SIUC hopes a hired firm can help the university take its first step in its new First-Year Experience program.
Mark Amos, head of the committee to develop First-Year Experience, said SIUC is interested in hiring the Policy Center on First Year of College. It would implement its specialized plan that focuses on retention and creation of a plan to help the university develop an easy transition for incoming freshmen.
Amos said the plan, Foundations of Excellence, gives SIUC the opportunity to get outside opinions on its retention problems. The Foundation of Excellence includes a yearlong observation by the policy center, concluding with the center's offering of a formal plan on how to improve retention.
The Foundations of Excellence also offers the university the chances to network with other colleges going through the program and share ideas, Amos said.
"Our student population is exactly the population something like this was designed for," Amos said. "We're trying to set up an easy transition for students, especially at research institution like this."
The First-Year Experience plan would help students learn how to manage time, take notes and use university resources while adjusting to a new social setting.
John Gardner, credited for developing the First-Year Experience at University of South Carolina during the 1970s, heads the Foundations of Excellence Program. More than 300 institutions have participated in the program, including in-state schools Illinois State and Columbia College.
Using the firm would cost $33,500 but Amos said the university could still decide to do its own research and develop its own program. He said he thinks the plan would be worth implementing because it would allow for outside opinions and networking with other universities.
Benito Murillo, a senior from Blue Island, completed his junior year at SIUC last year but does not plan on returning for a senior year because he never worked toward a declared major.
Murillo said a career development component of a First-Year Experience program seems like it would be successful in retaining students.
"It would have definitely helped me to have something like First-Year Experience when I was a freshman," Murillo said. "There are a lot of undecided students at SIU and the career counseling people are OK, but a whole program would have helped me a lot."
While First-Year Experience is expected to begin this fall, Amos said a detailed plan would be finished by next summer and significant changes could be seen by the end of the 2009-10 academic year.
The first phase of the plan includes enhancing the programs already established. Developing more freshmen interest groups, educating instructors about the expanded University 101 course and finding ways to promote freshmen interaction are scheduled for the fall semester.
Amos said the University 101 course is one example of the programs SIUC already has in place to develop a First-Year Experience. University 101 is a course to help freshmen transition to college while learning study habits necessary to succeed.
He said what SIUC lacks most is a central establishment to direct students to those services.
"A number of the departments are doing this sort of transitional plan ... and now we just need to unify this into something that will work for the whole university," Amos said. "It's a coordination between academic affairs and student affairs."
University 101, an optional introductory course for freshmen, has been offered since 1980. Virginia Rinella, director of the pre major advisement center, said it has been the main tool in aiding the transition from high school to college.
Rinella said expanding programs such as University 101 is a sure way to help freshmen deal with the stresses of college classes.
"Many universities have University 101 and it really helps students not just transition but transform behaviors," Rinella said. "It helps student become confident in their new environment."
Amos said First-Year Experience has been a long time coming. The idea began under former chancellor Walter Wendler and stalled after multiple changes in the chancellor position.
John Nicklow, associate dean of the College of Engineering, said programs have been being practiced within the college that could help the university as a whole. Exclusive dorms, new courses and a peer mentor program have attracted and retained students.
"We sort of have our own First-Year Experience program for engineers," Nicklow said. "We're able to put all our resources together and it becomes a great tool for first and second year students."
Jeff Engelhardt can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 268 or jengel@siu.edu.
