by Warren O. Brennan

Created on: July 20, 2010

Faculty members on the university level are influential people who will make a mark on the lives of their students. Nowhere can their efforts be more felt then during the first semester of a student’s college experience. The student is impressionable, just recognizing their academic interests, and, hopefully, willing to learn. They are additionally going through a period of likely emotional distress; moving from home, leaving friends and family, and experience other new challenges. The faculty they encounter will directly contribute to their academic success or decline at this stage in their life.

Faculty teaching introductory courses have a special role, and they must realize it. They must implant early on in their student’s mind that the academic rigors of college are much more intensive than what they experienced in high school. One might think this self evident, but to slacking high schoolers it isn’t.

College professors must start back at the basics, making up for lack luster high school experiences that many students have come from. Two areas in particular must, in large part, be re-taught; writing skills and critical thinking.

College writing is wholly different from that of the high school level. Faculty members must recognize this and not let students fall through the cracks. They should offer to review first drafts of writing assignments and give extensive critiques throughout the first few weeks of classes.

Critical thinking is almost something universally ignored on the high school stage, yet it represents nearly all college level work. A lecture on “how to think” is sure to put some students to sleep, but it must be done. They have to understand that spewing information back to the professor on the test is not how college works. Reading large amounts of information, understanding the hidden meaning, and anticipating underlining issues is not something students should just be expected to pick up like that. It must be taught by their new faculty members.

Faculty members of new students must also make themselves constantly available after class and for office hours. They should encourage students to utilize their services extensively. New students rarely realize the importance of spending this extra time out of the classroom with a professor, but they will learn quickly with the right amount of encouragement.

In sum, faculty members play a huge role on new college students. They become mentors whose lessons guide their student’s through a troubling time in their life and onto the path to academic stardom. They must utilize this position with the utmost care, so that today’s youth will have the tools they need to move forward.

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