UNC Officials to Revamp Orientation

By Christen Broecker

Staff Writer

In attempts to make the transition to college for incoming freshmen smoother, both UNC and Duke University are following a national trend by altering new-student orientation activities.

Administrators at UNC recently decided to reform the C-TOPS orientation program based on peer schools' successful strategies.

Following the examples of the University of California-Berkeley, the University of South Carolina and the University of Florida, beginning this summer UNC will hold a reduced orientation program that will last for two days instead of three.

Carrie Holderman, assistant director for orientation at UNC, said changes were made to the orientation process in response to participant feedback.

"Students were saying that the (C-TOPS) program was too long and that all the information they needed could be taken care of in a shorter time period," she said. "My hope is that with these changes, students will be more satisfied and will participate more in C-TOPS because of its shorter length."

But Holderman said the condensed C-TOPS will be accompanied by a follow-up program, called "Week of Welcome."

"While we're doing a shorter orientation, we have a weeklong follow-up once all the students are here," she said. "It's kind of a package deal. You don't go through orientation from a University standpoint until you go through both."

Holderman said WOW will consist of a week of campuswide social activities designed to get freshmen out of their residence halls and into the thick of University life.

Students will have opportunities to meet in small-group settings with WOW counselors to discuss their experience and receive guidance in matters that confront them during their first few days at UNC. The counselors will remain in contact with freshmen throughout the first semester.

Holderman said the effect of lengthening the overall orientation process while shortening C-TOPS would give students more incentive to get involved in campus activities once the school year begins.

"Everyone agrees the first six weeks of the transition to college are critical," she said. "Hopefully there will now be more student involvement, which will assist in a better transition for students."

Officials at Duke have adopted a similar standpoint regarding freshman acclimation to college life. Duke's orientation program consists of a mandatory orientation week for all incoming students before the start of classes.

Ryan Lombardi, Duke's assistant dean of student development, said the program was very popular with students but presented them with too much information in a short time period.

"Students have responded that they really missed a lot," he said. "The program was very overwhelming."

In response to such complaints, Duke officials have left the weeklong program in place but crafted an additional seven week follow-up program that will introduce students to Duke life until fall break.

The purpose of the program is to present students with information that is valuable but not covered during the orientation week.

Lombardi said these changes came in light of a national trend among universities to make orientation a yearlong experience for new students.

"We can't just provide the students with one week of activities and think that they'll be ready to go," he said. "We feel like we really need to look at the whole first year and pay attention to students' transitions.

"We're just trying to make it a little easier."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.