In the Fall Quarter, 1975, the University Division of General Studies introduced a University Seminar Program whose aim was to provide new students, freshmen and transfers, with a more humanistic introduction to Bowling Green State University. The results and conclusions of the evaluation study regarding the first year of the program's operation…

Considerations to be made in developing a new student orientation program include program aims and foundations, audience, scheduling and length, funding, delivery, staffing issues, content, and evaluation of program effectiveness. Sources for further information and advice are suggested. (MSE)

The use of a comprehensive academic advising program in conjunction with a sustained academic orientation program through the freshman year has resulted in a 13.27 percent increase in the retention rate of high-risk students at a regional campus of Pennsylvania State University. The components of CORE are described. (Author/MLW)

The influence of an intensive two-day orientation to college on freshman voluntary persistence and withdrawal decisions was estimated with an explanatory causal model. Results suggest the major influence of orientation on persistence is indirect, transmitted through positive effects on student social integration and commitment to the institution.…

To increase students' academic success and retention rates, colleges and universities are increasingly implementing seminars that will equip students with academic survival skills such as note-taking and doing library research. UNCC's program was found to be effective, and possibilities for further investigation were offered. (BF)

This paper reports on the use of qualitative methods to determine first-year student perceptions of the Orientation program delivered by North Carolina State University. One hundred thirty freshmen were interviewed, in groups of 6 to 10, to learn about their orientation experiences, and why they felt some sessions were helpful, and where sessions…

The efficiency and effectiveness of using a group approach to advising by a team of faculty advisors were evaluated in 1980-81 at the General College, University of Minnesota. Group/team advising was compared to individualized, one-to-one advising of first-semester freshmen in terms of student satisfaction with advising, student understanding of…

Georgia State's minority retention program provides academic and social support for black freshmen by referral to appropriate campus personnel or resources for assistance with academic, financial, personal, social, and career planning problems. It uses peer counseling, faculty mentors, nonacademic staff participation, and social events to…

Entering college students commonly complain of being inundated with confusing information about attending a college or university, while student services personnel complain that regardless of the efforts placed on making the information "user friendly," students never seem to assimilate what they receive. This paper analyzes the literature and…

Proceedings of the 1984 National Conference on Academic Advising are presented, including three main addresses, brief overviews of workshops, detailed outlines of topical sessions, and abstracts of 58 conference papers. The conference highlighted advisors' involvement in critical teaching functions. General session titles and authors are as…

This small book is designed to be an easy-to-read, practical introduction for college freshmen to the college setting. Written by a college art instructor and designed to answer many of the questions that official college publications may not answer clearly, it presents information in short, direct, one or two paragraph items. The items are…

To address the needs of African American students at Beaver College in Glenside (Pennsylvania), a one-credit freshman orientation course on Afrocentricity was developed. The course was intended to increase the comfort level between the institution and its culturally diverse students and add additional support for increased retention of African…

This report provides a conceptual framework for guiding decisions regarding the administrative delivery and course content of the freshman orientation seminar. The proposed framework relies heavily on empirical evidence generated by college-level research in the areas of student retention, student learning and academic achievement, and student…

This report of a conference on developmental advising contains the following 18 papers: "An Introduction to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)" (Roberta Corder); "Computer-Assisted Advising: The Personal Touch" (Susan Aldrich, Mark Peterson, Bruce Sands); "The Freshman Survey: Phase I" (Laura Lemonine);…

This teacher handbook provides guidelines and materials for graduate students who prepare entering freshmen at Bowling Green State University for the rigors of academic life. A series of exercises show summer instructors, called "facilitators," how to get students to: map their environment, use local resources, read and mark textbooks,…