From Wikiavian

Contents 1 Version 1 1.1 Structure 1.2 FE East Campus 1.2.1 Architecture 1.3 FE West Campus 1.4 Criticisms 1.5 References 1.6 External links 2 Version 2 2.1 History 2.2 Housing 2.2.1 East Campus 2.2.2 West Campus 2.3 Meal Plans 2.4 Leadership Opportunities 2.5 Peer Leaders 2.6 Networking 2.7 Tutoring 2.8 GT 1000 2.9 Criticism 2.10 References

[edit] Version 1

The Georgia Tech Freshman Experience Program was developed in 1992 to counteract the high attrition rate of Georgia Institute of Technology freshman. The Freshman Experience (FE) places newly acquired Tech freshman in traditional style residence halls.^[1] The traditional residence halls aid in the promotion of community and social enrichment of newly acquired Tech students. The Experience utilizes events, programs, and peer leaders to accustom the freshmen to the rigors of Georgia Tech and urban Atlanta.^[2]

[edit] Structure

FE South	FE North	FE West
Brown Hall Howell Hall Smith Hall	Cloudman Hall Glenn Hall Harrison Hall Towers Hall	Caldwell Hall Fitten Hall Folk Hall Freeman Hall Montag Hall

Peer leaders are upper classmen assigned 15-20 freshmen who live within the residence halls. The peer leaders are the first layer (and only student employees) of the Freshman Experience staff designed to assist in academic, social, and physical needs of first year students.^[3]

The original Freshman Experience design encompassed Glenn, Towers, Cloudman, & Harrison Residence Halls. The program utilized a student staff hierarchy in which community advisors supervised 4-6 peer leaders and student advisors supervised 2-3 community advisors. The student advisors were supervised by a professional area director. All peer leaders, community advisors, and student advisors were undergraduate students while area directors were the first and only divide between student staff and the director of the Freshman Experience.^[4]

Smith, Brown, and Howell were added to the Freshman Experience in 1994 and the West Campus Residence Halls were eventually added as well.^[4] The student staff hierarchy was dissolved in the Fall of 2004 for increased professional staff supervision and decreased excess in student staff per building. The current professional staff hierarchy begins with professional Hall Directors supervising 10-15 student peer leaders. Hall directors staff and delegate peer leaders in 1-3 residence halls. An area manager supervises 2-3 hall directors and the head of Freshman Experience supervises the area managers.^[5]

There are currently two groupings of residence halls designated for Freshman Experience Housing. Freshman Experience East Campus is broken into two areas. FE North consists of Glenn, Towers, Cloudman, and Harrison or all buildings North of Brittain Dining Hall. FE South consists of Smith, Howell, and Brown or all buildings South of Brittain Dining Hall. Glenn, Towers, and Smith are all male halls while Brown, Harrison, and Cloudman are all female halls. Howell is the only coed FE dorm on East Campus and houses mainly Honors Program Freshmen.^[6]

Freshman Experience West Campus is made of two areas. Folk and Caldwell are one area. Fitten, Freeman, and Montag dubbed "FFM" by the residents are another area. All FE West Campus residence halls are coed by floor.

Although Harris Residence Hall is located within the FE South zone, it is considered a coed upperclassmen dorm and falls under Area II staff supervision.

[edit] FE East Campus

Freshman Experience East Campus (Area I) is the oldest residential area on campus. Dormitories trace their constructions back as early as 1925. Brittain Dining Hall serves as the laundromat and cafeteria for FE East Campus. Brittain has served Georgia Tech as a dining hall since 1928 and is the oldest restaurant on campus.

There is one main greenspace located between Glenn, Towers, and Brittain Dining Hall. Freshman Experience East Campus features the urban surroundings of Midtown Atlanta and Bobby Dodd Stadium located just across Techwood Drive. East Campus residents also have immediate access to Peters Park, Technology Square through the I-75/85 tunnel, and the newly acquired Olympic Village.

Particularly studious residents will enjoy the close proximity to the campus library but may find the trip up "Freshman Hill" a bit strenuous. All campus Residence Halls also feature the Learning Assistance Program, which is a student tutoring service within the Residence Halls.^[7]

Landmarks near the East Campus Freshman Experience include Tech Tower, Georgia Tech Whistle, Bank of American Building, The Varsity, and Midtown's MARTA Station. Of the 2,039 spaces in Freshman Experience, 1,363 (67%) of the spaces are on East Campus making East Campus the center of Tech freshmen socialization and activity.^[8]

[edit] Architecture

FE East Campus was built from 1925-1949. The buildings reflect this time frame lacking elevators and fire escapes (minus Glenn, Harrison, and Towers). The average room has 120 square feet and all buildings utilize community bathrooms on each floor. All of the buildings are entirely red brick with concrete accenting. The most common image amongst all of the Freshman Experience buildings is the concrete rose.

