Discovery – Office of Faculty Engagement

Note: all instructors will receive the same notice from associate deans of their respective college/school.

Dear Colleagues,

As faculty, you advise students with the goal that they critically think about their learning and make curricular decisions accordingly. Academic Success staff look forward to partnering with you in the advising process.

First-year students are required to participate in continual orientation (Advising 101) by completing a mandatory advising lab prior to the advising period for first-year students (November 6 through 10). There are four major outcomes for the first semester sessions:

1. Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the General Education Curriculum.
2. Students will be able to navigate the three major registration systems: degree audit, course search, and my Stetson One Stop.
3. Students will be able to articulate what they would like to learn and demonstrate how they can use Stetson University curriculum and high impact practices to design a unique learning experience.
4. Students will prepare tentative and alternate courses for Spring 2018 and key questions for their meetings with their faculty advisors.

Subsequently, first-year students should come to faculty advising meetings more prepared and with a better understanding of the curriculum, the logistics of registration, and deeper thinking about their own learning goals. A tangible outcome of the advising lab will be that students will enter at least 4 courses for the spring 2018 term in the planner in Degree Audit. Students must complete the Advising 101 Lab and meet with their advisor to obtain their registration PIN before they register.

First-year Discovery students and first-year Biology students will complete this lab in person; all other first-year students must complete an online lab through Blackboard.

Please direct any questions about this matter to your Associate and Assistant Dean(s) or Stacy Collins in Academic Success.

Thank you for your partnership in this important work!

George Glander, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences

on behalf of the Council of Undergraduate Associate Deans

Stetson University has renewed its emphasis on guiding Discovery Students through the process of exploring a major. In our efforts to have a more intentional process of discovery for these students and to encourage the development of a ‘home’ in the Discovery major, we have launched a pilot Discovery cohort project in Fall 2017 comprising three important components:

Small Discovery Student Cohorts
Five first year seminars have been designated as Discovery FSEMs. Discovery students will be encouraged to register for one of these seminars:

The Search for Wisdom (Queen-Sutherland)
Hero’s Journey (Distler)
Water, Peace & Prosperity (de Bodisco)
Writing for the Health of It (Radley)
Medicines, Drugs and Toxins (York)

Linked Courses
Registered students will be automatically enrolled in one other specific course whose content aligns well with the FSEM and is a common course taken by students in their first semester.

SOCI 101S – Understanding Society: An Introduction to Sociology (Auyong)
- Every Hero Has a Story
BIOL 142P – Introductory Biology: Animal and Plant Physiology (Work)
- Medicines, Drugs, and Toxins
PSYC 101S – Introduction to Psychology (King)
- The Search for Wisdom
ECON 103S – Essentials of Economics (Sanders)
- Water, Peace, and Prosperity
BIOL 142P – Introductory Biology: Animal and Plant Physiology (May)
- Writing for the Health of It

Professional Advising
Each discovery students will be assigned a professional, secondary advisor. Miguel Ortiz Burgos, coordinator of First-Year Academic Advising, is the secondary advisor to all first year students in the Discovery program. A faculty member will continue to function as the primary advisor, and the FSEM instructor will continue to provide the mentoring component associated with the seminar.