A publication of University 101 Programs, University of South Carolina.

Transitions is the customized textbook for students in the University of South Carolina's University 101 first-year seminar. It includes both general and institution-specific information for first-year students. Topics include time management, academic success strategies, career development, information literacy, health and wellness, and values and identity. An ideal model for institutions working to design a custom-published first-year seminar text.

A publication of University 101 Programs, University of South Carolina.

The University 101 Faculty Resource Manual, 2022 is the 13th 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.

To order the PDF - please send an email request to stylusinfo@styluspub.com which includes your full name, billing address, and phone number. We will call you to obtain your payment information, after which we will email you the PDF.

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.

The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition has been studying the structure and administration of high-impact practices in the first college year for nearly three decades. 

This package offers the most comprehensive landscape study of these initiatives to date, drawing on analysis of the 2017 National Survey of the First-Year Experience. The survey includes sections on overall institutional attention to the first year, as well as common first-year programs including first-year seminars, academic advising, orientation, common-reading initiatives, early-alert programs, learning communities, and residential programs.

The package includes:

2017 National Survey on the First-Year Experience: Creating and Coordinating Structures to Support Student Success, a paperback report of the major findings of the survey with analysis of specific first-year initiatives written by scholars and practitioners in the field.

Response Frequencies from the 2017 National Survey on the First-Year Experience, an eBook which contains comprehensive data tables including responses to all survey items disaggregated by institutional type, control, and first-year cohort size.