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Strengths
We've had a fairly successful first year program since 1990, so
tradition is on our side. We have a core of faculty who have had
experience in the First Year Initiatives program (FYI), and are
dedicated to it. The program offers a flexibility to the faculty
to pursue a theme or topic which is interesting to them, and will
be interesting to the students. If we see one of the goals of the
program as using the material to generate learning of the components
of a liberal education-critical thinking, communication, creativity
in the broadest sense of the word, a sense of responsibility for
effective action in the world, an ability to recreate yourself in
changing times-then having things that interest the students will
enable the infusion of those components. We have a lot of evidence
that the program attracts creative and bright students to our college,
and helps retain them. We ourselves believe that the program highlights
and introduces core values of our educational mission, such as collaborative
learning, multidisciplinary perspectives, and experiential education.
We
are unique in that our program, from the very beginning, was a partnership
between academic and student affairs. The partnership has made it
possible for us to address the curricular as well as co-curricular
needs of our students. This approach helps with the student's transition
and integration into the academic and social environment at Beloit.
Another
strength is the fact that our FYI program serves as the basis of
our Sophomore Year program. Efforts to continue student integration
are designed for the specific needs of sophomores, academically
and developmentally. Both our FYI and Sophomore Year programs are
regularly cited and copied by other institutions.
Weaknesses
Until recently, we've had some problems staffing the program smoothly,
especially as it has grown in line with our policy of expanding
the size of the student body. This problem seems fixed for now,
though. There are three other weaknesses:
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Because our seminars lack many common elements, they sometimes
seem almost too diverse. Students complain that they lack uniformity
in terms of academic demand, and at times the diversity of the
seminars causes some of them to evade certain common themes and
common requirements. The tension between the two approaches-autonomy
and common experience-is worth talking about.
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Although this is not a problem with the program per se, some of
us think we have in the program an alpha but not an omega: we
lack a capstone in the senior year which hones, in appropriately
more sophisticated ways, our brand of education in terms, again,
of collaborative learning, experiential learning and interdisciplinary
points of view. This point might be worth making because even
if a first year program is good, there is the question of what
follows it. First year programs need the most thorough larger
context within their institutions. At the moment Dave Burrows,
Dean of the College and Vice President for Academic Affairs, is
working with a group of faculty to address this issue.
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Another perceived weakness is the fact that not all seminar leaders
fulfill the explicit goals and requirements of the program. For
example, there is a requirement that all students participate
in a service oriented/volunteer project during the seminar. This
does not always happen and the discrepancy is noted by students.
And despite the fact that our FYI and Sophomore Year Programs
are unique and distinctive, the programs have not received the
necessary allocation of resources or attention to keep us at the
"cutting edge" of where we want/need to be.
Team
Members
- David
Burrows, Dean of the College & VP for Academic Affairs
- Diane
Arnzen, Director of the Learning Support Services Center
- Muyiwa
Awoniyi, student
- Elizabeth
Brewer, Director of International Education
- Audra
Cooke, Assistant Dean of Students & Director of Student Activities
- Joy
de Leon, Assistant Director of the Learning Support Services Center
- Bill
Flanagan, VP for Student Affairs & Dean of Students (Liaison)
- Margaret
Govoni, student
- Kathy
Greene, Associate Professor & Chair of Education
- Mark
Klassen, Assistant Professor of Art & Art History
- Diane
Lichtenstein, Associate Dean of the College & Professor of English
- Tom
McBride, Professor of English & Co-Director of the FYI Program
- Olga
Ogurtsova, Adjunct Associate Professor of Modern Languages
- Amy
Sarno, Associate Professor of Theatre & Communications
- Becca
Zeni, student
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