Academic Focus of the Community:
First-Year Learning or Themed Communities can be focused on a major (eg: Music, Biological Sciences), a cluster of majors (eg: Business, Pre-Health, Education and Human Sciences), or a shared interest (eg: ROTC, social advocacy).
Populations of students who may be interested in the community:
Please identify potential groups of students to whom marketing can be targeted for this community. Target groups might be connected to a specific major or degree program (pre-health, business, etc.), to a specific demographic (out-of-state, underrepresented populations, etc.), or to other characteristic (interest in ROTC, past experience in high school speech and debate, etc.). Please note, generally, community membership is not limited to a specific declared major.
Sponsoring Department(s)/Program(s):
The primary form of support departments/programs offer is the time of their faculty/staff. There is no requirement for a direct financial commitment from a sponsoring department/program. Each community will be allotted a programming budget derived from student fees and is proportional to the size of the community.
Faculty Sponsor(s):
The sponsoring individual should be someone who has substantial, meaningful academic contact with students on a regular basis, such as a faculty member or an academic adviser. Ideally, although not required, the faculty sponsor would teach one class in which the Learning Community students co-enroll during the fall semester, ranging from a 3-credit course to a zero-credit seminar. Themed Community students do not require to be co-enrolled in courses during the year.
Community Size:
Generally, 15 students is the minimum necessary to achieve a cohesive community experience. For a community’s first year, maximum caps are usually set at approx. 25-30 students. Maximums may be set in conjunction with a course cap (eg: a lab or recitation section size). To ensure quality of student experience and appropriate workload for faculty sponsors, communities that grow beyond 40-50 students require a second dedicated faculty sponsor.
Courses Associated with Community:
For Learning Communities, please identify at least two fall courses and one spring course for co-enrollment. You may identify more possibilities; list them in order of preference. Potential courses should be either ACE-certified or zero/one-credit “intro to the LC focus” seminars. One course in the fall should be offered by the sponsoring department/program, but there is no requirement for all co-enrolled courses to be from one department. In fact, often it is best to branch out and help students gain more than one ACE requirement. Avoid math and math placement-dependent courses and First-Year Writing courses due to varying placement and high number of students bringing in credit, respectively. The LC staff is happy to help you identify potential courses or develop a minimal credit seminar.
Faculty Sponsor-led Programming:
Please identify at least two potential faculty-led programs for the community. We ask each sponsor to lead a minimum of three different events per semester that are exclusive to the community. Frequently, sponsors utilize existing departmental/campus events such as a speaker series or departmental conferences and add an exclusive experience for the community students, such as a “meet and greet” with a visiting speaker. Also, many communities undertake a service project under the sponsor’s leadership. The LC staff will support the faculty sponsor by coordinating logistical details including space, transportation, food, etc.
Signature Event:
As one of the six sponsor-led events in the year, we ask each community to develop a signature event that helps define the community. Please suggest a possible signature event.
Field Trip:
Going beyond the classroom is a significant component of the community experience. Ideally, each community will have an out-of-Lincoln field trip which allows students to experience their academic focus in a “real world” setting, often by touring a relevant business or organization, meeting with alumni, etc. For example, 'Responsible Design' travels to Red Cloud, NE each year to complete service work, and other communities are exploring destinations ranging from Western Nebraska to Omaha to Kansas City.
Proposed name(s):
Please suggest two or three possible names for your community. The name of the community is an important tool when recruiting prospective students. Names should clearly and directly convey the purpose of the community, any department/college affiliations, and distinguish it from other existing communities. You can view current communities for examples.