2008-2009 Provost Lecture Series

First-Year Seminars, Engaging Faculty, and Student Success

Thursday, April 23, 2009
3:30-5:00 p.m.
Hemisphere Room
Hale Library

Gregory Eiselein

Abstract:

Over the past two decades, first-year seminars (FYS) have flourished, largely because of their demonstrated impact on student success and retention. This presentation will survey what we know about FYS programs across the United States and provide an overview of K-State's own pilot study of FYS in the fall of 2008. Although there are a variety of approaches to the FYS, the key for students' academic success is connecting new students with engaging and committed faculty members. This talk will highlight our efforts with such an approach and lay out candidly the prospects for the development of a robust, meaningful, and unified first-year experience (FYE) program at K-State.

Biographical Sketch:

A specialist in American literature and culture who has been teaching at K-State since 1993, Gregory Eiselein is a Professor in the Department of English and The Coffman Chair for University Distinguished Teaching Scholars. He teaches courses in American literature and literary theory and a range of general education classes.

He is the author of Literature and Humanitarian Reform in the Civil War Era. With Anne K. Phillips, he is the co-editor of the Norton Critical Edition of "Little Women"--a volume that prints the authoritative text of the original version of Louisa May Alcott's classic along with textual variants, annotations, archival materials, and a selection of the most important criticism on the novel. Greg's other books include Emma Lazarus: Selected Writings, and Adah Isaacs Menken: "Infelicia" and Other Writings, and The Louisa May Alcott Encyclopedia. He has also written numerous journal articles and book chapters that examine early American writers. His current research focuses on the significance of Alcott's writings within their nineteenth-century historical and cultural contexts.

Greg has served as Graduate Program Director for the Department of English since 1997. He is currently working with Dr. Emily Lehning and a group of K-State faculty and staff on a pilot study of first-year seminars.