Curriculum Resources

First-Year Programs

The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition
The National Resource Center collects and disseminates information about the first college year and other student transitions to assist educators at the University of South Carolina and throughout the world to enhance the learning, success, satisfaction, retention, and graduation of college students in transition.  In addition to the web site, the Center organizes national and international conferences, seminars, and workshops; engages in research; and publishes a scholarly journal, newsletter, monograph series, and other publications; and maintains three internet listservs.

The First Year Experience, The College of New Jersey/Ewing
Identified by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) as a 1997 Exemplary Program, the The College of New Jersey's FYE program was piloted in 1992, with full implementation in 1995. The objectives of the FYE, developed from the college's vision statement with its focus on service, excellence, diversity, and community, stress the integration of all aspects of the students' lives with their intellectual and personal development. The program's three major components are: the IDSC 151 Athens to New York course; a 10-hour service learning experience as part of the course; and the common residence experience for first-year students.

LEAD Scholars Program
The University of Central Florida established the LEAD Scholars Program in 1995 as a means of targeting talented first-year students and integrating them with the academic and co-curricular aspects of college life. To support the university's goals, the LSP specifically assists in offering the best undergraduate education available in Florida, becoming a more inclusive and diverse institution, and becoming America's leading partnership university. LSP exists and is dedicated to providing high-quality educational experiences and leadership opportunities to prepare students for positions of leadership both inside and outside the University community.

Strengthening First-Year Student Learning at Doctoral/Research-Extensive Universities
The Policy Center on the First Year of College provides a collection of descriptions of programs and strategies intended to improve first-year-student learning outcomes at research universities. The narratives were contributed directly by the participating universities.

AAC&U offers these resources only as possible models of interest and has not submitted each of them to any substantial peer or quality review. If you have questions about any particular resource, please contact the institution sponsoring it directly.