Syracuse University replaced its traditional Shared Reading Program with the Shared First-Year Experience, a program designed to encourage more participation among students.In the past, SU would incorporate a required reading book for freshmen into discussions, events and courses throughout the year in an attempt to unify the campus and first-year students.

But the reading program never achieved its intended impact. Many students simply did not read the book, said Sandra Hurd, associate provost and member of the Shared First-Year Experience Committee. This made classroom discussions challenging and unproductive and made integration beyond the classroom and into the community nearly impossible.

In previous years, nominations for the shared-reading book were submitted to a committee for consideration. The chosen book was then distributed to incoming students with directions that it was to be read before arriving on campus.

This fall’s new Shared First-Year Experience centers on a performance by the Shen Wei Dance Arts group, a Chinese dance company that performed at the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

SU chose the group because it was an easy transition from its three-week stay on campus in the spring, Hurd said. The residency was a result of cultural diplomacy students who were interested in researching the political response to Shen Wei’s choreography at the Olympic performance.

Although there was a lack-luster student response to the shared-reading book, Hurd thinks that the performance will be different.

‘The book was something students were asked to read before they got to school and was an individual activity,’ she said. ‘Because the Shen Wei performance will be a shared experience, we hope that the students will be more engaged.’

Some students agree that the First-Year Experience will be more successful than the shared-reading book because it requires less work.

‘Attending a one-time event or show takes a lot less dedication than reading an entire book and having to analyze it after,’ said Monique Salas, a junior in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

Other students are voicing concerns that the new program will only create more problems. Jonathan Groffman, a sophomore in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, thinks replacing the reading with a mandatory event is a bad idea.

‘It will be even harder to control than a required book,’ he said. ‘At least with a book students are threatened with the possibility of an essay when they get to school. With an event they can easily skip it or not pay attention to it if they attend.’

Though SU dismissed the shared-reading program this year, a proposal from the Shared Reading Committee for creation of the Shared First-Year Experience Program showed that the reading program did fulfill many of its intended goals. There was widespread participation in the book nomination process, with more than 70 suggestions from faculty, staff and students, as well as integration of the Shared Reading theme within scheduled university lectures and the writing program.

A Web site dedicated to the first-year experience theme will be created and will include information about the Shen Wei Dance Arts group with a moderated space for community discussion. The committee also plans to encourage student blogging about the dance company to spark interest.

Because the Shared First-Year Experience is a new program, it will be closely monitored to ensure that its intended goals are met. If the program fails to meet expectations, the Shared-First Year Committee and Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina will review it.

‘This is a process of continuous improvement,’ Spina said. ‘Each year of its existence, we assessed the reading program and made changes – sometimes small and sometimes large – to make it bigger. The change from Shared Reading to Shared First-Year Experience occurred in the same vein, except it was a larger change than normal. I don’t think we will ever go back, but I do expect us to continue to assess, revise and improve.’

jlsiart@syr.edu

Published on August 25, 2009 at 12:00 pm