This is a reminder to please encourage eligible students to sign up for the Path Forward Program before the February 24 deadline. Attached to this email is a list of eligible students who have not yet registered for the Path Forward Program (as of yesterday), with a column listing FSEM faculty, so you can filter by your name to see which of your students have been invited and not yet registered. I’ve also reattached the flyer and FAQs here. If students have any questions about the program, they can contact studentsuccess@du.edu.
Here’s a quick note that you could send or adjust as needed:
Dear STUDENT,
I hope you are having a great quarter. You should have received a reminder to join the Path Forward Program on Monday, February 6. I encourage you to enroll before the deadline on February 24 in order to connect with DU resources that will support your academic success and to receive the financial benefits and the opportunity for priority housing. Please reach out to studentsuccess@du.edu with any questions.
Thank you for your partnership in getting the word out to students about this opportunity!
Thank you,
Kristy
*Please contact University Academic Programs for the nudge list that was originally attached to this e-mail. It includes student information so we will not post it on this site.*
Happy Tuesday! 3 announcements today to check out. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Best, Monica
**It is time to recruit those fabulous students to be 4D-Discoveries Orientation peer mentor leaders for next year! The job posting is open, and a flier is attached to send to all your students. If you have any questions, please reach out to Liz Spooner in New Student and Family Programs.
**Request from Associate Vice Provost for Public Good Strategy & Research
Hello FSEM Instructors,
As you may know, DU was among the inaugural higher education institutions to receive the prestigious Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement in 2007. This year, the University is pursuing re-classification. For more on the classification and application process, click here.
The reclassification application includes a section on how community engagement is integrated into various curricular structures. In DU’s prior application, we highlighted FSEM courses with community-engaged components – and we’d like to do so again for this application!
If you taught an FSEM during AY 21-22 that included a community-engaged component, could you let us know by replying to anne.deprince@du.edu with the following information:
· Title of your course
· Community partner/organization
· 1-3 sentences about the community-engaged component of the course
The Office of Student Success is pleased to share that we are again running the Path Forward Program, which provides additional support to eligible first-time, first-year undergraduate students as they plan for their academic paths into their second year and beyond. The program pairs positive academic behaviors with financial incentives to encourage success in their academic journeys.
Audiences for this program are those who may benefit from additional academic support to support persistence into their second year, including students who are: undeclared; on academic warning or academic probation; or received below a C, Incomplete, or withdrew in FSEM or a common curriculum course in fall 2022.
Eligible first-time, first-year students have received invitations to the program today, and students can sign up until February 24. Attached are a flyer with program information and a link to sign up, and a list of FAQs. This year, in addition to grant and/or scholarship eligibility, one of the incentives is priority housing for the first 150 students who meet certain milestones in the program.
I’ve also attached the full list of invited students, with a column listing FSEM faculty, so you can filter by your name to see which of your students have been invited. You’ll be able to see eligible students’ invitations to join Path Forward in the notes in their Inspire student record. —*Please message UAP directly for access to this list at uap@du.edu.*
I would be grateful if you could encourage your students to sign up. Here’s a quick note that you could send or adjust as needed:
Dear STUDENT,
You should have received an invitation on Friday, January 20th to join the Path Forward Program. I encourage you to enroll – in addition to financial benefits and the opportunity for priority housing, the program helps connect you to many resources at DU that will support your academic success. Please reach out to studentsuccess@du.edu with any questions. I hope you’re having a great quarter so far.
Please let me know what questions you may have about the program, and thank you for encouraging students to enroll and benefit from additional academic and financial support!
Wanted to send out several announcements today. If you attended the January professional development session on 1/13 and/or completed the faculty FSEM survey, you will receive your payments in your Feb 1 paycheck. Please be on the lookout. Hope you are all having a great week. Best, Monica
**Here is the link to the resources from the 1/13 professional development on mentoring. It was too large to send so Grace has pulled together all the info wonderful information from the panelist and put it in the FSEM resource page. Please check out the link below.
