September 2018 – Office of Faculty Engagement

Stetson requires first-year students to complete an Advising 101 Lab prior to registering for spring courses. The lab helps the students to be better prepared for meeting with their faculty advisers to discuss their academic and career goals, and the selection of spring courses that would support those goals.

First-year students were told about the labs during FOCUS. The email copied below will be sent out to them on Wednesday with specific information about how to access the lab through Blackboard. When you are contacting your advisees to arrange for advising meetings, I recommend that you encourage the first-year students to complete the Advising 101 Lab prior to meeting with you.

If students are experiencing any issues or have any questions about the Advising 101 Lab you can direct them to Academic Advising at 386-822-7345 or [email protected].

Image from newplatz.edu

In 2006, seven (7) FSEM courses were offered. By 2008, the number of sections more than tripled, and by 2010, FSEM courses had increased by almost 400% since inception. Recognizing first-time-in-college student transition into the academy required intentional support, the FSEM Program was designated HatterQuest, the academic component of Stetson’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP, 2011-2020). The FSEM has since evolved to become a critical component of students’ academic transition to and through Stetson University.

Over the past decade, the number of sections topped at 59 in step with planned enrollment growth (above). To facilitate rising enrollment, class increases in number of students per seminar led to a decrease in sections (e.g. 53 sections in 2018).

Since implementation of the QEP, the University has witnessed positive gains in first term GPA sand resultantly, reductions in academic warning or suspension (below).

Similar gains in student’s ability to predict their Stetson grades were observed, demonstrating better understanding of collegiate expectations.

To date, Stetson University has offered 163 unique FSEM courses taught by 123 unique FSEM instructors. Teaching Apprentices, introduced in 2011, serve as peer student instructors for select courses.