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First Year Experience

 

The First Year Experience Program at A-State

The First Year Experience Program, also known as FYE, is a program which is designed to help students prepare for the transition from high school to college. All sections of FYE include core information that covers A-State Policies & Procedures, Academic Resources, Study Skills, Academic Research & Writing, Leadership & Campus Involvement as well as materials crucial to the academic and personal growth of each First Year Red Wolf. Each FYE Instructor will serve as a mentor and all sections of FYE use a common text which is written by A-State faculty to address information and resources specific to A-State. The A-State FYE Program is interdisciplinary, meaning that each section of FYE is based within the department or college of the student’s major. This interdisciplinary approach exposes and excites first year students about their major and career opportunities.

A-State First Year Parent Association 

The First Year Parent Association at A-State is designed to assist in the transition of first-year students and their families to Arkansas State University. It enables parents to actively participate in the life of their student during their first year. Parents or guardians of first-year students are able to join this association for a fee of $20.00, during their student's registration session. This fee is directly applied to special programming and activities for the first year student class – such as the “First Year Fall Festival”, “Common Reader Activity Fair”, “First Year Experience Academic Expo”, and many more helpful programs.

Some of the opportunities include:

  • Monthly e-Newsletter of campus announcements and reminders
  • Access to A-State Social Media Sites

For more information on the A-State First Year Parent Association, please email Paige Walker at awalker@astate.edu.

First Year Convocation studentsFirst Year Convocation

  • Required for New Students!
  • Parents Encouraged & Welcome to Attend!
  • Sunday, August 19th at 1:30 p.m. in the A-State Convocation Center
Making Connections

All first year students enroll in a Making Connections course. This three-credit course is designed to help students make a successful transition into college by connecting students with their major, college peers and a faculty mentor. There are many sections offered within the various academic disciplines at A-State including a honor and undecided sections. While each course has a special emphasis on the students’ academic discipline, all sections include a common core including campus resources, A-State policies, learning techniques, critical thinking skills, and degree information.

For more information contact, Paige Walker, First Year Experience at awalker@astate.edu.


Read About Special Projects
What is a Common Reader?

A Common Reader is a book assigned to all first-year students to read during the fall semester. The purpose of the First-Year Common Reader is to promote a shared intellectual experience to engage students socially and academically both inside and outside of the classroom.

Themes from this year’s selected reader The Secret World of Red Wolves: The Fight to Save North America’s Other Wolf by T. Delene Beeland, will be incorporated into discussions, activities and experiences of first-year students.

Common Reader programs are designed to: create a sense of community, promote discussion, set academic expectations for students, provide a shared intellectual experience, encourage cross-disciplinary dialogue, increase faculty-student interaction, promote critical engagement with ideas and encourage reading among first-year students.

The Secret World of Red Wolves: The Fight to Save North America’s Other Wolf 

 

The Secret World of Red Wolves
First Year Experience
Learning with iPads

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Arkansas State University embraces the use of mobile technology as part of students’ overall marketplace readiness. We strongly encourage incoming students to bring a mobile device (e.g., an iPad) for use in the classroom, with study management and to help with their campus connections. The A-State ITStore can be helpful in this selection  http://itstore.astate.edu/.


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Contact First Year Experience

Paige Walker

Phone: (870) 972-3574
Fax: (870) 972-3774

Room: Library 143