Building a Strong First-Year Experience:
The First-Year Experience (FYE) track will focus on identifying core components of a FYE course, identifying the resources and services available to support first-year students, developing a sense of community among FYE stakeholders across campuses, as well as identifying ways of making data informed decisions to support first-year students.
* For session times and location please refer to the conference schedule.
Learning Outcomes:
During this track, faculty and staff members:
- Will be identifying core components of a FYE course
- Will be identifying the resources and services available to support first-year students
- Will be developing a sense of community among FYE stakeholder across campuses
- Will be identifying ways of making data informed decisions to support first-year students
Session Abstracts:
FYE Session 1 - Understanding & Responding to Diverse Students Experiences
As ethnic, socioeconomic and racial diversity within higher education has broadened, leaders and educators need to recognize the varied backgrounds of their students through culturally responsive pedagogy and programming. This opening session will provide participants with an overview of national trends and data in higher education, while taking a deeper dive into our own student data and practice to help inform our work as higher education practitioners.
Session Speakers:
Dr. Rachel Camacho, Associate Dean of Students, Student Retention and Engagement
Dr. Armando Madrid, Associate Dean of Students, Student Advocacy
Weston Prisbey, Interim Assistant Dean for Student Health and Wellbeing
Session Facilitator:
Dr. Dora Lee, Director of Academic Support & Learning Services

FYE Session 2 - 1st Year Student Experience Panel
The focus of this student panel is to hear from both the freshman and transfer students about their first year at Cal Poly Pomona. The discussion will center around the following questions: Their experience at Cal Poly Pomona during their first year at CPP, in what ways were their expectations met, what surprised them, If they could repeat their first year in CPP over again, what changes would they make, what did faculty and staff to support them and what additional support would have been helpful and whether they were aware of support programs for students in transition
Session Panelists:
Nina N. Rabatin, Biotechnology major
Olivia D. Walsh, Physics major
Andrea Lujan, Apparel Merchandising and management major
Jason Jones, Computer Science major
Noland Edwards, English Major
FYE Session 3 - Serving First-Year Students Panel
Supporting students in transition goes beyond orientation. Hear from a panel of experts about what they are doing in support of students in transition through their first year.
Session Panelists:
Dr. David Marshall, Professor & Director, University Honors Program, California State University, San Bernardino
Dr. Susanna Jones, Professor and First-Year Experience Faculty Director, San Francisco State University
Jacqueline Naranjo, Senior Coordinator, Academic Support and Engagement, Cal Poly Pomona
Jennnie Chalios, Associate Director, First Year Experience, Sacramento State University
Session Facilitators:
Won Choi, Academic Coordinator, Kellogg Honors College
Dr. Dora Lee, Director of Academic Support & Learning Services

FYE Session 4 - Working Across the CSUs in Support of Students in Transition
The First-Year Seminar and Students in Transition team are cross campus organizations composed of representatives from five CSU campuses: Sacramento, Northridge, San Diego, Pomona, and San Francisco. These teams aim to create a collaborative community of engagement among all 23 CSU campuses to share best practices, materials, and effective approaches around transitional academic programming specifically for first-year and transfer students. These cross-campus collaborations will help increase access to interventions that maximize student success and reduce equity gaps as well as provide resources to CSU faculty and practitioners on working with first-year students in transitional periods of their academic journeys. This session will include a presentation on the team’s work as well as a panel to share best practices on FYE programs from the different CSU campuses.
Session Speakers:
Samuel Nieto, Transfer and Early Engagement Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona
Dr. Susanna Jones, Professor & First-Year Experience Faculty Director, San Francisco State University
Dr. Kim Henige, Professor & Academic First-Year Experiences Director, California State University, Northridge
Dr. Stephen Schellenberg, Professor & Associate Dean, Division of Undergraduate Studies
Jennie Econome, Professor & First-Year Experience Director, Sacramento State University

FYE Session 5 - FYE Course at CPP Best Practices
In this session, attendees will hear from current CPP FYE Instructors highlighting strategies they have found to work best in FYE courses. Tips and tricks for utilizing currently available resources including FYE repository, faculty learning communities, implementing a project (PolyX), and much more will be presented. We are hoping by the end of this session, attendees will have a better understanding of FYE practices and resources available at CPP.
Session Panelists:
Prof. Jessica O Perez, Assistant Professor, College of Engineering
Prof. Jeanne Almaraz, Assistant Professor, College of Business
Dr. Steve Alas, Professor, College of Science
Prof. Rodney B Hume-Dawson, College of Education and Integrative Studies
Prof. Xu Yang, Assistant Professor, College of Agriculture

FYE Session 6 - Mock FYE Course
This interactive session will use curated FYE modules to mimic a semester long FYE class. Each “week” will be presented as a 5-minute presentation, featuring certain aspects of an FYE course. This session will introduce various FYE modules available and show how to organize a 15-week semester.
Session Speakers:
Dr. Joanne Sohn, Associate Professor, College of Agriculture
Dr. Jamie Snyder, Associate Professor, College of Science
Session Facilitator:
Dr. Nina Abramzon, Professor, College of Science

FYE Session 7 - The FYE Ecosystem and Embedding a Signature Polytechnic Experiences (PolyX) in FYE Courses
The goal of this interactive session is to share the resources available to FYE educators as well as provide guidance to educators interested in integrating a PolyX, a pedagogical principle aligned with the "learning by doing" philosophy of the California Polytechnic State University (CPP), into their First-Year Experience (FYE) courses. The session will begin with an introduction to CPP’s FYE program, core elements of PolyX and its impact on FYE students. A discussion of how to effectively utilize Project Learning Assistants (PLAs), a unique type of peer mentorship, as a valuable resource in the classroom will follow. The session will conclude by reiterating how a PolyX experience can significantly contribute to both the academic success and career readiness of students, and opportunities for involvement in the FYE ecosystem.
Session Speakers:
Dr. Dora Lee, Director of Academic Support & Learning Services
Dr. Nina Abramzon, Professor, College of Science
Dr. Preeti Wadhwa, Associate Professor, College of Business Administration
Dr. Ever Barraza, Assistant Director, Office of Undergraduate Research
Dr. Rebecca Eddy, Founder & President, Cobblestone