Hero Envelope Title

Hero Envelope Text

Call to Action

Hero Envelope Title

Hero Envelope Text

Call to Action

First-Year Programs support and ease the transition for incoming students from high school and community college to UO. All curriculum and programming centers on four pillars: college knowledge, belonging, well-being, and career exploration.

• The First-Year and Transfer-Year Experience Communities (FYEC) are self-paced yearlong courses in Canvas that provide resources, activities, and discussions with peers and faculty to help new students make connections and achieve success in their first year at UO. Peer mentors provide students with opportunities to engage with the campus community through planned events, workshops, as well as one-on-one mentoring during the academic year.
• Common Reading creates community across campus. Each year, the Common Reading program presents an engaging selection, often a book, that will be the focus of a yearlong campuswide discussion. The programs offers the community an opportunity to meet authors, have lively discussions with peers, and explore the themes of the piece inside and outside the classroom.

Experience Communities

• The Experience Communities offer first-year and transfer-year students a place to independently navigate UO resources while gaining vital college knowledge that supports student success. Self-guided assignments connect students with the Career Center, advising, tutoring, research and financial wellness resources.
• Just under 40 percent of all first-year students engaged with experience community content did so; while 31 percent of all transfer students did so. 399 students consumed financial wellness content and quizzes, 168 students posted on online discussion boards, and 103 students completed an two- or four-year academic plan.
• The communities’ peer mentors hosted a variety of events each term starting with a kick-off event during Week of Welcome, registration workshops, and ending with a big weeklong series of events during spring term called “Soar into Your Second Year.” Registration workshops drew the highest student attendance with 263 attendees over fall, winter and spring terms. 
• A pilot wellbeing curriculum was debuted this year in partnership with U-Thrive Educational Services. Peer mentors received training with U-Thrive to guide five different workshops throughout the year: Positive Psychology, Stress and Resilience, Mental Health, Mindfulness, and Self-Compassion. Each workshop hosted a minimum of 10 students. 
• The Stress and Resilience workshop was the most requested and was offered in three times, while the Health and Mindfulness workshops received the highest attendance, with 20 students in attendance on average.

Common Reading

Hero Envelope Title

Hero Envelope Text

Call to Action

The Common Reading program partnered this year with the UO’s Center for the Study of Women in Society. For its 50th anniversary, the center created a series of events around the theme of “Feminist Futures,” which paired with the Common Reading selection, The Turnaway Study by Diana Greene Foster.

Common Reading co-sponsored two key events: 

• A public panel event with Diana Greene Foster in October 2023 that was attended by over 200 people.  Greene Foster also spent the day at UO with multiple engagements with students. 
• A speaker event with Anita Hill in May 2024, organized by the Wayne Morse Center and CSWS, that drew over 400 attendees.  

Back to Top