The Warren and Judy Self Awards for Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusivity in Undergraduate Teaching
Thanks to a generous gift from the Hatherly family, the University Writing Program is offering two Warren and Judy Self Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusivity in Undergraduate Teaching Awards. These awards are designed to recognize faculty (tenure, tenure track, and/or teaching and professional faculty) who have demonstrated excellence in creating diverse, accessible, and inclusive undergraduate classrooms through course content and materials, writing assignments, and pedagogical practices.
There are two Warren and Judy Self Awards for Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusivity in Undergraduate Teaching. One award will recognize a faculty member within the University Writing Program. Another award will recognize a DU faculty member outside of the Writing Program who teaches undergraduate courses. Recipients will be awarded $2500.00 and will be featured in the University Writing Program and Office of Teaching and Learning publications.
To be considered for the award, faculty must be nominated by their department chair/head or program director. Nominees will then be asked to create a packet that demonstrates how their teaching, pedagogical practices, and writing assignments embrace diversity, accessibility, and inclusivity. Evidence of such practices should be presented from multiple perspectives — the nominees’ perspective, observations or letters by other DU faculty, and information from students.
The deadline for nominee submission is February 26, 2023. Only completed packets will be considered. Award recipients will be announced in April 2023.
In their packet, nominees should include the following materials:
1. A 250–300-word cover letter with a narrative that explains the packet’s contents.
2. A letter of support from a DU faculty member.
3. Materials that exemplify diverse, accessible, and inclusive teaching practices. Nominees may include brief annotations that supplement the cover letter and explain how and why the teaching materials fit the award.
4. Any student feedback/comments/letters that support the nomination.
Applications will be reviewed by a committee composed of DU faculty and administrators.
Applications will be reviewed by a committee composed of DU faculty and administrators. Please direct any questions to Sheila Carter-Tod (sheila.carter-tod@du.edu), Executive Director of the University Writing Program, or Richard Colby (richard.colby@du.edu), Director of First-Year Writing, University Writing Program.
We have compiled resources from the1/13/23 FSEM Training on Mentorship. Please feel free to use them as you see fit to assist your students. You can access them at the top of this page: https://dufsem.com/mentorship/. Please let us know if you have any questions or cannot access the materials on the listed site.
So nice to see so many of you at the FSEM professional development session on mentoring today. Hope you enjoyed it! We have one announcement that came from the Faculty Affairs group- please see below. Have a lovely long weekend all! Thanks, Monica
**Looking for a way to “warm up” before the Provost Conference on Thursday, February 2, and Friday, February 3? Join us for three think-and-drink events in January—bite-sized engagements led by faculty and staff facilitators. And don’t forget to register for the Provost Conference!
Hyflex – Join us online via Zoom or in the OTL Conference Room (AAC 345)
Facilitated by Dr. Kayoung Kim, Director of Scholarship of Teaching & Learning and Faculty Learning Communities
Effective classroom learning is multidirectional, where students are actively engaged partners in the learning process. What can we learn from our students about effective teaching and learning? How do we facilitate meaningful connections between classroom learning and the outside world? Join your colleagues in thoughtful conversations around teaching, learning, and beyond.
1/17/23
I am sharing with FSEM faculty the WRIT course descriptions and advising info for the Spring term. Feel free to forward this to your FSEM students or share it if advising them this term. Most first-year students will take WRIT 1133 in the Spring term, and we offer a wide selection of topics to choose from.
If you have any questions (or if students have questions), please send them to me.
Hope all is going well. Please see the message below and the attachments about a new 2nd year LLC opportunity to help get the word out. Lastly, fall 2023 FSEM proposals are due this Friday. Take care- Best, Monica
**Fall FSEM 2023 proposals due date has been extended by 1 week and are now due by January 13th. The link to apply is below. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Hope you are all going to be teaching for us again next fall.
My name is Betty Hamilton, and I am the Assistant Director of the Living and Learning Communities here at DU. I wanted to let you know that we’re piloting new second-year Living and Learning Communities in AY 23-24 around two themes: 1) Social Change and 2) Health Promotion. Since you are the director of the first-year seminar program, I wanted to let you know about the opportunity and see if it would be possible to share with FSEM instructors as they continue to advise our rising second-year students. If so, flyers are attached.
