Orientation programs on college campuses across the United States exist to serve the needs of new students to transition and thrive in their new setting. Some students may arrive on campus for even more specialized programs beyond traditional orientation programs, such as athletic practice, that focus on academic courses or involve a wilderness…

This article describes the Transition Program implemented at a liberal arts college for newly enrolled students who have the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The diagnosis of ASD has risen dramatically; consequently, more students are arriving on college campuses with needs related to social pragmatic functioning. The Transition…

In November 2011, the author--Ivan Fuller, a professor of theatre and associate dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Rider University--attended a joint symposium of the American Conference of Academic Deans and Phi Beta Kappa that was designed to wrestle with the question of why the humanities matter. At one session, participants…

Johnson C. Smith University, a historically black university in North Carolina, created a Case Manager Program for their Freshman Academy Learning Community. This case study describes how the program was designed, implemented, and assessed. Case Managers are neither faculty nor student affairs professionals yet they are an integral part of the…

The transition into college remains one of the most formative and complex phases in an individual's life. Institutions of higher learning have responded to the challenges facing first-year students in myriad ways, most often by offering summer orientation programs, dynamic living-learning environments, tailored academic and psychological support…

Concern over the transition to postsecondary education for students with disabilities led Ball State University personnel to create the Faculty Mentorship Program (FMP ) in the summer of 2006. The program is a model for collaboration between the disability services office, the faculty members of Ball State, and the Learning Center. The purpose of…

Higher education often supports new student transition through various orientation programs. Recently a greater focus on student spiritual growth has emerged as an important aspect. The wilderness orientation program in this study is unique because of its length (12-14 days) and its focus on students' spiritual development. The purpose of this…

This paper is a case study of a Master of Library and Information Studies degree program online option that has been unusually successful in retaining and graduating students. Design characteristics of this program that has maintained a retention rate of over 90 percent over five years are described and mapped to the literature on distance…

Over the years researchers have attempted to gather information on outdoor orientation programs. Past researchers used different sampling techniques to locate programs, but all concluded more outdoor orientation programs probably existed than they were able to find. In the fall of 2005, a research group for the present study set out to create a…

Freshmen Pre-Orientation Programs (FPOPs) can be powerful outreach tools for incoming college students and provide an exciting introduction to the field of engineering. The benefits reach not only the first year students, but also the upperclassmen who help to run the programs and the departments that sponsor them. A family of three engineering…

Following the theory that a community of practice must be comprised of three elements: domain, community, and practice (Wenger, 2001), this case study examines the extent to which a university was successful in establishing a community of learners in their orientation program for online graduate students. Specifically, it explores the objectives…

From its beginnings 25 years ago, the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu (UH-West O'ahu) has strived to provide its students, mostly working adults with an average age of 32 years, with easy access to classes and advising by maintaining flexible class schedules and office hours. When UH-West O'ahu initiated a distance education program in 1981, the…