Photo of students sitting at desks positioned in a circle in a college classroom. A text overlay reads, "Instructor training is critical to improving outcomes with any FYE course, partially because it reorients faculty and assists in helping them approach their own classes with agency, autonomy, and ownership."

Improving Instructor Training to Reduce DFW Grades in First-Year Seminars

The first-year experience (FYE) encompasses various programmatic initiatives designed to introduce students to campus culture, assist with the transition from high school, and improve retention. At many colleges and universities, this is partially operationalized through the high-impact practice of first-year…

Two women sit together at a table, deep in conversation. Text overlay reads, “Deeper life interactions have a strong potential to positively influence students, and mentoring relationships are an opportunistic space to weave in these interactions.”

Mentoring Relationships That Go “Beneath the Surface”

Over the past few decades, numerous scholars have conducted research on mentoring relationships in college (Crisp and Cruz 2009; Jacobi 1991). Although much has been explored and written about mentoring undergraduates, Vandermaas-Peeler and Moore (2022) recently articulated a summative and…