A Great Connection
Service Learning
and the First-Year Experience
Carolyn Brown
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
Jonathan Franz
Provost and Academic Vice President
2005 International Conference on the First-Year Experience
Mission Statement
Tusculum College remains true to its
origins as a church-related institution of
higher learning in the civic republican
tradition by developing educated citizens
distinguished by academic excellence,
public service, and qualities of JudeoChristian character.
Tusculum in Brief
• Founded in 1794
• Presbyterian Heritage
• 900 Traditional Students
learning on a focused onecourse-at-a-time calendar
1500 Working Adult Students
Accelerated cohort schedule
Multiple sites in E. Tennessee
The Residential College
Over 900 students in
more than 30 majors
Civic Arts – Education
for Citizenship
Commons Core
Curriculum
Block Schedule
Commons Program Mission
Tusculum seeks to graduate individuals
who will become engaged in their
communities in various ways and who will
know how to most effectively achieve the
common good and justice in a global
context.
OLIC - Our Lives in Community
An examination of public and private roles
of citizens in immediate communities.
Course Emphases:
• Community – Issues of Interdependence
• Civic Arts – A Different Type of Education
• Skills – Analytical Reading
• Service – Making Contributions
Nettie McCormick Service Day
• Motivational speaker
kicks off the day
• Entire campus
mobilizes in service to
local communities
• Campus picnic wraps
up Nettie Day events
Why drop OLIC?
• Insufficient integration with Orientation
Weekend organized by Student Affairs
• Inconsistent expectations
• Decreased faculty buy-in over time
• Shift in emphasis over time
– Heavy emphasis on testing reading skills
– Lessening emphasis on adjustment issues
New Commons Curriculum
• The Tusculum Experience – Extended
Freshman Orientation
• Foundational Skills Courses - English, Math,
Computer Science
• Studies in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Arts/Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social
Sciences, Wellness
• Western Civic and Religious Traditions
• Engaged Citizenship: Issues and Action
Why Change Nettie Day?
• Increased enrollment presented
insurmountable logistical challenges
• Connection to Block 1 courses highly
tenuous, esp. after dropping OLIC
• Cost for travel became prohibitive