Student Success

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Onboarding

Project Status: Implementation

This project aims to implement a clear, comprehensive, and consistent onboarding experience for first year and transfer students during their first year at PSU. With a supportive plan in place, students will know who their ‘success’ team is and the knowledge and access to resources that support student success. This project is a collaborative effort between Advising & Career Services and the Transfer & Returning Student Resource Center. 

Accomplished

  • Onboarding workgroup conducted a First Year Advising Requirement (FYAR) Roadshow visiting 11 units during Winter term to share new advising tool, present recommendations, discuss how to implement refined learning objectives and outcomes, and seek feedback:
    • Advising Pathways
    • Special advising units, including: Athletics, Honors, Multicultural Retention Services, TRIO
    • The UPGAP Advising pathway piloted the new FYAR digital takeaway tool for advisors to use in their appointments 
  • Coordinated and prepared FRINQ content (in-person and online) for presentations during Week 5 of Winter term. In total, 11 academic advisors presented in 13 FRINQ courses. 
  • 23 PSU staff, including advisors, student services, enrollment management, and student success leadership tabled at various locations on campus during Winter 2025 Welcome Week, handing out swag, directing students to classes, and promoting the academic advising drop-ins Monday and Tuesday. 
    • In total, 198 students were served during Welcome Week academic advising drop-ins.

In Progress

  • Onboarding Workgroup to finalize the FRINQ Spring 2025 presentation content and training (in-person and online) of 11 advising staff across 12 FRINQ courses.
  • Develop materials for the 2025-26 FRINQ curriculum, integrating the content from the 2024-25 pilot. 
  • Integrate an exploratory checklist within the FYAR requirements, learning objectives and outcomes for exploratory students. 
  • Seek feedback from staff on implemented interventions in 2024-25.
  • Review Student Experience Survey questions in previous years to determine areas of opportunity to incorporate onboarding-focused questions related to original project goals, deliverables, and outcomes.
  • Determine future direction and next steps for sustainability of onboarding practices in 2025-26, including Lessons Learned.

Project Team

Sponsors: Andrea Garrity and Randi Harris
Project Leads:  Ilka Bailey and Ryan Wagner
Project Manager: Kara Hayes
Team: Ilka Bailey, Saori Clark, Kara Hayes, Csendi Hopp, Shay Snyder, Caitlin Sweeney, Ryan Wagner
FYAR Subgroup: Becki Ingersoll, Clara Martinez, Sam Peters, Shay Snyder
Collaborators: Undergraduate Academic Advising, University Career Center, Office of Student Success, Transfer and Returning Student Resource Center, ISS