Faculty/Staff Call for Proposals
The deadline for submitting 2010-11 FYE proposals is 5:00 pm Friday, October 16th.
For 2010-11, the First Year Experience program will continue to offer a variety of learning community options for first year students. In addition, faculty or staff interested in linking their proposed learning community to a living-learning program may submit a proposal to the Office of Residential Life (deadline: November 1st).
Learning communities are a set of 2-4 classes which first year students take together as a “cohort.” Each cohort has a designated leader who prepares and files the proposal and coordinates the work of the faculty and/or staff involved. For the purposes of FYE, “first year ” is to be understood as “first time in college.” These students will fall predominantly into the traditional age group of 17-18 years old, but all first time, first year students are welcome to enroll in the program, regardless of age or whether or not they live on campus.
FYE learning communities fall into three general categories:
- “thematic” cohorts consisting of classes from different areas or disciplines grouped around a common theme;
- “programmatic” cohorts based on an intended major or specific academic program;
- other cohorts designed to support specific student populations such as students of color or students in the Division of General Studies (DGS).
For 2010-11, the FYE program also plans to offer a set of 4-6 pilot cohorts specifically designed for non-DGS, i.e., regularly admitted first year students, without an intended major. These “undeclared” students comprise a sizeable segment of the SCSU first year student population and, at present, are either not enrolling in significant numbers in FYE or otherwise not receiving targeted transitional support as they begin their university studies. Please note that proposing cohorts directed at specific student populations or “undeclareds” does not preclude giving these cohorts an enticing theme or name which conveys the specific nature and purpose of those learning communities.
For 2010-11, compensation and other incentives for faculty and staff participating in FYE will be as follows:
- eligibility for a one-course, 3- or 4-hour reassignment for new FYE cohort leaders, with corresponding adjunct pay provided by FYE to the cohort leader’s college;
- two duty-days per faculty member per cohort for program development;
- honoraria for MSUAASF FYE cohort leaders and instructors;
- $500 for outside-the-classroom cohort activities.
Additional funds ($200) are made available to the Academic Resource Mentors (ARMs) assigned to the FYE learning communities. Cohort leaders will be asked to nominate or help identify pro-spective ARMs early in the spring semester.
For further information, please contact the First Year Experience program office at (320) 308-2942 or mjgilbert@stcloudstate.edu.
