Our Mission
First-Year Programs (FYP) strives to support first-year students transitioning to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM). Through our affiliated programs, UNIV 110 & Peer Mentorship, we share academic success strategies, foster social interactions, and form campus communities. Through partnerships with faculty, staff, and upper-level student mentors, we create the space for students to define how they will engage, learn, and thrive.
Our Core Values
First-Year Programs upholds the following principles in all of our programs, ensuring a supportive and enriching experience for students:
- Aloha: To sustain well-being, we support relationships and consistent reciprocal care among students, faculty, and the campus community.
- Respect for All: Acknowledging the responsibility to create a positive learning environment. This includes supporting student engagement, encouraging mentorship, and promoting academic success to help students thrive in their educational journey.
- Active Learning & Discovery: We constantly seek new, interactive educational techniques and activities to promote learning and discovery in the office and classroom.
- Innovation: Working to maintain novelty in programs by exploring and implementing new ways of delivering services
Current FYP Components
- Facilitation of Academic Learning Communities: The Academic Learning Communities offered through UNIV 110 comprise no more than 20 students. When registered for a learning community, students meet once a week in a one-credit seminar, UNIV 110, which an upperclassman peer mentor runs.
- Student Success Research: Original qualitative and quantitative research on student success is conducted within UHM’s diverse student population to highlight areas of success and pinpoint regions of improvement in our programs.
- Future Leader Development: Undergraduate sophomores, juniors, and seniors are allowed to become Peer Mentors, where they can develop leadership skills that will enable them to succeed in their endeavors beyond college. As Peer Mentors, students gain hands-on experience guiding and supporting first-year students, enhancing their communication, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities.
Near Term Goals
- University Experience (UNIV 110): Create a standalone course to help students integrate academically and socially into UHM. Develop a curriculum that can be taught in person during the Fall semester.
Long Term Goals
- Sustain: We will continue the trend of student success in all of our programs by implementing new strategies and upholding our core values.
- Innovate: Develop relevant, engaging, and action-oriented programming. Embrace assessment research, technology, and interdisciplinary collaboration to meet the needs of a diverse and dispersed student body.
- Transform: Communicate the First Year Program’s goals and objectives to students, faculty, and the campus community to align perceptions.