ULL freshmen must volunteer in new seminar

• By MARSHA SILLS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Jun 23, 2009 - Page: 1BA

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

LAFAYETTE — The University of Louisiana at Lafayette will soon require its freshmen to serve the community under a new seminar now under development.

“Research shows that an increase in service learning and movement toward teaching civic engagement leads to better outcomes academically,” said David Yarbrough, ULL’s dean of community service and associate professor of child and family studies.

Students who participated in service learning in college are also more likely to stay involved in the community after graduation, Yarbrough said.

In the fall, the seminar will be tested with select faculty and then piloted in the spring with about 100 students, said Kerry Carson, a ULL management professor who chairs the quality enhancement plan committee.

The new freshmen seminar and mandated community service will be phased in over the next five years.

The initiative is part of the university’s quality enhancement plan, a five-year plan developed as part of its upcoming accreditation visit from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools early next year.

A need to focus on students’ first-year experience was echoed by both faculty and student committees formed as part of new president Joseph Savoie’s transition last year, Carson said.

The seminar will be designed to help students acclimate to college life and to teach time management, critical thinking, study skills, responsible social networking and other skills.

Carson said various colleges within the university require freshmen to take orientation or study-skills classes.

“The problem is there has never been an institutional approach to the process and universal agreement of what the learning goals should be for freshmen,” Carson said. “Now, we’re trying to coordinate that and bring it up to a higher quality.”

Faculty members are helping to develop the course. Scott Brazda, a ULL communications instructor and executive director of the Stuller Family Foundation, is serving as a liaison to the nonprofit community.

Many faculty members have incorporated service learning — tying classroom material to community service — into their curriculum.

There are at least 118 courses on campus with a service learning component, according to the UL System economic and community impact study released in April.