A delegation of eight faculty and three administrators have returned motivated and energized from the First-Year Seminar Leadership Institute in Charleston, S. C.

The group attended the April 20-22 institute to learn the best practices in order to “give Metro State’s first-year program a new try,” said Jacqueline McLeod, associate professor of African and African Studies and History.

This “new try” revolves around the idea that the first-year program will be faculty-driven, a tenet to which President Stephen Jordan and Interim Provost Linda Curran are committed, McLeod said. “For the first time, faculty are truly involved in the discussion. We want and need to have tenure-track faculty buy into the program,” she added.

“We got to see many different kinds of schools and ways to conduct a first-year program,” said Skip Crownhart, director of Academic Advising and interim co-director of the First Year Success Program. “Based on what we learned, we’ll be building on our program – looking at what we’re doing and asking: Are we doing what the students need us to do?”

Only three days back to Metro State, the group met on Friday, April 18, to review the phases of the project to reinvigorate the program. “We don’t want to do everything at once,” McLeod explained. The phases are assessment, advising, learning communities, civic and community engagement and first-year seminar. The plan is to have 10 cohorts of 20 students each starting this fall.

In the meantime, McLeod is encouraging any faculty member who is interested in getting involved to contact Crownhart or Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services Judi Diaz Bonacquisti, who is the other interim co-director of the first-year program.

In addition to McLeod and Crownhart, the nine others who attended the institute are:

• Rebecca Gorman, Assistant Professor of English
• Derrick Haynes, Director of Student Academic Success
• Karen Lollar, Coordinator of Communication Theory and
   Organizational Communication
• Dorothy Snozek, Professor of Reading
• James Sundeen, Assistant Professor of English
• Emelia Paul, Interim Associate Vice President and Dean of Student Life
• Roosevelt Price, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
• Susana Vela Pryor, Assistant Professor of Political Science
• Jane ChapmanVigil, Associate Professor of English

Last fall, the Student Services and Academic Affairs divisions joined together to formally establish the First Year Success Program under Crownhart and Diaz Bonacquisti.

“It’s time we recognized that the faculty who have been involved with the first-year program in the past have both a collective knowledge and a dedication that is invaluable,” said Linda Curran, interim provost and VP for academic affairs. “We need both as a foundation for this endeavor if we’re to move forward and involve a wider group of faculty.”

VP for Student Services Kathy MacKay added, “Student Services is committed to a high-quality first-year program and believe it will have a real potential for a positive impact on first-year student retention.”

To read more about the first-year collaboration go to http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/artman/publish/success_twv5092607.shtml.