ABSTRACT
The University of Georgia (UGA) believes in the importance of engaging students both inside as well as outside of the classroom. The UGA Learning Community Initiative demonstrates the commitment of forming a seamless learning environment by forging partnerships between academic and student affairs divisions. Connecting students to faculty and with the resources they need to succeed remains a challenge for all universities, but especially for a large, comprehensive flagship state university like UGA. As this book demonstrates, learning communities encourage student involvement, development, and learning by helping students make connections across disciplines, fostering a closer interaction with faculty, and tapping into student interest to promote learning. This chapter provides some history and background of the UGA Learning Community Initiative, as well as the current status and envisioned future of the program. The chapter focuses on the partnership aspect of the program and, in particular, why UGA believes that learning communities take on an even more important role when intentionally designed as living–learning communities. The UGA Learning Communities Initiative provides students with a platform for shared experiences both inside the classroom and within a residential community.
