The purpose of this article is to describe a doctoral residency seminar course that is part of a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction degree program. Courses such as these provide new doctoral students with the necessary experiences to help them succeed in the program. This course is a venue for students to discuss the degree program, including…

Drawing from our experiences facilitating an FYE faculty development program, we highlight how we have practiced elements of trauma-informed pedagogy to work with first-year students and faculty. We discuss how both students and faculty can benefit from a more complex process of cultivating relationships through mindfulness. Practices of…

This evaluation study had three main aims: 1) to examine how an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Summit can be used to promote First Year Experience (FYE) instructors' sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness within the context of the FYE program at a community college; 2) to examine how an AI Summit might guide FYE program development; and 3) to…

Online education has increased in popularity over the last few decades due to the enrollment of adult learners. Adult learners have challenges with returning to school. It is not known what resources and support faculty need to support adult learners taking online first-year experience courses (FYE). The purpose of this general descriptive…

This study experimentally investigated the effect of training on faculty perceptions of teaching self-efficacy in first-year experience (FYE) courses at a two-year college. All faculty qualified and trained to teach FYE at a two-year college in Southwestern Pennsylvania were eligible for the study. Participants (n = 34) were randomly assigned into…

In a Midwestern nonprofit, predominantly White, Catholic university, the problem was low retention of African American students after completing a first-year seminar (FYS) course. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to explore perceptions and challenges of African American college students and faculty about the required FYS course.…

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to understand the motivations and processes faculty used to design first-year undergraduate classes with international and/or intercultural content. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 7 professors at a large public university in the United States with very high…

Librarians struggle with using the Framework for Information Literacy (ACRL, 2015) to guide information literacy instruction (Downey, 2016; Hess, 2015; Stevens & Tieman, 2017). Infusing theoretical concepts is difficult in an applied discipline like information literacy and library science (Chang & Chen, 2015; Downey, 2016; Hess, 2015;…

Scholars in college learning and writing studies have argued that reading has an image problem: we have trouble "seeing" it. This study contributes to making reading visible by collecting a series of images used by faculty and students enrolled in first-year experience courses. Qualitative analysis of interviews with five faculty and 34…

This dissertation investigated how expansive framing can foster an inclusive and empowering learning environment for minoritized students in first-year seminars that focus on composition. This paper is especially important for those who teach and support minoritized students who often face crises of faith about belonging at primarily white…

University First Year Seminar (FYS) programs are diverse in their content and pedagogy. Yet all seek to assist first-year students in the difficult college transition. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate if grouping similar academic majors into the existing First Year Seminar (FYS) courses would improve social connectedness, use of…

Freshmen beginning their undergraduate education enter college with various backgrounds and expectations. Institutions seek to properly acclimate first-year students into this new transition. One way to help a first-year student transition into college is with a first-year program. First-year programs provide a unique space for students to adjust…

The Saint Mary's University first-year student success program was developed by its strategic enrollment management (SEM) group to enhance support for first-year students. As an integrated program that implements student success modules into the first-year core curriculum, this initiative has proven to be effective in enhancing student engagement…

Faculty development is a critical component to the success of any first-year seminar. This article explains the nationally recognized faculty development model of University 101 Programs at the University of South Carolina, including the philosophy behind why we do what we do, descriptions of the various initiatives, and best practices underlying…

This qualitative study was created to gain a better understanding of the impact of a for-credit first-year seminar course. Related existing research and theory included past studies on the first-year seminar, the hidden curriculum, and student persistence and retention. This study was intended to make an original contribution to the knowledge base…