Dennis Pruitt Provided a Charge for the Group Highlighting Six Main Points

Orientation Design Committee

Meeting Notes – October 10, 2013

Dennis Pruitt provided a charge for the group highlighting six main points:

-  Logistics

-  Programming

-  Improvement

-  Institutional Buy-In

-  Communication/Sharing

-  Consensus

The group determined a meeting schedule to provide 7 total meetings by the end of December.

The committee discussed some of the base elements for planning purposes:

2-day sessions for freshman, 1-day sessions for transfers

12 (2-day) sessions for freshman from mid-June through the end of July

-  Sessions will double in size: 400-425 students

4 (1-day) sessions for transfer from mid-June through the end of July

-  May have an early session for system transfers in late April (approx. 150 students)

2 transfer dates and 1 freshman date in August

Location for 2-day sessions: Colonial Life Arena and Russell House (back-up Coliseum)

-  Strong preference for CLA

-  Need to finalize dates; issues determining CLA availability need to be resolved as soon as possible

Students will stay overnight on-campus (Patterson)

-  Parents can elect on-campus housing also

Student Leader Staffing (role, responsibilities/compensation, training & recruitment)

-  Will hire 34-36 orientation leaders (up from 24 currently) to manage 2-day program

-  Focus is on leadership experience; not just a “job”

Curriculum categories

-  Will discuss during next 2 meetings

-  Bethany to bring sample 2-day programs as catalyst for conversation at next meeting

Other Notable Discussion Points:

-  Loren expressed that we are unable to successfully deliver classes to more than 5,000 freshmen, resulting in 5,000 being our maximum. Jed agreed. Others confirmed additional service delivery and capacity issues.

-  Jed indicated there must be a day between freshman and transfer orientation so Engineering faculty can be prepared for transfer advising.

-  Bethany shared there is a plan to provide an orientation resource guide rather than departments submitting individual brochures. There was a very positive response from the group about moving away from many brochures. There was an interest in making sure the resource guide provides a consistent message and information that is timely for students.

-  There was discussion about the interest of some colleges to provide a college-specific orientation with students and parents prior to advising students.