Many people may feel overwhelmed when coming to college for the first time. Luckily Stevens tries its best to help ease freshmen into their new lives here in Hoboken. Recently, The Stute spoke to the Vice President of Student Affairs at Stevens, Sara Klein. So why was the Stevens Freshman Year experience re-worked?
Klein explained,“The Freshman Year experience is in the process of being enhanced and improved upon. There really hasn’t been a university-wide concept of a freshman year experience in the past. My team in Student Affairs has developed a strong Orientation program along with many other events in the early fall semester geared towards first year students.”
It’s always important for any institution to make newcomers feel welcome and comfortable. When asked about the revamped CAL 103/105 courses, the summer reading book, and why they were implemented as required for all freshmen, Klein mentioned that “CAL (The College of Arts and Letters) offered 103 and 105 for all first year students, and some of the other schools also had aspects of their curriculum referred to as a first year experience.” The College of Arts and Letters have made some improvements to their first year programs. With the help of the student affairs team, they worked to “design and implement the summer reading program, which provided a shared, common experience for all of our new students, offered an introduction to important topics important to the Stevens culture, and allowed for close interaction between faculty and students during Orientation with the book discussions.” Klein discussed how the committee of students, faculty, and administrators decided on “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” for the summer reading because it focused on ethical issues in the sciences and presented the issues of social justice.
Another improvement in this year’s freshman experience is the changes made to the New Student Convocation. Klein describes these changes as “moving the ceremony to the first week of classes, removing aspects of the ceremony that didn’t directly involve new students, and adding a keynote speaker to set the tone for the academic experience at Stevens.” In the following years, Klein plans to make the First Year Experience a university-wide conversation to make changes in order to ensure a great first year for students. The Office of Student Affairs wants to make sure they are helping First Year Students with their transition into college.
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