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Engaging Today's Students with the Liberal Arts

Sophomore roundtable

The sophomore year, many suggest, is the most difficult--emotionally and educationally--of a student's college career. Sophomores no longer have the excitement of the first year, but do not yet have the specialized challenges of work in a major. Many institutions have devoted substantial resources to support programs for first year students and capstone experiences for seniors, but there has been little energy put into the second year.

That is starting to change at member colleges of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. Several colleges have developed special programs devoted to the needs of sophomore students. Others are doing some research focused on those issues. Some of these initiatives have been supported by the consortium's project on student engagement, while others have been independent.

With the support of the Engagement Project and the Mellon Foundation, ACM organized a roundtable discussion of the special needs of sophomores and what the colleges have been doing and can do to address those needs. Participants reviewed recent research from ACM colleges about the sophomore year, worked as campus teams to discuss local issues, and outlined potential college or consortial initiatives.

The roundtable was October 27-29, 2006, at Monmouth College. The tentative schedule is below.

Friday, October 27

6:00 PM: Dinner

7:00 PM: Discussion
Each of the participants had a chance to describe their college's program for sophomores and their challenge in dealing with this student group

Saturday, October 28

8:15 AM: Breakfast

9:00 AM: Presentation of learning from research
In the last few years there has been a good deal of research done--both nationally and on ACM campuses--about the particular challenges of the sophomore year. A panel of speakers described this research and its implications for our colleges

• Bill Flanagan (Beloit) and Julie Stockenberg (Colorado): National developments
• Diana Beck (Knox) and Mark Wilhardt (Monmouth): Knox-Monmouth project
• Joyce Stern (Grinnell): Grinnell research

10:30 AM: Break

10:45 AM: Guest speaker or student panel

12:15 PM: Lunch

1:00 PM: Campus policies and practices
Campus teams met to discuss what their institutions do for first year and sophomore students, and where the gaps might be. At 1:45 these teams reported to the rest of the group, which worked to identify common strategies.

3:00 PM: Break

3:15 PM: Breakout groups developed those strategies, with the goal of making recommendations for campus practice

5:15 PM: Break

6:00 PM: Dinner

Sunday, October 29

8:15 AM: Breakfast

9:00 AM: Plenary reflection
The group met together to reflect on Saturday's discussion. What have we learned? What might we do differently?

10:30 AM: Break

10:45 AM: Plenary: Outline possible college and consortial initiatives

12:00 Noon: Adjournment

Return to: Engagement Project