Peter Bardaglio, provost and vice president of academic affairs, and Brian McAree, vice president for student affairs and campus life, want to announce the formation of a new first-year experience coordinating committee which has been designed to take a comprehensive look at the Ithaca College experience for all first-year students.
The committee has several goals including:
•To create a comprehensive first-year experience that responds to a common institutional vision and purpose rather than a series of discrete activities.
•To create a system that allows for cohesive planning of all efforts surrounding the first-year experience.
•To create an organizational and reporting structure to oversee and coordinate all of the components of the first-year experience.
•To establish a formalized working team that demonstrates commitment to academic/student affairs collaboration in the implementation of the first-year experience.
•To integrate the Core Experience Task Force’s first three recommended core experiences (New Student Orientation, Ithaca Seminar, the IC Residential Seminar) and learning outcomes in concert with the College Mission Statement as guiding principles and a framework for the first-year experience.
•To determine the budgetary implications for the implementation of a comprehensive first-year experience program.
Under the leadership of Roger Richardson, assistant vice president for student affairs and campus life, the committee will work throughout the upcoming year to achieve these goals and make recommendations as to how to create a holistic experience for our first-year students that will put them in the best possible position to be successful at Ithaca College, both inside and outside the classroom.
The committee will examine a number of key components related to the first year experience as well as study best practices at other institutions. Areas of focus include:
*New Student Orientation
*First-Year Reading Initiative
*First-Year Seminars
*Honors and Scholars Programs
*Advising
Serving on the committee with Roger Richardson are:
•Garry Brodhead, associate provost
•Tanya Saunders, assistant provost and dean of the Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies
•David Garcia, associate dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences
•Susanne Morgan, associate professor of sociology
•Jim Swafford, associate professor of English and director of the honors program
•Kim Conrad, assistant director of first-year programs
•Terry Martinez, director of the Center for Student Leadership and Involvement
•Bonnie Prunty, director of the Offices of Residential Life and Judicial Affairs
•Darese Doskal-Scaffido, associate director of the Offices of Residential Life and Judicial Affairs
In addition, Garry Brodhead has been asked to serve as the point person for continuing to define how the College should proceed to implement the recommendations made by the CORE Experience Task Force. In its recent report, the CORE Experience Task Force recommended six core experiences which should be the essential components of every Ithaca College student’s educational experience. Associate Provost Brodhead’s participation on the first-year experience coordinating committee will insure that the work of these two groups will continue in a coordinated manner.
We also wanted to announce that the Office of First Year Programs will report to Terry Martinez, director of the Center for Student Leadership and Involvement, during the 2005-2006 academic year while the first-year experience coordinating committee studies how Ithaca College can best be structured in the future to realize our goals for our first-year students.
We thank everyone for their flexibility, cooperation, and support as we move forward with this exciting initiative.
