'The year of the freshman' at IU Kokomo

In China, it's the "year of the Rat;" for politicians, it's the year for presidential elections. But at IU Kokomo, it's a different kind of year: the year of the student and, above all, the year of the freshman.

Fall 1996 saw the largest number ever of full-time freshmen entering IUK in its 50-year history, an unprecedented surge from last year to this. On campus we've congratulated our Admissions Office and everyone who helped recruit in the past year, but off campus, community leaders point to another factor.

They tell us they believe the word is out that IUK provides a quality education, that our faculty and the facilities are first rate, that the new library, with its gallery and auditorium is spacious, beautiful and well equipped. The word is out that we care about students and that student success is our top priority.

Even before we knew how many would be joining us, we had committed to a new curricular program for all incoming freshmen, called Freshman Seminar, the best introduction and welcome to college life and college demands that our faculty could devise.

Additionally, we had reallocated funds to establish an office dedicated to student retention: the Office of Undergraduate Education, bringing together tutoring, advising and counseling. The assistant vice chancellor for undergraduate education is heading up a broad-based task force of faculty, staff and students to develop new or improved strategies to reduce attrition; to anticipate and address student problems before they become insurmountable.

Student learning is at the heart of our campus mission. Some of that learning is taking place off campus through internships, clinical experiences and supervised volunteer service in community agencies. Student nurses work in the Rescue Mission and in the Clinic of Hope, agencies as sensitive to human needs in Kokomo as their names imply.

Student teachers (and also many IUK faculty, staff and alums) volunteer as "Book Buddies" for kindergarten and first-grade children who have not yet mastered reading. Students serve as volunteer mentors for junior high and high school students in IUK's five- year-old "Destination: Education IUK" program.

Everything new that we've embarked on this year centers on students and on the learning that takes place in and out of class. New resources for students include a personal counseling center, campus climate office, undergraduate education office and peer mentoring office.

Every day and in every way, IUK is celebrating the year of the student.

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