On behalf of the Office of Undergraduate Education, I welcome you to another exciting semester at CU and am pleased to introduce our office and provide an update on some of our activities.
Among other things, the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) is responsible for International Education, Undergraduate Research Opportunities (UROP), ROTC and the Student Academic Success Center (SASC). Our team is actively engaging our colleagues in the Graduate School and Student Affairs in addition to faculty, staff and students, to better understand what additional services OUE can provide. Our goal is to continuously improve the undergraduate experience on campus.
To improve advising services for our students, Shelly Bacon will soon move into a new role as Assistant Vice Provost for Advising and Academic Services. She will leverage her strong experience in academic advising to develop and promote a collaborative approach to advising services across campus. Once established, I expect Shelly and her colleagues to take a holistic approach to advising our students, particularly those who are undecided or between majors. We believe this approach will not only help ensure students receive timely and more hands-on advising, but also free up the advisors in our colleges and schools to more effectively provide service to their student populations.
Additionally, I am excited about the proposed first-year seminars, which will begin in Spring 2017 as a pilot program led by Associate Vice Provost Paul Chinowsky. Designed for freshmen not currently engaged in academic programs such as Residential Academic Programs, these seminars will provide our incoming students with a new opportunity to engage with faculty in a small class setting and pursue a topic of interest. Spring courses include “The Science of Science Fiction” and “Shakespeare and Music” along with 30 other seminar topics that will enable students to pursue individual interests. In addition to being rigorous academic courses, these seminars will provide students with a new path to building a successful career at CU Boulder.
Again, welcome back to CU. We look forward to working with faculty, staff and students to create a greater community for all of our undergraduate students. If you have ideas or feedback about the undergraduate experience you would like to share, we invite you to contact us and start the discussion.
Mary Kraus,
Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor
Office of Undergraduate Education
Mary Kraus,
Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor
Office of Undergraduate Education
