ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a disciplinary-focused first-year seminar program at a minority-serving and Hispanic-serving state university where nearly two-thirds of students are first-generation college students. These seminars provide students with the opportunity to work closely with faculty, explore an exciting topic, engage in co-curricular activities, receive academic and whole-person support, and begin to develop a sense of belonging. The program focuses on the paired goals of promoting student engagement and reducing the number of students who drop by providing ongoing faculty development to the professors who teach these seminars. Faculty introduce students to their discipline and integrate essential college success skills and general education concepts in small class settings to foster group cohesion. This chapter details the following components of the program: integrating disciplinary study with “college knowledge,” guiding students to develop both a present and future goal orientation, maintaining targeted and ongoing faculty development focused on creating educational environments and experiences that foster belonging and inclusion for first-year students, and collaborating with existing programs to support students’ acclimation to university life. The chapter concludes with case studies and lessons learned for building a first-year seminar program tailored to support first-generation and underrepresented college students’ sense of belonging in college.
