LTU Joins National Study of First-Year Experience

Lawrence Tech is one of only a handful of colleges and universityites selected to participate in the 2008-2009 cohort for the Foundations of Excellence (FoE) in the First College Year, a national project on higher education excellence.

The project, sponsered by the National Policy Center on the First Year of College, is designed to help the LTU community evaluate and improve upon the overall experience of first-year college students. The goal of this yearlong study is to enhance new-student learning and retention at LTU through systematic appraisal and improvement of policies, programs, and procedures.

The nonprofit National Policy Center was established in 1999 with support from the Lumina Foundation for Education, one of the nation's largest nonprofit educational research organizations. Its Foundations of Excellence project has involoved hudreds of colleges and universities since 2003 in developing the standards that constitute a model first year experience. Cohort members, including LTU, will work with the Policy Center and its survey partner to measure their effectiveness in recruiting admitting, orienting, supporting, advising, and teaching first-year students.

LTU's participation in the FoE project will be co-directed by Associate Provost Dr. Steven Howell, First Year Programs Coordinator Dr. Gladys Aviles, Applications Analyst in Institutional Research Larry Chestnutt, and Director of Institutional Research and Academic Planning Mary Thomas. All four co-directors attended a two-an -a-half day Policy Institute launch meeting in North Carolina this past summer, participating in comprehensive training for the FoE project.

Additional project oversight is provided by the LTU steering committee, listed in the sidebar at right, and a Policy Center staff member assigned to LTU, who provides on- and off-site consultation and coaching throughout the study. Four subcommittees, comprised of faculty, staff, and students at LTU, will analyze data collected relating to specific areas such as diversity, transition, and organizational development.