Freshmen Move Into Health & Environment Community

‘Speed Dating’ With Faculty a Big Success

Organizers of the SHE Living Learning communities include Arlee Dulak and Christyn Toomey, assistant director of Residence Life.

Organizers of the SHE Living Learning communities include Arlee Dulak and Christyn Toomey, assistant director of Residence Life.

09/02/2011
By Karen Angelo

Students could spend all semester getting to know their professors, or they could just do what students in the School of Health and Environment did – ‘speed date’ with faculty.
 
This was just one of the fun events planned for incoming freshmen in the School of Health and Environment (SHE) who recently moved into a ‘living learning’ community in Fox Hall where students with similar majors live on the same floors.

“The speed dating event was a great way to break the ice and get students talking,” said Arlee Dulak, an organizer of student retention initiatives within SHE and lecturer in the Clinical Laboratories and Nutritional Sciences Department. “It was such a fun event with both faculty and students getting to know each other in a short amount of time.”
 
After moving in, students were formally welcomed to the University by Dean Shortie McKinney.

“We are truly bridging the academic experience with where the students live and spend a lot of their time,” said McKinney. “Having professors and graduate tutors in their residence halls, the students are more likely to see a positive effect on their grades.” 

Building on last year’s success of health professions students living and studying in common areas in Fox Hall, this year's program promises to be even better. The students will have access to faculty-led study sessions, tutoring services and computer labs. Faculty and graduate-level tutors will hold regularly scheduled office hours in each of the communities, offering study tips, clarifying course information and providing support for exam prep.