First-Year Academic Experience and Enrichment

Project Sponsor

Emanuel Pollack, Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs

Project Team

Spencer Long
Sandra Picciuca
Angela Prazza Winters
Phil Vasquez

Lead and Description

Project Lead

Justin Wier

Project Objectives

The purpose of “First-Year Academic Experience & Enrichment” project is to:

Assess the current status of first-year seminar offerings at UIC, including variety of topics, course content, course availability, and campus resources
Determine feasibility for all students to engage in first-year seminars considering UIC campus resources, including staffing and physical space. Make recommendations based on analysis.
Develop a clearinghouse of high-impact educational practices from current UIC first-year seminars, as well as peer institutions and aspirational institutions.
Create a list of critical elements of college success in first-year courses and develop suggestions on how to best incorporate high-impact educational practices into UIC first-year courses to improve persistence, retention, and graduation.
Enhance communication among first-year seminar instructors and coordinators, including sharing resources, contacts, syllabi, lesson plans, presentations, etc.
Collaborate with other Student Success Initiative projects, including the Teaching & Learning Center, Collaboration in Advising, UIC Experience, and the Orientation Experience to enhance the UIC first-year academic experience.

Management and Status Heading link

Project Management Plan

This is a document provides clarity about the project objectives, scope, expected outcomes, expectations, roles and responsibilities. Click to open the PDF file.