Faculty and the First-Year Experience

The First-Year Experience is an important transitional time in a student’s academic life.  Research shows that students who are supported through first-year programming to complete their first year of coursework are more likely to persist to the second year and beyond, have higher GPAs, and are more likely to graduate on time (Inside Higher Ed, December 2023).  Although there are many influential factors in this support and success, the faculty plays a key role in a student’s academic life.  At Chico State, we want to support faculty in supporting first-year students in the best ways pedagogically.  We have several ways of providing this support.  Please check out our offerings below and see if anything sounds like a good fit for you. You can reach out for more information or join us at our next First-Year Faculty Community of Practice meeting.

UNIV 120 (previously UNIV 101):  This is the flagship course of the First-Year Experience program, providing students with a General Education course (Area 4) designed specifically to support the transition into college and focused on helping students to understand themselves as emerging adults and professionals, approach college with curiosity and realistic expectations, building healthy peer and faculty relationships, strengthening academic inquiry/research skills, exploring major/career/interest exploration and mapping, and resource identification and exploration.  Faculty members interested in teaching this course are asked to participate in a Faculty Cohort focused on pedagogical alignment, supporting Peer Academic Leaders in the classroom, and offering a consistent course experience across all sections.  This work is supported by a stipend for the time spent outside of the normal class prep and grading. 

FYE-Supported GE Courses:  If you teach a 100-level General Education course and are interested in support with course design ideas specifically tailored to the first-year student, we can help!  Our support focuses on data-driven success strategies, including: 

• Social pedagogies to promote learning and belonging.
• Public Sphere Pedagogy - our signature pedagogy at Chico State FYE that provides project-based learning with a civic dimension
• Purpose-driven coursework that provides authentic learning experiences.
• An embedded undergraduate research experience.
• Reflective writing/metacognitive learning.

FYE support for Major FYE Courses:  If you have a course in your major that is focused on supporting first-year students in their transition to college and your major, we may be able to help provide some support in the more general aspects of course design!  

Public Sphere Pedagogy has been the cornerstone of Chico State’s First-Year Experience program since its inception.  Through events like the Town Hall Meeting in POLS 155, the Great Debate in previous iterations of CMST 131 and 132, and most recently with Sense of Place in UNIV 101, JOUR 130, and CMST 132.  Other courses have held their own unique events with the support of FYE including a HIST 130 section that worked with Chico Historical Museum to bring student projects to that space and a GEOG 101 course that had students present research in the Gateway Museum.  The goal of Public Sphere Pedagogy is to move course conversations out of the classroom and into the public space empowering student voices and building civic identity.  

If you are interested in exploring Public Sphere Pedagogy opportunities for your course, you can check out our PSP Toolboxes and reach out for additional support we might be able to provide.