Faculty Senate Discusses Programs to Retain Freshman
By: Meritt Drake
Fort Lewis College Faculty Senate met on Thursday, Feb. 7 to hear from a subcommittee designing a freshman seminar and to discuss the use of Open Education Resources.
First Year Launch Program
A committee has put together a plan to improve freshman to sophomore retention rates through an eight week-long seminar that would be required for all freshman or transfer students to take.
The seminars would be taught by various faculty on subjects that interest that faculty member, associate professor of chemistry Callie Cole said.
Ideally each session would consist of 12 to 18 students per faculty member and would meet two hours per week for the first seven weeks, and then one hour on the final week, Cole said.
Students would sign up for a session on a topic which interests them most, she said.
The main goal of the program is to allow students to feel more connected to campus and the community through at least three mandatory cultural or community based events or field trips, associate professor of psychology William Mira said.
Data shows that freshman are most likely to decide to drop out within the first seven weeks of their first semester, Cole said.
The program is pending approval from the curriculum committee, faculty senate, and administration to determine whether or not the seminars will be offered for credit only, or if they will also carry a grade.
Similar programs in other universities, most prominently the University of Georgia, have been proven successful, Mira said.
Open Education Resources
FLC has received a grant for $42,000 to create Open Education Resources.
OER are teaching or research materials that are licensed for open use, librarian Eric Prosser said.
These materials can be used instead of expensive textbooks, Prosser said.
Most of the grant has been allocated to faculty stipends for the creation or modification of OER, with more money going to those with classes which more students take, like those in the liberal arts core, or classes that currently require students to purchase more expensive textbooks, Prosser said.
A partnership is also being planned with Basin Printing, where OER could be printed at cost plus a small percentage for students who prefer to use non-digital materials, Prosser said.
Handbook Changes and Strategic Plan
President Stritikus’ strategic plan passed at the last Board of Trustees meeting.
“The board members said this is much more of an action plan than the previous strategic plan”, faculty representative for the Board of Trustees, Gary Gianniny, said. “If you want to feel things are getting better here, perhaps they are.”
Changes made to the handbook last semester, dealing with faculty tenure, are being move up the chain to be voted on by administration.