Assistant Vice President for University 101 Programs & the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition
Email: friedman@sc.edu
Phone: 803-777-9506
Dan Friedman provides leadership for University 101 Programs and the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. University 101 Programs is an academic unit that offers six academic courses, including over 330 sections of the first-year seminar (UNIV 101), a career exploration and experiential learning seminar (UNIV 201), a residentially-based special topics seminar (UNIV 290) and a capstone seminar (UNIV 401). His major responsibilities include the recruitment, selection, training and support of 300+ instructors and 300+ peer/graduate leaders; providing high quality faculty development to support excellence in teaching; developing and assessing course content; supervising a professional and graduate staff; strategic planning; and representing the program to multiple constituencies.
Dan also has oversight of the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, which is the trusted expert, internationally recognized leader, and clearinghouse for scholarship, policy, and best practice for all postsecondary student transitions. The NRC provides 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 online courses; publication of scholarly practice books, research reports, a peer-reviewed journal, guides, and newsletters; and generating, supporting, and disseminating research and scholarship.
Dan is an associated faculty member in the Higher Education Program in College of Education, where he teaches courses, advises students and serves on dissertation committees.
Prior to coming to the University of South Carolina, Dan served as Director of Freshman Seminar at Appalachian State University and Assistant Professor of Higher Education. He taught graduate courses on college finance, American higher education and organization and administration of higher education.
Dr. Friedman’s area of research has centered on the first-year experience, and he has made numerous presentations and published several books, articles, and monograph contributions on this topic. Dan has conducted a wide-range of assessment initiatives aimed at better understanding the efficacy of the first-year seminar. Dr. Friedman has served as an invited faculty of the Institute on First-Year Assessment and for the Institute on First-Year Seminar Leadership, both sponsored by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.
He has also served as a faculty member and practicum advisor for the Kellogg Institute on Developmental Education and on SACS Accreditation Teams as the Lead Reviewer of Quality Enhancement Plans focused on learning communities and first-year seminars. In addition, Dan has consulted with several dozen institutions about the first-year seminar, learning communities, and the First-Year Experience. He is passionate about baseball, Bruce Springsteen, and spending time with his two daughters.