UA Selected to Participate in National Higher Education Project

Akron, Ohio, Sept. 2, 2005 Research indicates that new students who are successfully integrated into college are much more likely to succeed. The University of Akron is one of 13 schools selected to participate in a national project to assess the best ways to get freshmen off to the right start in their college life.

The project Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year is sponsored by the Policy Center on the First Year of College, a non-profit, higher education research/policy center, with support provided by Lumina Foundation for Education. Participating colleges will utilize a recently developed model of excellence for the first college year to develop and refine their overall approach to educating first-year students.

As part of the Foundations of Excellence program, The University of Akron will conduct an intensive self-study of its First Year Experience that encompasses learning assistants; learning communities; a summer reading program; Akron Traditions, a convocation for new students; a student success seminar; and Majors Mosaic, an undergraduate majors fair held in the fall.

One of the reasons we were selected to participate in the inaugural cohort is because we have a wealth of data to validate the effectiveness of our programs, says Dr. Karla Mugler, associate provost and dean of University College. Other criteria for selection included a strong campus commitment to students and a demonstrated readiness to engage in improvement.

Throughout the year, UA also will measure its effectiveness in recruiting, admitting, orienting, supporting, advising and teaching new students. According to Mugler, the self-study and the findings from other participating universities will allow UA to make programmatic improvements that will increase student learning, success and retention. We are always looking for ways to improve the effectiveness of our First Year Experience, she says.

Other Ohio schools selected to participate in the Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year program are Ohio University and Wright State University.