"Retention is the Outcome....Graduation is the Goal!"

The mission of the OAE is to improve retention and graduation rates of Xavier students, particularly by addressing new freshmen students and students who are academically at risk. This is done through academic support and the first year experiences. The OAE functions to 1) design and implement academic programs pertaining to the Freshman Year Experience to improve retention and graduation rates, 2) provide academic advising to Deciding majors, 3) monitor the academic progress of probationary students, 4) provide Academic Support through the coordination, enhancement, and support of peer tutoring and the academic labs (reading, writing, and mathematics), and 5) engage a system of monitoring and mentoring the academic progress of new freshmen students.

All members of the University - academic and non-academic, faculty and staff, students and administrators, etc. - are stakeholders in this program. More importantly, all factions must work together in a positive and cooperative way in order to achieve the goals of the program.

Objectives of OAE:

To accomplish its goals, the following objectives for the OAE were created -

• To assist the Freshman Seminar Committee in the further development of FRSM 1000 - Freshman Seminar as a series of symposia and lectures in the fall semester designed to improve college success of new students at Xavier University with the purpose for students to increase their chances of academic success in the first year at Xavier, gain experiences and knowledge for their development as young professionals, and develop life-long skills as expected of a Xavier student. By the end of this course, students are expected to have 1) critically examined an interdisciplinary theme relating to a liberal education, 2) enhanced their writing and speaking skills, 3) cultivated an understanding of self in relation to community, 4) invested in Xavier’s mission to promote a more just and humane society, and 5) developed competency in technological applications used on campus.
• To assign a freshman reading and interdisciplinary theme for new freshmen through the Freshman Seminar Committee. The goal is for this theme to be woven through the curricular and co-curricular experiences of freshmen by faculty and staff associated with freshmen courses and programs. For fall 2009 the book chosen is Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama.
• To assist the Freshman Seminar Committee in the further development of the spring semester freshman course, FRSM 1100 Freshman Seminar II.
• To improve academic support by coordinating the efforts of the Mathematics Lab, Reading Lab, and Writing Center; offering tutoring in freshmen courses currently not served; and monitoring the attendance and progress of academic support participants.
• To improve the academic monitoring and tracking of students taking developmental courses and students on probation.
• To maintain and improve a system of academic advising of Deciding Majors by faculty.
• To develop Freshman Summer Programs that will include the remediation of developmental courses for freshmen (allowing them to be able to take all degree-credit courses in their first fall semester) and a Summer Freshman Orientation.
• To identify possible sources of funding for the activities of this office.