In this article, the author explains a high-impact role-playing pedagogy developed at Barnard College called "Reacting to the Past," which she uses to introduce first-year and general education students to feminist history, current feminist issues, and feminist pedagogy.

We describe a unique co-curricular honor and integrity program at a large, research university's business school. We discuss the evolution of the program as well as the array of stakeholders who were involved in its early development and sustenance. We use an ethical culture template to highlight the formal and informal systems, and we discuss…

The author created and has been teaching a first-year seminar (FYS) called "Food for Thought: Rhetoric of the Edible" for the past three years. Sustainability and ethics in the production and consumption of food have been tangential topics that have arisen in the course. While her academic background is composition and rhetoric, food has…

The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public Carnegie Foundation Research institution with 14 schools and colleges that enrolls more than 18,000 undergraduate students at the main campus in Storrs, CT. Beginning in 1999, First-Year Experience (FYE) seminars were offered to entering freshman students. Since that time, the size of the program…

Mass incarceration in America is a moral, economic, and societal crisis with serious implications for many men of color and high school non-completers who are incarcerated at proportionally higher rates than Whites or college graduates. For the formerly incarcerated, engagement in adult learning, whether high school equivalency (HSE) or college,…

In addressing mental health needs in honors communities, I first need to explain that I am not a mental health practitioner; I am a sociologist. The types of issues that interest me are structural: what can we do to set up supportive environments that help all our students. We need to respond appropriately to individuals, but we also need also to…

While many US colleges and universities offer specialized writing courses for multilingual students entering as freshmen, including international students, there is typically little instructional support for the academic English needs of international transfer students. This article describes the development and implementation of a writing course…

For several years we have been teaching a one-hour class called "Longwood Seminar," a first-year seminar that is required as a general education goal and has much of its content dictated by Longwood University. During this time we have collected and used a series of mathematical vignettes to supplement the university-required material.…

The following article describes programs used by universities and colleges to engage students; these programs include mentoring, learning communities, and first-year success courses and programs. We begin with a brief overview of student development theory, program descriptions and citations, and article summaries for key references. Next, we…

Recent trends in higher education have called for renewed vitality in the connections between the in-class and out-of-class experiences. This movement has sparked increased interest in the interactions students have with each other, with instructional faculty, and with Student Affairs professionals. This article describes how residential learning…

This article offers strategies for administrators who struggle to contextualize their writing programs in institutional climates increasingly focused on recruitment and retention, rather than discipline and discovery. As composition scholars negotiate disciplinary and institutional values, there are productive juxtapositions of university mission…

The First Year Seminar in Science (SCIE113) was developed during 2009/2010 academic year through an exemplary collaboration between faculty, administrators and educational support staff in the Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia (UBC). SCIE113 reflects the vision and values of the Faculty of Science and UBC by offering an…

To truly impact sustainability practices, campuses need to influence the overall campus culture, including that which is fostered through first-year programs. Institutions of higher education have made a commitment to make a difference for sustainability, not only by changing curriculum, but by changing the entire institutional culture. This…

First year college students are challenged both socially and academically in their transition to college life. The literature suggests that social and emotional competence skills can help with this transition. This article describes the course content for a University freshman seminar that teaches skills in social and emotional competence in order…

First-year experience courses, although common on university campuses, are conducted in a variety of formats. This article outlines strategies and activities used at a large urban commuter campus in a first-year experience sequence run by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for the College of Science. The course, designed for freshmen…