA – Since the first year establishes a foundation for students' success in college, institutions are seeking ways to engage their interest early in their academic careers. Betsy Barefoot, who represents an organization dedicated to addressing this issue, will speak Monday, April 10, at 2:30 p.m. at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha in the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, located in the Fine Arts Center on campus at 1500 N. University Dr., Waukesha. The public is invited, and there is no charge.
In “Engaging New Students in College: Focusing on What Matters,” she will present broad notions of what creates engagement, why engagement is important, and what studies have shown about the level of engagement at two-year colleges nationally and in Wisconsin.
Her visit is part of a national Foundations of Excellence pilot program in which the University of Wisconsin Colleges, comprised of 13 campuses including UW-Waukesha, is participating. Ten institutions nationally are taking part in this Lumina Foundation-funded study of the first-year experience of college students.
Over the years, a typical orientation session for freshman college students would include an eye-opening instruction to look around the room, for half of those present would not be there on graduation day. The eerie, though approximate, truth of this prediction prompted John Gardner to found the Policy Center on the First Year of College in 1999 through a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to address this issue on an institutional level.
A co-director and scholar at the Center, Barefoot also teaches at Brevard College, Brevard, NC, where the Center is located and continues to operate using grant monies.
Before joining the Center, Barefoot served for 11 years as co-director for research and publications in the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina. The NC native holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Duke University and master’s and doctoral degrees in higher education from the College of William and Mary.
UW-Waukesha has the largest enrollment among the 13 freshman-sophomore University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses. For information about programs, admission, or financial aid, contact the Student Services office at (262) 521-5200 or visit the Web at waukesha.uwc.edu.
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