I-64 Not Just the First But All
Student Transitions: One
Institution’s Story
Session I-64 p.32
Leon Book
Director
Student Transitions & First-Year Experience
12th Annual Students in Transition Conference
Costa Mesa, CA
November 2005
Southeast Missouri State
University
Experience Southeast…
Experience Success
Personal Professional Practical
Bear with Me…
Ah, PowerPoint…
I promise…
Transition Initiative Components
Academic Planning
 Experiential Learning:
Internship/Practicum
 Declaration of Major:
Department Welcome
 First Upper-Division Course in Major:
Mentoring
 Departmental Exit Requirements
(e.g., portfolios)
 Commencement
 Career Planning
 Orientation (First STEP)
 First-Year Experience
Transitions?
Into College
Into a Major
Into a Profession
Transitions!
Get in
Get connected
Get settled
Get through
Get out
Get on with their lives
Transitions!!
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New daily/weekly schedule (new lifestyle, really)
Investigating career options within a major
Making new friends and losing old ones
Researching/choosing study abroad opportunities
Joining discipline-specific organizations
Maintaining GPAs at critical levels
Financial aid issues, especially re/loss of scholarships
Choosing a minor
Researching/choosing graduate school vs. job market
Planning for MFAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, etc.
Dealing with first “low” grades in their lives!
Choosing between apartment living vs. residence hall
More Transitions!!
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Dealing with the likelihood of post-graduation debt
 College loans
 Car, property, credit card?
Connecting vocation choices with life values (e.g.,
religion, politics)
Discovering need for tolerance for ambiguity
Mentoring new students in majors and/or support
programs
Meeting life partners
 Or not!
TransitionsDirectory-1.doc
The Promise (“The Three P’s”)
Personal
attention
Professional
Practical
education
real-world experience
Southeast’s “University Studies”
Program Structure
•
UI100 required first-year interdisciplinary
seminar
3 hrs.
•
1 course in each of 12 categories of
knowledge
36 hrs.
•
2 interdisciplinary courses at the 300-level
6 hrs.
•
1 interdisciplinary course at the 400-level
3 hrs.
•
Total
48 hrs.
The Nine University Studies
Objectives
Students will demonstrate …
1. the ability to locate and gather information.
2. capabilities for critical thinking, reasoning
and analyzing.
3. effective communication skills.
4. an understanding of human experiences and
the ability to relate them to the present.
5. an understanding of various cultures and
their interrelationships.
The Nine University Studies
Objectives
Students will demonstrate …
6. the ability to integrate the breadth and
diversity of knowledge and experience.
7. the ability to make informed, intelligent value
decisions.
8. the ability to make informed, sensitive
aesthetic responses.
9. the ability to function responsibly in one's
natural, social and political environment.
Parallel Processes:
Depth & Breadth
 Major
 Technical
 University
expertise
 Specialized
knowledge
 Get that first job
Studies
 Life skills
 Keep that job and
advance
 Be the kind of person
others want to work
with
or for!
Career Proficiency Checks
Required
of entering
students Fall 2005
No Cost to students--only
time and energy
Connect academic planning
and career planning
Career Paths: Confirmation/Help
CL001
0.0
credit 1st or 2nd semester
 Students complete FOCUS
during UI100 as part of their
grade in the course.
Co-requisite: UI100
Career Paths: Confirmation/Help
CL002
0.0
credit 2nd/3rd/4th semesters
 Students
discuss FOCUS results
with career counselors.
 Students start their profiles on
GreatHires.org
Prerequisite:
CL001.
Career Paths: Confirmation/Help
CL003
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0.0 credit 4th/5th/6th semesters
 Students draft a resume and a cover letter.
 directed to an actual person that might offer
internship, practicum, part-time and/or
summer job.
 Students update their profiles on GreatHires.org
 Students control who has access to their
information and when!!
Prerequisite: CL002.
Leads to…CL004
0.0
credit 7th/8th semesters
Students update/complete their
profiles on GreatHires.org.
Students submit final resumes.
Students complete mock
interviews as needed.
How? A Partnership with Division of
Workforce Development (DWD)
 DWD
employees working on Southeast
campus:
4
Developmental career counselors working
alongside academic advisors
 Located in strategic locations across campus
 Other
DWD personnel in Missouri Career
Centers for placement career counseling
How? A Partnership with Division of
Workforce Development (DWD)
 Southeast
employees
 Career
professionals
 Academic advising coordinators in
colleges and schools
 Faculty advisors/ mentors
 Students
get the help they need
when they need it but…
 Only the help they need!
Group Work:
3
advantages to such a
partnership
3 challenges in such a
partnership
ADVANTAGES
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Table-Advantages.doc
CHALLENGES
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Table-Challenges.doc
Complications/Issues
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Transfer students
 e.g., RN to BSN
nursing students
Returning students
 Guidelines Matrix
Regional campuses
Online degree programs
Administrative structure
 Organizational Chart
Table-Challenges.doc
Where Institutions Can Find
Assistance:
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National Resource Center on the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition (NRC)
 http://www.sc.edu/fye
Policy Center on the First Year of College (PCFYC)
 http://www.brevard.edu/fyc
National Orientation Directors Association (NODA)
 http://www.nodaweb.org
Association of Deans and Directors of University Colleges and Undergraduate Studies (AD&D)
 http://www.bsu.edu/web/adandd
Association for General & Liberal Studies (AGLS)
 http://www.bsu.edu/web/agls
Council on the Administration of General and Liberal Studies (CAGLS)
 http://cstl.semo.edu/cagls
American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)
 http://www.aacu.edu.org
Network for Academic Renewal Conferences
 http://www.aacu.org/meetings
American Association for Higher Education (AAHE)
 http://www.aahe.org
Contact me!
Leon Book, Director
Student Transitions & First-Year Experience
Southeast Missouri State University
Mail Stop 4300
Cape Girardeau, MO 63701
573-651-2688
e-mail: [email protected]
Please complete session
evaluation!
 Session
#I-64, p.32
 Session Leader: Leon Book
 Session Title Summary:
 “All Student Transitions”
Thanks for Joining
Me!
--Leon
Experience Southeast…
Experience Success
Personal, Professional, Practical