Finding U at UW

We are developing and teaching a brand-new AUT 2021 course, Finding U at UW. Led by a team of advisors and academic coaches, this course offers an intentional space designed to support first-year students in discovering and understanding themselves, as well as how to leverage what higher education can offer in order to maximize their potential. Syllabus units will be centered around the needs of underserved students, including students of color and first-generation students, to support them in their university experience while remaining true to themselves. Learning Goals include:

1. Increase awareness of personal and cultural learning styles and how to work with other types of learning styles.
2. Increase your knowledge about the critical thinking, reading and writing skills needed for college level coursework.
3. Improve your understanding of the college student's responsibility in the teaching and learning process. 4. Begin exploration of possible majors and career pathways.

In addition, whereas EOP Scholars Academy spreads the course content across three quarters, this course would be available as a discrete single-quarter offering. The course will be co-facilitated by a team of advisers and academic coaches from UW Seattle and UW Tacoma, bringing extensive teaching experience from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds to bear on the content and teaching methods of the course.

Since the course will be primarily centered around Black, Indigenous and students of color as well as first-generation college students, we hope to increase retention and graduation rates for these populations by supporting their time at UW from their very first quarter. 

As we know from UW's 2019 OEA Retention Study, students benefit from structured academic support programs. The programs cited in the most recent retention study - the Instructional Center (IC), Champions, CAMP, and EOP Scholars Academy - can make a huge difference in students' feelings of belonging and confidence in their abilities and experiences. These programs, however, are available only for specific populations of students identified at the time of admission to UW. While drawing on the strengths of these programs as intentional spaces for academic skills & resilience building, the course Finding U at UW will be available to any student who has self-identified as benefiting from this support, particularly students of color and first-generation students who have not otherwise been invited to join an established academic support program.

Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 2: Zero Hunger & Goal 4: Quality Education 

We plan to emphasize throughout the course many ways to get involved in the community. We will invite representatives from the Community Engagement & Leadership Education (CELE) Center to share opportunities with students to get involved in service learning, such as Riverways (a K-12 outreach program connecting undergraduates with opportunities to support regional schools/organizations through tutoring and mentoring) or volunteering at food banks. We expect a significant number of students to be inspired to get involved both to support their communities and gain integral skills and experiences to support them in future career searches.

Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Many students from marginalized backgrounds are more attracted to well-known majors (i.e. Business, Engineering, etc.). Much of this can be attributed to the fact that often, these students also come from backgrounds where there isn't as much support in navigating a college setting, leading to students not being aware of the wide array of possibilities. Students in this course will have the opportunity to explore further based on their interests and values in potential pathways with an ingrained support system. We envision this additional time taken to diversify students' academic and career pathways.

Goal 10: Reduce Inequalities 

The 2019 OEA Retention Study found that many of our marginalized student groups had lower retention rates than the UW average. Supporting these students in their journeys may help increase their likelihood to thrive in the higher education setting stemming from their first year, therefore reducing the gaps that exist in the attainment of a bachelor's degree and allowing access to higher paying jobs.

Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions & Goal 17

Partnerships: In teaching this class centering marginalized students' needs, we are simultaneously transforming the university into one that is more effective and transparent through accountability to our students. We also expect this course to serve as a reminder for both the university and students to reflect on the needs of their community and to serve as a starting point for conversations like these to begin.