Our Invitation to You

The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition invites those interested in programs and initiatives for students in their second year of college to join us for the Institute on Sophomore Student Success. Institute faculty will build a framework for examining trends and practices connected to building a comprehensive and intentional approach to ensure the success of sophomore students.

Individual sessions are designed to build on one another so that participants leave with a personalized action plan for use on their home campuses. Modeling the active pedagogies we advocate for our classrooms, the Institute faculty employ group work, problem solving, case studies, discussion, and other active strategies to engage participants in learning.

We at the National Resource Center firmly believe that participants will find this Institute to be a rich and rewarding experience, whether your institution is already involved in initiatives for sophomores or currently designing and creating new initiatives.

Focused Topics

• Defining the sophomore-year experience
• Understanding sophomore students and their needs
• Identifying factors that contribute to success for students in their second year of college
• Discerning elements of a comprehensive institutional approach to sophomore success
• Developing curricular and cocurricular initiatives
• Strategizing to gain institutional support for sophomore programs
• Defining the role of faculty in sophomore student success
• Assessing second-year programs

The mission of the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition is to support and advance efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education. We achieve this mission by providing opportunities for the exchange of practical, theory-based information and ideas through the convening of conferences, institutes, and workshops; publishing monographs, a peer-reviewed journal, an electronic newsletter, guides, and books; generating and supporting research and scholarship; hosting visiting scholars; and administering a website and listservs.

Setting

The University of South Carolina, which has been the home of the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition since its inception in1986, serves the state and the citizens of South Carolina from its flagship Columbia campus, three senior campuses, and four regional campuses. It has forged a variety of cooperative relationships with other academic and health care institutions throughout the state, and a number of international connections for academic exchange and collaborative research. The University's efforts in the international arena, particularly important to the state's development of foreign trade and investment, continue to expand. Academic exchange programs and research linkages have been established with European, African, South American, Japanese, and Chinese universities. In keeping with both its 19th- and 20th-century heritage, the University continues to promote academic excellence and community outreach while offering progressive responses to its educational responsibilities and the citizens of South Carolina.