The Baruch College Faculty Handbook

Coordinated Undergraduate Education(CUE)
Block Programming; Freshman Academic Year Programs; Freshman Seminar; Learning Communities; Testing and Evaluation; Immersion; Contacts

Last updated on 8/6/09

CUE (Coordinated Undergraduate Education) is a college-wide program, supported by CUNY, that brings together a wide range of programs, initiatives, and practices that are designed to strengthen the academic skills of entering students, to ease the transition into higher education, to provide a meaningful and coherent first year experience, to improve retention, and to build a solid foundation for academic success. Overseen by the Provosts Office, CUE draws upon faculty, student development professionals, staff and administrators from all three schools, student life, and student development. Key components include:

Block Programming:   First-semester freshmen experience Baruch College in blocks, a full-time structured schedule containing English Composition, Mathematics, Freshman Seminar, and three required courses drawn from the common core. Each block consists of 20-25 students who attend the courses in the block together as a group. Block programming enhances student cohesion and offers some of the benefits of a residential college environment; it also provides the College with opportunities for pedagogical and curricular innovation.

Freshman Academic Year Programs:  CUE funds a wide range of special projects for first year students, including supplemental instruction, tutoring, new classroom technologies, course design, faculty development, and a number of assessment efforts. Key projects include the development of a Baruch College orientation CD-ROM. The overall mission is to provide students with a seamless transition into the College and a framework for mapping goals and expectations that will guide them toward successful completion of their degree objective and beyond. Starting with new student orientation, students take part in a series of shared experiences including a common reading for entering freshmen, Baruch Beginnings (convocation, which features an address by the author of the freshman text, parent orientation and other events), and a vocational inventory for second-semester freshmen.

Freshman Seminar:   A required 12-week non-credit course for freshmen, Freshman Seminar offers students an opportunity to engage in the Baruch community during the initial, and sometimes unsettling, first semester on campus. The 12 sessions are divided between six in-class sessions and six outside-the-classroom experiences that students self select from a menu of options designed to expose them to the vast array of academic enrichment offerings and support services at the College. Led by a faculty or staff member and a trained upperclassman, freshmen seminars provide information about college life and the College. The program helps students learn and adopt methods to be successful in college. Structured class exercises encourage participation and provide an avenue for interactions with the students. Seminar leaders play a vital role in helping students adjust and in influencing their educational objectives. Faculty members are encouraged to participate.

Learning Communities:   Faculty who participate in Learning Communities build on the advantages of block programming by highlighting intellectual links between paired courses and arranging co-curricular events and meetings outside of class time. In a Baruch learning community, two faculty members assisted by a peer mentor help a small group of first-semester freshmen to make a successful and enjoyable transition to higher education at the college level. Together the faculty create a range of activities that supplement in-class instruction, increase engagement, and reinforce the collegial ideal of students and teachers working together on the common project of education.

Testing and Evaluation:  The Office of Testing and Evaluation administers proficiency and placement exams. All entering students must demonstrate college-level proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics; Baruch College, like other CUNY senior colleges, does not offer remedial courses in the academic year.

University Summer Immersion Programs: Entering students who do not demonstrate college-level proficiency in reading, writing or mathematics are invited to participate in a summer immersion program.

Contacts

Freshman Seminar
Shadia Sachedina
646-312- 4554  or  shadia.sachedina@baruch.cuny.edu

Office of Testing and Evaluation
Denyse Ramkaran
646-312-4269  or  Denyse.Ramkaran@baruch.cuny.edu

Orientation and Freshman Year Programs
Mark Spergel
646-312-4271  or  Mark.Spergel@baruch.cuny.edu

Learning Communities
Gary Hentzi, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences
646-312-3890  or  Gary.Hentzi@baruch.cuny.edu

Immersion
Carol Morgan
646 312-4833  or  Carol.Morgan@baruch.cuny.edu