With the unprecedented expansion of access to higher education internationally, today's students enter university with a broader range of expectations, motivations and support networks than their predecessors. One of the primary determinants of student success is their ability to assimilate into the academic culture, which includes aligning their expectations and motivations closely with the prevalent norms of the academic community. This article synthesizes current conceptual and practical approaches to facilitating the assimilation of students from diverse demographic, economic and academic backgrounds into the academic community. These approaches are illustrated through programmatic developments at a large urban university in the Midwestern United States. (Contains 2 tables.)