Orienting and welcoming first-year students to campus and to honors programs are often key components of program development. At an institutional level, successful orientation programs can positively affect retention rates from the first to second year. The greater a student's involvement and integration into the life of the university, the less…

Planning programs with learning outcomes that address diversity issues on campus can become fairly routine--a "plug and play" task--for a director of multicultural student affairs at a private, religious, predominantly white liberal arts university. However, connecting with African American and other minority students when they arrived on campus…

This conference was designed to assist educators and administrators at small colleges in the planning, implementing, and refining of programs designed to enhance students' first-year experience. The conference addressed the special environments, challenges, and opportunities for success in the first-year experience. Conference presentations were…

Discusses development of the LTH (Lund Institute of Technology) program, which combines an orientation process with a support system to help new students in their transition from secondary school to university studies. Essential components of the program seek to stimulate the learning process of students, while encouraging them to find a balance…

Many students are unaware that academic difficulties may be related to their sleep habits. This article introduces key elements of a student sleep education program that can be easily incorporated into many universities first-year orientation classes or as part of residential housing programs. (Author)

Literature on faculty relationships with new students (freshmen and transfers) as it relates to orientation programs is reviewed, and an experimental Brigham Young freshman mentoring program and its outcomes are discussed. Short-range goals were achieved, students were positively influenced, and program continuance was supported. (MSE)

Categorizes for college orientation staff a social and academic diversity of developmentally oriented programs and activities offered in terms of their time frameworks: summer or precollege programs, freshman week activities, short-term seminars and workshops, term or semester courses, and year-long and ongoing programs. (ABL)

Describes an economically and educationally effective experimental approach to orientation, developed by the University of Kentucky, involving the creation and implementation of videotapes on topics of interest to freshmen. (NRB)

Considerations to be made in developing a new student orientation program include program aims and foundations, audience, scheduling and length, funding, delivery, staffing issues, content, and evaluation of program effectiveness. Sources for further information and advice are suggested. (MSE)

Laney's Success Model for First-Year Students attempts to increase retention by accommodating students and encouraging learning. It requires an institutional commitment for student academic success and tries to dispel the forces of attrition: academic boredom, difficulty adjusting to college life, and academic underpreparedness. The first-year…

This report presents the findings for public four-year colleges and universities that participated in ACT's 2010 What Works in Student Retention survey. The report contains information pertinent to only these institutions. Appended are: (1) Data for Public Four-Year Colleges and Universities; and (2) What Works in Student Retention: Instrument.…