We transformed our first-year curriculum in biology with a new course, Biological Inquiry, in which greater than 50% of all incoming, first-year students enroll. The course replaced a traditional, content-driven course that relied on outdated approaches to teaching and learning. We diversified pedagogical practices by adopting guided inquiry in…

To address the needs of African American students at Beaver College in Glenside (Pennsylvania), a one-credit freshman orientation course on Afrocentricity was developed. The course was intended to increase the comfort level between the institution and its culturally diverse students and add additional support for increased retention of African…

An Orientation/Self-Management course was developed at Mercy College, Detroit, to reduce the high attrition rate (95%) among conditionally admitted full-time (CAFT) students, i.e., those admitted with less than a "C" average upon high school graduation. The course focused on the student as an adult, vital, growing, and independent person; the…