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In the fall of 2017, the Office of Undergraduate Education partnered with the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management to embark on the Foundations of Excellence (FoE) initiative, a campuswide effort to evaluate the first-year undergraduate experience.

In the first phase of the initiative, a comprehensive self-study and improvement-planning process was guided by the Gardner Institute—a non-profit organization devoted to improving teaching, learning, retention and student success—and included partners from across campus. Over 100 faculty members, staff members and students served on nine committees led by a steering committee of 18 members.

Mary Kraus, vice provost and associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education, says first-year retention (the process of students returning for a second year) is one of the biggest issues CU Boulder faces and represents an opportunity for campus to create an improved first-year experience (FYE).

“We are asking ourselves why we are losing 13% of our first-year students and using this question as the impetus to work collaboratively and creatively to make the experience better for all our students,” Kraus said.

Pause and refocus

The FoE steering committee delivered a final report to Provost Russ Moore in May of 2018, shortly after which the steering committee decided to pause implementation.

“That pause reflected the fact that Academic Futures had not yet released its report and Financial Futures and Strategic Facilities Visioning were just gearing up,” Kraus said. “The committee decided that a period of quiescence to await results from these overlapping initiatives would ensure that all of our initiatives are aligned before we strike forward and risk duplicating efforts.”

Kraus explained that once that alignment occurred in September of 2018, the provost charged the committee to set up two key committees: the First-Year Experience Transition Committee and the Foundations of Excellence Advising Committee. Both have produced reports, which are in different stages of completion.

First-Year Experience Transition Committee

The First-Year Experience Transition Committee was co-chaired by Kraus and Kevin MacLennan, assistant vice chancellor of enrollment management. Kraus explained that this committee decided to group a number of recommendations from the FoE report and attempt to address all of them by re-envisioning the first year to include a residential experience for all students.

“Fifty percent of our students are able to experience a Residential Academic Program, or RAP,” Kraus said. “The committee decided that we will do everything we can to try to provide first-year learning communities at no additional cost for 100% of the entering class, including the commuter students.”

The committee submitted a draft report on expanding first-year academic experiences for undergraduate students, which is posted on the website for campus input; the final report with campus input will be submitted to the provost in early May.

Foundations of Excellence Advising Committee

The Foundations of Excellence Advising Committee was led by Assistant Vice Provost for Advising and Exploratory Studies Shelly Bacon and Associate Dean for Students in the College of Engineering & Applied Science Mary Steiner.

“The goal of that committee was to provide a more cohesive, consistent advising experience for all of our first-year students,” Bacon said. “In order to align with the Academic Futures report, we incorporated into our charge an overall review of advising services and structures across campus and development of a roadmap for empowering all advisors to serve as a source of holistic student support.”

After receiving extensive stakeholder feedback during a campus input period, the committee submitted its final report and key recommendations to Kraus and Moore. The report outlines recommended improvements to CU Boulder’s campuswide advising structure.

Next steps

The Foundations of Excellence Advising Committee has completed its work and submitted its final report. The First-Year Experience report is available for campus input until May 1. The resource needs related to both projects sit with the Financial Futures retention work stream.

Bacon explained that once the provost has had the opportunity to review both reports and request any clarifications, she expects he will establish an implementation committee to sharpen the charge for both efforts.

“Once we get feedback from the provost and campus leadership, as well as from the leadership of other initiatives (such as Financial Futures), we will convene a diverse group of stakeholders, advisors and students to move toward implementation,” Bacon said. “With clear direction, the people closest to the current advising structures are the very people we want to involve in the conversation.”

Kraus expressed similar expectations about next steps for the First-Year Experience Committee.

“What the FYE report does is set out a broad picture of what this should look like,” Kraus explained. “The committee has recommended that the provost set up an implementation committee to further define the details of the vision.”

Visit the strategic initiatives webpage to learn more about each of the initiatives and to see schedules for town halls, meetings and other engagement opportunities. You can provide feedback on the strategic initiatives to the provost and senior vice chancellor by sending an email to vcaa@colorado.edu.