National Resource Center and University 101 Programs featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education's The First-Year Experience Report
The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition and University 101 Programs are featured resources in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s latest report, The First-Year Experience: How to support student success. As one of only five resources selected for the report nationwide, both teams were highlighted as key experts on the first-year experience and described as “a clearinghouse for scholarship, policy, and best practices.”
The report, available for purchase through The Chronicle, discusses the importance of having a first-year program on campus and the importance of first-year programs for students’ academic and social experiences. The report highlights key datapoints drawn from the National Resource Center’s forthcoming 2023 National Survey on The First-Year Experience, including information about key elements of first-year experience programs offered nationwide. Further, data drawn from U101 assessment demonstrates the role of first-year seminar courses in promoting student retention from their first- to second year in college.
The University’s first-year seminar course, University 101, was prominently highlighted in the report. The University 101 course was introduced in 1972 as an educational experiment in response to 1970 student riots against the Vietnam War, other perceived social injustices, and local campus issues. The protests — which grew to include a building takeover and clashes with the National Guard — led to some soul-searching on the part of South Carolina’s administration. Among the university’s responses: University 101, a small seminar course meant to connect students to the institution, and to one another, says Dan Friedman, assistant vice president for University 101 Programs & the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. Friedman co-edited a book on the course’s history, impact, and success. The University of South Carolina has received national recognition for many years as U.S. News and World Report’s #1 public university in the nation for our first-year experience/University 101 course.
One major section of the report focuses on building a first-year experience on your campus. The National Resource Center and University 101 Programs have been advising colleges for decades on how to approach this. NRC director Dr. Kate Lehman, offers a few key tips:
- Colleges can coordinate efforts under an office of first-year experience or spread responsibilities across several departments. They may also appoint someone to a new role as director of the first-year experience.
- Regardless of where the program is housed, buy-in and support are needed from across student affairs and academic affairs.
- Among the offices that need to be aligned on the goals of the program are advising, orientation, recreation, residence life, student activities, student success, and wellness.
- Getting buy-in across so many units and departments requires a clear campuswide vision of what the first-year experience should encompass.
- Each of those offices will have their own priorities, which will need to be balanced among all of the competing demands on staff members’ time.
Questions about The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition can be sent to fye@mailbox.sc.edu. Questions about University 101 Programs can be sent to U101@mailbox.sc.edu.
About the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition: Building upon its history of excellence as the founder and leader of the first-year experience movement, the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition serves education professionals by supporting and advancing efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education. We achieve this mission by providing opportunities for the exchange of practical and scholarly information as well as the discussion of trends and issues in our field through the convening of conferences and other professional development events such as workshops, and online learning opportunities; publication of scholarly practice books, research reports, a peer-reviewed journal, electronic newsletters, and guides; generating, supporting, and disseminating research and scholarship; hosting visiting scholars; and maintaining several online channels for resource sharing and communication, including a dynamic website, listservs, and social media outlets.
About University 101 Programs: University 101 Programs fosters holistic student success and teaching excellence by providing evidence-driven academic courses, leadership opportunities, resources, and instructor development in support of students’ transition into, through, and out of the university. University 101 Programs is a model of innovative, collaborative, equitable, and data-driven practices and is recognized as the international leader in first-year and transition seminars, peer education, and instructor development.
About The Chronicle: The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Since its founding in 1966, The Chronicle has grown to serve millions of educators, administrators, researchers, and policymakers who rely on insights from The Chronicle to lead, teach, learn, and innovate. The Chronicle’s independent newsroom – the nation’s largest dedicated to covering colleges and universities – is home to award-winning journalists, experts, and data analysts with a passion for serving audiences with indispensable news and actionable insights on issues that matter.