If you have any questions, please feel free to let me or my colleague Anne DePrince (copied here) know.
Sincerely,
Betty Hamilton
Assistant Director, Living and Learning Communities
In the spirit of healing, I acknowledge and honor the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes, and all of the original Indigenous peoples of the land upon which the University of Denver stands. Whose land are you on?
Happy New Year and I hope everyone had a lovely Winter Break! Just 3 things for your attention this week. Have a great Winter Quarter and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Best, Monica
**FSEM Faculty 2022 Survey! Please complete this by January 10th and you will receive $150 in your Feb 1 paycheck. Thank you! Link to FSEM Faculty survey:
**In order to provide guidance on our relatively new roles as primarily mentors in Winter and Spring Quarters, our Winter Quarter professional development will be a mentorship panel. This will be held Friday, January 13, 2023 from 12-2 pm in Sturm 151.Please RSVP here. Lunch will be served, and those who attend will be paid $150 for their time.
**Lastly, the RFP call for Fall FSEM 2023 proposals due date has been extended by 1 week and due by January 13th. The RFP is attached and the link to apply is below. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Hope you are all going to be teaching for us again next fall.
Save the Date/More on FSEM mentorship in Win/Spr 2023
FSEM instructors,
Thank you all for your flexibility and feedback on the changes to FSEM advising this autumn quarter. As a reminder, you will continue to serve as part of FSEM students’ “core constellation” of mentors/advisors for the rest of the year. For some of you, you will continue to provide advising at the level of feedback on course selection and PIN deletion. For others, you might shift into a broader mentor role without advising.
We expect that all FSEM faculty will do the following during BOTH Winter and Spring Quarters:
Communicate with FSEM students about how to get advising and mentorship for the rest of their first year
Offer a quarterly meeting (group or individual), which can occur at ANY time during the term
Ascertain whether each student is connected to a DU faculty or staff member who can support their academic experience moving forward
Communicate how advising will transition into the second year (laying groundwork in Winter, encouraging connections at Spring Quarter events meant to welcome students into their majors – more on these later)
For the third bullet above (ascertain whether the student has made a connection), this faculty or staff member could be you, a professor in another course, a faculty advisor for their major, an academic or LEP advisor, a residence director, or anyone else they have made a personal connection with. If students do not volunteer this information, we encourage you to ask directly, “Have you found someone who works at DU that you’ve made an ongoing connection with? If you haven’t, let’s see how we can get you connected.”
In order to provide guidance on our relatively new roles as primarily mentors in Winter and Spring Quarters, our Winter Quarter professional development will be a mentorship panel. This will be held Friday, January 13, 2023, from 12-2 pm in Sturm 151.Please RSVP here. Lunch will be served, and those who attend will be paid $150 for their time.
If you cannot attend this event, see attached and below for some quick hints on FSEM mentorship in Winter and Spring Quarters. For those of you who also prefer to continue doing academic advising, please review the first-year advising outcomes for Winter and Spring Quarters (attached and below). As a reminder, mentorship meetings can happen at any time during the quarter.
Kateri 😊
Suggestions for group activities:
Class reunion pizza party
Meal near campus (Snarf’s, Illegal Pete’s, and Tacos el Metate are all popular).
Block of an afternoon when you have time and invite students to drop by as individuals or in groups; consider holding these meetings in the Community Commons or somewhere the students frequent
Send more than one invitation/reminder to students, and consider asking your 4D peer leader to remind the class in raftr
Suggested mentorship conversation prompts:
How is your major/major exploration going?
Have you taken any risks in your major/minor exploration?
What has been unexpectedly interesting or underwhelming in your classes?
Based on what you were surprised by, is there a topic or question you want to more deeply explore?
What connections have you noticed between the various things you’re drawn to (courses of different types, out-of-the classroom learning experiences)?
Have you noticed themes in terms of skills, interests, and values that cut across multiple aspects of your time at DU?
