Overview

Consistent with the University’s student success goals, the Foundations of Excellence initiative is aimed at building a foundation for success in the first year of college to enhance learning, promote retention and facilitate timely degree completion. 

Guided by the Gardner Institute’s Foundations of Excellence model, our task force has completed an assessment of the first year and is now moving into the implementation phase of the process.

First Year - Assessment

Over the past year, a task force of about 186 faculty, staff and students worked to assess the first year along 9 foundational dimensions.  Collectively, the dimension committees produced close to 200 pages of text and 120 action items focused on improvements.

With guidance from our institutional advisor, Betsy Barefoot, our Steering Committee has worked since May to integrate this work into a comprehensive action plan that includes 21 consolidated recommendations within 5 key themes.  Betsy retired this summer and John Gardner is now serving as our advisor in the implementation process.

Five themes consistently emerged across the 9 dimension committees as they assessed opportunities for improvement in the first year and recommendations representing the work of these committees have been drafted for each theme.

The University’s current approach to the first year involves a variety of success initiatives and assessment tools at the department, college and institutional levels and committees focused on the need for a more coordinated and intentionally designed first year experience for freshmen and transfer students.

Action items related to Integration were proposed by five Dimension Committees and recommendations focus on ensuring coordination across functions, resources and services. 

Second Year and Continuing - Implementation

Upon completion of implementation plans and commencement of recommended actions, the Steering Committee and respective Work Groups will be transitioned into a Campus First- Year Experience Advisory Board tasked with ongoing monitoring and guidance of Foundations of Excellence initiatives.