Click to Add TitleConnecting First-Year Students

to the Campus & the City

Sandra Picciuca &Justin Wier

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Chicago Trivia

• What is this Chicago icon affectionately called?• A. The Kidney• B. The Silver• C. The Bean• D. Cloud Gate

Chicago Trivia

• Why is Chicago called the Windy City?• A. Weather• B. Located near Lake Michigan• C. Tall buildings• D. Politics

Chicago Trivia

• What is not on a Chicago-style hot dog?• A. Celery salt• B. Sport peppers• C. Ketchup• D. Mustard

Agenda

• First-Year Seminars

• Case study:• College of Liberal Arts & Sciences first-year

seminar: LAS 110, Success in the City

• Activity

• Discussion

• Resources

First-Year Seminars

• Goals: • Learn about campus resources• Understand how to be an effective college

student• Develop a connection to the campus• Build a relationship with advisors and faculty

First-Year Seminars

• Student involvement along with social and academic integration have a positive impact of student retention and persistence.

• Tinto’s (1975, 1987, 1993) Theory of Student Departure

• Astin’s (1984) Theory of Student Involvement

First-Year Seminars

• Milem and Berger (1997) noted student involvement in the first 6-7 weeks of college is significantly related to retention.

• First-year seminars can be a High-Impact Educational Practice

First-Year Seminars

• Civic engagement and connection

• Eyler and Giles (1999) noted, “Community voice, where students felt the work they did was shaped by input of the community, did predict that students would feel more connected to the community” (p. 47).

LAS 110, Success in the City

• Get connected to campus during the first semester at UIC.• Explore campus resources

• Learn about LAS and UIC.• Faculty & Staff Interview• Presentations from campus partners

LAS 110, Success in the City

• Meet new friends.• Accomplish through class assignments

• Build relationships with academic advisor• Many instructors are students’ cohort advisors

UIC & Chicago

Connections to the City

• About UIC

• UIC is an anchor institution, engaged with our community

• Students come to UIC because we are in the city

• Idea to incorporate civic engagement, service into the first-year seminar

LAS 110, Success in the City

• Be involved in Chicago with a community service experience• Explore Chicago Through Service

• Explore the diversity of Chicago’s neighborhoods through class projects• Immigration & Diversity Project

Chicago Marathon

Chicago Marathon

City Farm

City Farm

Open House Chicago

Wooded Island

Wooded Island

Other Service Projects

• Culture• Chicago International Film Festival

• Economic Development• Andersonville Chamber of Commerce

• Public Art• Arts Alive Chicago & Green Star Movement

• Access to Food• Greater Chicago Food Depository

LAS 110, Success in the City

Map of 2013student projects

Many more community-based experiences in 2014

LAS 110, Success in the City

By the numbers:

Fall 2013 Fall 2014

6 sections 14 sections

117 students 226 students

Activity

• Think, Pair, Share• For the next 10 minutes• In groups of 2-3• Please discuss the questions related to civic

engagement and first-year seminars• Trade contact information with colleagues

Discussion

• How could civic engagement, service, and community partnerships be integrated into your first-year seminars?

Discussion

• What are examples of community organizations, service projects, or topics of interest you discussed?

Discussion

• How could you “sell” this idea of civic engagement and first-year seminars to your campus leaders?

Discussion

• What challenges do you anticipate to implement these ideas on your campus?

Resources

• National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, www.sc.edu/fye

• Campus Compact, www.compact.org

• Campus Service-Learning Centers

• Community organizations

• Contact us and your colleagues you met today!

Literature

• Astin, A.W. (1984). Student Involvement: A development theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Personnel, 25, 297-308.

• Eyler, J. & Giles Jr., D. E. (1999). Where’s the learning in service-learning? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Milem, J.F., & Berger, J.B. (1997). A modified model of college student persistence: Exploring the relationship between Astin’s theory of involvement and Tinto’s theory of student departure. Journal of College Student Development 38(4), 387-399.

• Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45, 89-125.

• Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving College: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (1st ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

• Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving College: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (2nd ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Contact us:

Sandra Picciuca, spicci@uic.edu

Justin Wier, jrjustin@uic.edu

Thank you for participating today!