Skip to Main Content
California State University, Chico

Why Take Courses with First-Year Experience?

FYE-Supported Courses

  • Lower division general education course (i.e. - CMST 132, CMST 255, GEOG 139, JOUR 130W, etc.)
  • Focus on peer-to-peer and faculty-student interactions instead of lecture and exam
  • Make use of social and inclusive pedagogies to promote learning and a sense of belonging
  • Emphasis on building connections with the campus and the community
  • Project-based and explicit about purpose for coursework
  • Includes reflective writing, metacognitive learning, and authentic undergraduate research experience that help in future courses
  • Students are treated as emerging professionals and innovators
  • Culminates in an FYE Public Sphere Pedagogy event, allowing for participation in learning and action beyond the classroom
  • Students are supported by embedded Peer Academic Leaders (PALs), who are more-experienced near-peers

Who enrolls in FYE-Supported Courses?

  • First-year students
    • Including first-time freshmen and transfer students in their first year at Chico State
  • Students who are interested in:
    • Interactive, hands-on learning
    • Purposeful small-group coursework where building community is a key factor in course design
    • Sharing their learning beyond the walls of their classroom with others who are interested in similar topics

UNIV Courses

  • Special Topics courses designed for students to learn college skills (i.e. - UNIV 101, UNIV 389)
    100- to 300- level courses are offered
  • Makes use of social and inclusive pedagogies to promote learning and a sense of belonging
  • Project-based and explicit about purposes for coursework
  • Includes reflective writing and metacognitive learning
  • Students are treated as emerging professionals and innovators
  • UNIV 101:
    • Culminates in an FYE Public Sphere Pedagogy event, allowing for participation in learning and action beyond the classroom
    • Students are supported by embedded Peer Academic Leaders (PALs), who are more-experienced peers

Who enrolls in UNIV Courses?

  • UNIV 101:
    • First-year students, including first-time freshmenand transfer students in their first year at Chico State
  • UNIV 389:
    • Students who are currently employed by First-Year Experience