A publication of University 101 Programs, University of South Carolina. The University 101 Faculty Resource Manual, 2023 is the 14th edition of the publication and builds off previous versions. This edition has been updated to reflect best practices for teaching a first-year seminar. The first nine chapters constitute the “textbook” for U101 instructors and were written by University 101 Programs Staff.

Each of the 10 learning outcome chapters were developed by committees with diverse representation from across campus based on their expertise, review of literature and best practices, and approaches that have worked well in past years. The manual is updated each year based on assessment data indicating which approaches work best for achieving course outcomes.

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A Faculty and Staff Guide on Supporting Sophomore Student Success is part of a series of action-oriented guides intended to blend research and practice to enhance the professional development and capacity of faculty and staff toward the ultimate goal of increasing the learning, development, transition, and success of students during their time in college or university. More specifically, this guide uses Schaller’s (2005) psychosocial developmental model, beginning with random exploration and concluding at commitment, as a framework and organizing structure to help advisors to interpret the experiences of students and then link those experiences to related learning outcomes.

Throughout this guide, readers will find questions for reflection, specific strategies for advisors, and practical tools to use when working with students at the various developmental stages. These resources align with the developmental experiences for students at each psychosocial stage.

Research suggests that as many as a quarter of all undergraduate students may find themselves on academic probation during their collegiate years. If students on probation choose to return to their institutions the semester following notification, they find themselves in a unique transitional period between poor academic performance and either dismissal or recovery. Effectively supporting students through this transition may help to decrease equity gaps in higher education. As recent literature implies, the same demographic factors that affect students’ retention and persistence rates (e.g., gender, race and ethnicity, age) also affect the rate at which students find themselves on academic probation.

This book serves as a resource for practitioners and institutional leaders. The volume presents a variety of interventions and institutional strategies for supporting the developmental and emotional needs of students on probation in the first year and beyond. The chapters in this book are the result of years of dedication and passion for supporting students on probation by the individual chapter authors. While the chapters reflect a culmination of combined decades of personal experiences and education, collectively they amount to the beginning of a conversation long past due.

Scholarship on the impact of academic recovery models on student success and persistence is limited. Historically, attention and resources have been directed toward establishing and strengthening the first-year experience, sophomore programs, and student-success efforts to prevent students from ending up on academic probation. However, a focus on preventative measures without a consideration of academic recovery program design considering the successes of these programs is futile.

This volume should be of interest to academics and practitioners focused on creating or refining institutional policies and interventions for students on academic probation. The aim is to provide readers with the language, tools, and theoretical points of view to advocate for and to design, reform, and/or execute high-quality, integrated academic recovery programs on campus. Historically, students on probation have been an understudied and underserved population, and this volume serves as a call to action.

The sophomore year represents a critical transition for students. As institutions shift their attention from these students to the incoming class, sophomores can feel unsupported as they face increased academic challenges and explore major and career options. Sophomore dropout and disengagement has led administrators, faculty, and researchers to increase their attention to these students’ unique needs.

The 2019 National Survey of Sophomore-Year Initiatives sought to explore institutional responses to and support for sophomore students. This new report reviews these findings, including institutional practices related to academic advising for sophomores. Additionally, the report offers implications for research and practice by highlighting the ways in which institutional efforts and initiatives can be better designed for responsiveness based on differences in campus context, student backgrounds, and student needs.

When it was originally released, Thriving in Transitions: A Research-Based Approach to College Student Success represented a paradigm shift in the student success literature, moving the student success conversation beyond college completion to focus on student characteristics that promote high levels of academic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal performance in the college environment. The authors contend that a focus on remediating student characteristics or merely encouraging specific behaviors is inadequate to promote success in college and beyond. Drawing on research on college student thriving completed since 2012, the newly revised collection presents six research studies describing the characteristics that predict thriving in different groups of college students, including first-year students, transfer students, high-risk students, students of color, sophomores, and seniors, and offers recommendations for helping students thrive in college and life. New to this edition is a chapter focused on the role of faculty in supporting college student thriving.

The newest edition to the National Resource Center’s series on Special Student Populations focuses on supporting LGBTQ+ students on campus. Despite increasing visibility and acceptance in some spheres, many LGBTQ+ students continue to experience a negative climate on college campuses, presenting barriers to their academic and personal success. This volume explores the last decade of research on LGBTQ+ college students with an eye toward understanding their needs and the unique conditions related to their college success. The opening chapter offers useful definitions to help ground practitioners in the current conversation. Readers will also find examples of inclusive excellence and questions for guiding
practice to promote a more inclusive learning environment not only for LGBTQ+ students but for all students on the campus.

In recent years, growth mindset, resilience, and belonging have become popular topics for research and practice among college educators. The authors of this new volume deepen the conversation around these noncognitive factors that significantly impact student success. Along with offering support for the development of learning mindsets, this book contains strategies for faculty and staff to consider as they create initiatives, programs, and assessments for use in and outside the classroom. 

Traditionally, institutional supports for college student success have been concentrated in the first and senior years, though attention to the sophomore year has increased over the last two decades. Paying attention to the second college year is vitally important, as some evidence suggests students are more likely to leave their institution during this time than they are in the first year. The case studies of sophomore initiatives featured in this volume describe programs that build on institutional objectives for the first college year and prepare students for the transition to the major and, ultimately, graduation. Rich program descriptions and discussions of assessment provide practitioners focused on designing a cohesive undergraduate experience excellent models to guide their work.