College Initiatives

MIKE CURB COLLEGE OF ARTS, MEDIA, AND COMMUNICATION

Peer mentoring program that promotes retention and academic success by building an early connection with the college for first-time freshmen students. This is achieved through one-on-one mentoring, workshops, and a Canvas page. Workshops include topics such as time management, student involvement, academic resources, success mindset, connecting with faculty, and career skills. Students who attend a pre-determined number of workshops receive a certificate of excellence.

DAVID NAZARIAN COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

Welcome Back Week

Held all day on Tuesday and Wednesday of the first week of classes. This is an opportunity to meet Nazarian College staff and faculty who welcome students back to campus with food, beverages, and giveaways, as well as information about college resources.

Nazarian College Fair

All day event. Students are provided with breakfast, lunch and dinner, and information on student resources. This is an opportunity to meet the College’s student clubs and departments/programs, as well as representatives from many CSUN departments/programs and resources.

End of semester De-Stress for Success

Held all day on Monday and Tuesday of the week before finals. Nazarian College staff and faculty support students with free healthy food and beverages, scantrons, blue books, pencils and stress balls. Other CSUN participants include University Counseling Services, Oasis Wellness Center, and Mitchell Family Counseling.

MICHAEL D. EISNER COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Interactive workshop for students placed on Academic Probation. This workshop is hosted by the Deaf Studies academic advisor in a comfortable and supportive environment. Students have the opportunity to connect with one another and share challenges and obstacles that they face throughout the semester. Conversation includes academic policies, planning and setting SMART Goals, and information on campus resources.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

Two courses that help lay the foundation for upper division engineering and computer science courses were identified as having historically high DFU rates. The College determined to offer experimental sections of the courses during Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 to see if they could improve pass rates.

CE 296SI was offered with a supplemental instruction section for the review of sample problems, alongside five traditional sections of CE 240 Engineering Statics. The DFU rate in CE 296SI was 2% compared to the average of 19% for the traditional sections.

COMP 196AA/L was offered as a stretch version of the class, alongside seven traditional sections of COMP 110/L. The DFU rate for COMP 196AA/L was 8% compared to an average of 28% for the traditional sections.

Enrollment in both experimental sections were 40-50% higher than in the traditional sections. Initial outcomes appear to be promising and will continue to be examined.

COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

The College created a Canvas module podcast for incoming Freshman to familiarize them with their major/career choice, on-campus resources, study skills, time management skills, and the role that advisors play in their academic careers. Announcements for upcoming events are sent through this Canvas site as well.

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES

Welcome Back

Fall celebration to welcome students back to campus and to foster connection to the college community. Students meet and interact with faculty and staff in the college and are provided with information about campus resources.

Meet the Associate Dean

Spring event to empower students and give them the opportunity to provide feedback to the college. Students meet and interact with members of the Dean’s Office, as well as faculty, staff, advisors, and representatives from several campus resources.

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS

College Advising Committee

Bi-monthly College Advising Committee meetings have improved communication between College faculty and staff advisors. These meetings provide space to discuss changes in curriculum, raise issues or concerns occurring within different areas, and provide updates from the campus advising community to the committee.

Early intervention

The College Advising Committee suggested an early intervention for a targeted group of college sophomores to provide them with additional information on several topics including e-advising tools, social belonging, major and career exploration, and financial literacy.

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

The College created the “Life of an SBS Student” timeline to identify and address academic, social, and personal needs at pivotal moments in the student’s journey towards completion. Keeping with the four pillars of student success: learning, engagement, progress, and completion, this initiative is a year-long program series that includes SAP Appeal advising and assistance, college-hosted New Student Orientation, several welcome back events in fall and spring for both general and specific populations, a Spring Success Series of life-skills workshops, and a concluding finals week event each semester. Along with the four pillars, some of the priorities embedded in all programming are community building, dissemination of college-based and campus resources, interaction with faculty, staff, and peers, and information about opportunities for continued growth.