Foundations of Excellence® at IPFW

Campus Liaisons:  Rachelle Darabi , Director of Academic Success Programs and Kathleen O’Connell , Assistant Vice Chancellor of Faculty Affairs 

Foundations of Excellence (FOE) is a comprehensive, externally guided self-study and improvement process for the first year that enhances an institution's ability to realize its goals for student learning, success, and persistence. The centerpiece of Foundations of Excellence is a model for first-year excellence comprised of a set of principles that are termed Foundational Dimensions®. These Dimensions, developed by the Policy Center on the First Year of College and vetted by over 300 four- and two-year institutions, guide measurement of institutional efforts and provide an aspirational model for the entirety of the beginning college experience from initial contact with potential students through admissions, orientation, and all first-year curricular and co-curricular experiences.

Foundational Dimensions
Foundational Dimensions statements constitute a model that provides institutions with a means to evaluate and improve the first year of college. As an evaluation tool, the model enables institutions both to confirm their strengths and to recognize the need for improvement. As an aspirational model, the Dimensions provide general guidelines for an intentional design of the first year. The Dimensions rest on four assumptions:

• The academic mission of an institution is preeminent;
• The first college year is central to the achievement of an institution’s mission and lays the foundation on which undergraduate education is built;
• Systematic evidence provides validation of the Dimensions;
• Collectively, the Dimensions constitute an ideal for improving not only the first college year, but also the entire undergraduate experience.

FOE Teams at IPFW
Philosophy
Organization
Learning
Faculty
Transitions
All Students
Diversity
Roles and Purposes
Improvements

2006-2007 Four-Year National Select Cohort

FOE Final Report

LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. Development of First Year Philosophy
2. Formation of First Year Council, consisting of:
   1. First-Year Council Steering Committee
   2. First-Year Curriculum Committee
   3. First-Year Orientation Committee
   4. First-Year Advising Committee
   5. First-Year Community Committee
3. Development of the Academic Success Center, consisting of:
   1. Center for Academic Support and Advancement (CASA)
   2. First Year Experience (FYE)
   3. Mastodon Advising Center (MAC)
4. Development of the Advisor/Student Responsibilities in the First Year document