S1 - E91 - Involving faculty with small groups during Fall Welcome Week to start creating connections (Culture)

A fun way to include faculty in creating a culture of care and concern is to involve them in our retention efforts from the very beginning of the semester. Each year, during our Fall Welcome Week, we split up all our new incoming students into small groups based on similar interests and hobbies. We then carve out some time during our welcome week for these groups of students to enjoy their interest or hobby together. For example, if their shared interest is Harry Potter, they may watch a Harry Potter movie as a group. Or, if their shared hobby is mountain biking, they may go for a ride all together. When we first started this interest-based group model, we had faculty who share the same hobby tell us they would love to join these students during these times set aside on the Welcome Week schedule. From there we invited all interested faculty to participate and have had a tremendous level of involvement. Most importantly, the students love having the faculty tag along and enjoy getting to know them on this level before classes begin for the semester. We have found that this partnership breaks down some of the anxiety and fear about the faculty role and helps students know that faculty are normal people just like them.

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