February 4, 2010 — Have You Seen the Signs?
Dear Faculty, Staff & Students,
Have you noticed the black and white signs with the QEP logo? Learn more about the QEP by viewing these very short videos (both are just over one minute in length). I invite you to also review the information following these video links for a more detailed explanation of the QEP.
The QEP & First-Year Seminar
As part of the university’s reaffirmation of its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools – Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC), we have developed a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) to facilitate and enhance learning throughout the time our students are with us. Our QEP focuses on the deployment of a campus-wide First-Year Seminar for all incoming first-year students. After benchmarking best practices around the country, select components of the proposed First-Year Seminar curriculum were tested in Fall 2009. This semester, the seminar is being fully piloted in a seven sections led by instructors with extensive training in the curriculum. Following insights and feedback from the SACS-COC on-site visit team later this month, the university will initiate implementation of the First-Year Seminars in Fall 2010, beginning with more than 20 sections in the B. I. Moody II College of Business. By Fall 2013, there will be approximately 160 sections offered in all colleges across the university.
The First-Year Seminar will be a central component of our students’ first-year experience. Because incoming freshmen often are both separating from their families and choosing to live off campus, the First-Year Seminar can provide a better understanding of the university, as well as promote an attachment with and a sense of belonging to UL Lafayette. The First-Year Seminar, known as “The Cajun Connection,” provides a variety of ways for students to strengthen their bonds with our campus community. In the seminar, students will experience a student-campus connection through identification and use of university resources; a student-instructor connection reinforced by carefully selected, student-centered teachers; and a student-course connection through meaningful active learning experiences.
In the seminar students will be exposed to best practices in time management: health and wellness; budgeting; social media usage; and library research skills. The seminar will also cover the value and purpose of a liberal education; the meaning of academic integrity; the importance of the arts; and models for solving problems and resolving conflicts.
We want our first-year students to understand the value and take advantage of the numerous unique opportunities and services we offer at UL Lafayette. And we want them to become better citizens of the university and the world through exposure to service learning. The First-Year Seminar will cement a student-student connection through the use of peer mentors and team-building experiences. We want to facilitate incoming students in their development of new and lasting friendships. The importance of becoming an accepted member of the university family is highlighted in the Friends video produced by our university’s Cinematic Arts Workshop.
We thank you for welcoming the SACS-COC on-site visit team to our campus and look forward to working with you on the full deployment of The Cajun Connection.
Sincerely,
E. Joseph Savoie
President
president@louisiana.edu