Loyola’s First-Year Experience program has received national recognition for successfully combining academics with community involvement, all in an effort to help freshmen transition into college life.
During his speech at the faculty and staff spring convocation Friday, Jan. 28, University President the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., announced the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience has recognized the quality of Loyola’s program.
“This recognition places us among the top First-Year Experience programs in the country, a recognition in which we should all take pride,” Wildes said.
As leaders in the program, Roberta Kaskel, director of the Career Development Center, and Melanie McKay, vice provost for Faculty Affairs, were both named to the honor roll of Outstanding First-Year Student Advocates.
“I’m delighted that we have planned and implemented a first-rate program. But I am only one of an extremely hard-working group of faculty and staff who have collaborated over the past three years to bring this program into being,” McKay said about the program which began planning in 2007.
Including Kaskel and McKay, the team is also comprised of the Director of Student Affairs Craig Beebe, area director of Carrollton Hall Donna Adams, professor of history Mark Fernandez, assistant professor of management Kathy Barnett, mass communication professor Leslie Parr, assistant professor of theatre arts and dance Laura Hope, and Monroe Library instructor coordinator Malia Wiley.
The staff worked collectively to create a program that combines a first-year seminar with co-curricular learning and residential programming.
“This holistic learning experience offers students a springboard for college-level work in the Common Curriculum and the majors,” McKay said.
Students like Theresa Bullington, philosophy sophomore, agreed that the program has been a positive experience of community involvement.
“It’s totally beneficial,” Bullington said. “It’s a way to get acclimated to college, to spark interest in subjects students may not know about and it puts students in close contact with their peers.”
Out-of-class events that have been done in the past include private tours at the World War II Museum, participation in the Congo Rhythm Festival, speakers like activist James Kofi Annan and author Sheryl WuDunn, film and pizza nights, and most recently, a performance by the Wild Magnolias, a Mardi Gras Indian Tribe band.
“Faculty and Student Affairs staff work together to plan out-of-class events that extend classroom study to students’ daily life,” Kaskel said about the program’s design. “This is life both in and out of the classroom; this is how a college becomes a true community.”
Vannia Zelaya can be reached at [email protected]