What kinds of things are emerging as important to you?
Are there any resources on campus that are helping you engage in self-care? Can I help you find resources that might help with that?
Are there any experiences in which you find yourself being completely absorbed? Can you make more space for those?
How is your constellation of support (advisors, mentors, staff, RAs, peers) helping support your well-being?
Have you identified any long-term goals?
If yes:
Is there a single, actionable next step you could take to be on the path to your long-term goals? What short-term goals will move you toward them?
Have you started to think about career options? Have you connected with anyone in career and professional development?
If not quite yet (that’s OK! It’s quarter #2):
How are you thinking and feeling about exploring to discover potential goals?
Would you be interested in working with someone to explore your interests or see if any long-term goals spark your curiosity?
Winter Spring 2023 Advising Learning Outcomes
Winter 2023 – focusing on 2,3,4,6
At the end of the first year-
1. Students will understand the value of the Common Curriculum and display the ability to select courses that satisfy core requirements.
2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of degree program requirements and the ability to select courses each quarter toward degree progress.
3. Students will demonstrate an understanding of DU’s academic policies and procedures and how these policies and procedures impact their educational progress.
4. Students will effectively utilize technological resources to assist in degree planning and course registration.
5. Students will select majors based on their interests, abilities, and career goals.
6. Students will be able to identify campus resources and services that can be used to assist them in achieving their academic, personal, and career goals.
7. Students will understand the importance of co-curricular programs for supporting and promoting their educational and life goals.
If you haven’t sent your FSEM students a note already, please consider sending one this week. We’ve drafted a few different ones that you can adopt or adapt to suit. Attached to this email you’ll find a list of FSEM students with names, emails, current GPA, and winter registration status. Please find your students by filtering for your name.
Thanks,
Jennifer, Kateri, and Kristy
…
High Achieving
Hi (NAME), As I was reviewing grades this morning, I was thrilled to find that your determination and hard work paid off – Congratulations on your outstanding academic performance! I hope you can celebrate your successes over the winter break, get rest and renew your energy as you prepare for your second quarter.
I look forward to seeing you during Winter Quarter, when I will continue to be a faculty mentor for you!
xxxx
Middle of the pack
Hi (NAME).,
As I was reviewing grades for the fall quarter, I was happy to see that your determination and hard work paid off – Congratulations on successfully completing your first quarter at DU! I hope you can celebrate your successes over winter break, get rest, and renew your energy as you prepare for you second quarter.
I look forward to seeing you during Winter Quarter, when I will continue to be a faculty mentor for you!
xxxx
Under a 2.3
Hi (NAME).
As I was reviewing grades for the quarter, I was concerned to see that you struggled last term. I hope that over break you can rest and renew your energy as you prepare for your quarter. I look forward to a conversation with you to understand how the University can better support your academic success in the future — as we discussed in class, there are many resources that can help support you, and I’m happy to help you find the ones that are the best fit. Many students are able to recover from a rough quarter or two, and the ones who are most likely to succeed are the ones who stay engaged and in touch. Please let me know how I can help!
I look forward to seeing you during Winter Quarter, when I will continue to be a faculty mentor for you!
xx.x.x.x
If not registered for winter 2023, could add the line below:
I noticed that you’re not yet registered for winter quarter. Is there anything I can do to help make that happen? Let me know what might be preventing you from registering so I can help point you in the right direction.
12/14/22
Hello all-
Hope you are having a good Winter Interterm break.
We have the FSEM Faculty Survey for you to fill out to let us know about your experience teaching in the FSEM this fall. Please complete this by January 10th and you will receive $150 in your Feb 1 paycheck. Thank you!
Also, the RFP call for Fall FSEM 2023 proposals is attached and the link to apply is below. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Hope you are all going to be teaching for us again next fall. Best, Monica
Happy Finals!! I hope you are all hanging in there and finishing up the Quarter so that you can enjoy some time off at the end of the week. The RFP call for Fall FSEM 2023 proposals is attached and the link to apply is below. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Best, Monica
First-Year Seminar Faculty Resources 
