Alexis Williams | Staff Writer
Buena Vista University (BVU) strives to help first year students transition into college. Although some of the emotions may be present in students, BVU offers a first-year program, titled University Seminar, to help build relationships and get accustomed to life on campus.
Most students should be familiar with the concept and purpose of the University Seminar program. All first-year students are enrolled in it their first semester on campus, and it is used to teach life lessons and begin some of the many relationships that students will build throughout college.
Currently, the Student Senate is looking into proposing changes to the program. The Senate seeks to clearly understand the purpose of the program, understand student responses to the program, and to make changes to better suit the needs and expectations of the student body while remaining true to the purpose of the program.
“[We’re] taking a look at the current advising system for first-semester students, the format of the Tuesday sessions, and how information about the program is initially communicated to students,” Student Senate President and senior Seth Lindokken said. “With a few tweaks, the University Seminar program could go farther in accomplishing its goals of introducing students to life at BVU and preparing them for the rest of their college experience.”
Currently, the program is set up in a way such that students choose their class at the time they sign up for orientation. They are placed into a class they chose, and then the professor of the class serves as their adviser. This adviser is of aid when creating their four-year plan and picking classes for the following semester.
Another aspect to University Seminar is the Tuesday sessions. The Tuesday sessions bring in a variety of speakers and presenters to give information and life lessons to the incoming class as a whole.
Freshman psychology major Maria Trujillo claims that her University Seminar experience helped her gain friendships and learn interesting information. Her class generated interesting discussions that made her think about struggles for women around the world.
For Trujillo, the Tuesday sessions were interesting and very informative. Trujillo enjoyed the student panels the most because they felt the most helpful. Despite the great experience Trujillo had, she suggests having an adviser in her major to be more helpful with creating her four-year plan and other decisions that could guide her college career.
The Student Senate has been impacted by the current system and many have also been a part of much discussion over the current University Seminar Program in Senate meetings. It is a very popular topic among younger senators and a serious concern for the upperclassmen.
As of April 30, the survey Senate has posted on their Facebook page has created a few conclusions.
“More often than not, students find the Tuesday sessions to come up short in terms of substance and relevance. Students would much rather have an adviser in their major as opposed to someone outside of their major, and while in the process of signing up for University Seminar, students would like to have better descriptions of the different options for University Seminar courses. They would like to have more information about the program in general,” Lindokken said.
With these results, Senate can begin to formulate their proposal for administration.
Overall, the program has good intentions and started with the right ideas, but hopefully with the suggestions from the Senate, the faculty will be able to make the program even better.
“The faculty and administration have been receptive to having conversations about University Seminar [because] they are always looking for ways to improve the academic programs at BVU, and these conversations could be yet another opportunity to do just that,” Lindokken said.