Howell Hall and Harrison Hall feature two scenes from the Don Quixote story. Harrison's scene depicts the "knight" about to do battle with windmills astride his donkey. Howell's scene depicts Alonso Quixano with a broken lance at a crossroads.

Roses are found on every building except for Smith Hall. Glenn Hall and Towers Hall have small concrete roses above their front doors. Brown, Harrison, and Cloudman features roses carved into the front door frames. Brown, Harrison, and Cloudman Halls feature seals with the old Institute name Georgia School of Technology, which was used until 1948.

[edit] FE West Campus

Freshman Experience West Campus was the last set of traditional dormitories built on campus. All built within the span of 1969-1972, there are two clusters of FE West Residence Halls. Woodruff Dining Hall serves as the cafeteria for FE West while each dormitory has nearby laundromats or in-hall washers and dryers. West Campus FE features a more suburban appearance than FE East Campus being engulfed in green space and oak trees.

Active residents may enjoy the Freshman Experience West's close proximity to several of Georgia Tech's physical fitness areas. The Roe Stamps Athletic Fields (SAC Fields) is across 6th Street from the FFM group of halls. These are the intramural and general purpose fields for Georgia Tech students. The Campus Recreation Center and Olympic Pool are just past the SAC Fields providing a world class gym merely a stone's throw from the residence halls. The Burger Bowl is the largest green space on campus and is the eastern border of FE West.^[8]

The musician resident will find the Couch Building across McMillan Street. It houses the School of Music as well as the concert venue Under the Couch. The Couch Building is the home of the Georgia Tech Bands as well.

All West Campus Residence Halls are noticeably closer to upper level engineering buildings providing residents transportation convenience. The MARC, Love Building, Instructional Center, and MRDC are all within short walking distance.

[edit] Criticisms

The Freshmen Experience has received limited criticism from its participants. One of the first criticisms at the founding of the program was that the Freshmen Experience broke apart non-Greek communities.^{[citation needed]} Typically, dorm residents resided in the same dorm throughout their collegiate years and strong communities were built within the residence halls. Instead, the Freshmen Experience forces out the communities it creates and makes it more difficult to reside with friends in subsequent years after the first year.

Another criticism of the Freshmen Experience centers around its primary assumption. FE assumes that students are incapable of planning and organizing their own events without Institute supervision. FE residents are charged additional fees to pay student staff to plan community building programs when in actuality any Georgia Tech student is more than capable of planning and organizing their own activity without direct Institute control.

Other criticisms range from lack of coed dormitory availability to poor student staff that fail to perform their basic duties. Only West Campus and Howell offer coed opportunities. Student staff are responsible for providing basic information to Georgia Tech newcomers and sometimes the staff merely take the position for free housing rather than more altruistic reasons. Poor student staff not only fail to perform basic informative tasks but may become liabilities when living conditions deteriorate or residence hall safety is jeopardized.

The age of most FE buildings predates modern physically disabled accessibility standards. On East Campus, Howell Hall is the only residence hall prepared for disabled residents. Harris Hall has an elevator but is not a part of the FE system. All of the FE west buildings are more accessible than their east campus counterparts but still lack elevators.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Georgia Tech Freshman Experience
• 2006 Georgia Tech Fact Book
• Georgia Tech Building List

v • d • e Georgia Institute of Technology Residence Life
Freshman Experience	Armstrong Hall • Brown Hall • Caldwell Hall • Cloudman Hall • Fitten Hall • Folk Hall • Freeman Hall • Glenn Hall • Harrison Hall • Howell Hall • Montag Hall • Smith Hall • Towers Hall
Olympic Apartments	Center Street Apartments • Eighth Street Apartments • Fourth Street Apartments • Graduate Living Center • Hemphill Avenue Apartments • North Avenue Apartments • Sixth Street Apartments • Undergraduate Living Center
Other	Brittain Dining Hall • Burge Apartments • Fulmer Hall • Harris Hall • Hefner Hall • Tenth & Home Apartments • Woodruff Dining Hall
Defunct	Callaway Apartments • Field Hall • Hanson Hall • Hopkins Hall • Knowles Hall • Matheson Hall • McDaniel (Techwood) Dormitory • Perry Hall • Swann Hall

[edit] Version 2

The Georgia Tech Freshman Experience Program (FE) is a freshman orientation program at Georgia Tech. It is a year-long program designed as a success program to help incoming freshman acclimate to college life, focusing mainly on the living aspect of freshman life.^[9] It differs from several other more traditional freshman orientation programs in that it provides support for the entire year (others usually last only from one day to one week, such as the Freshman Urban Program). In contrast, it boasts a higher retention rate than universities that implement the more traditional programs, or with students who chose not to participate in the program.^[10][11]

FE is selected by the students when they sign-up for housing on the campus. Nearly 90% of the freshmen sign-up each year.^[12] Since its inception, the retention rate and GPA of freshmen have increased, sparking its use as a model for other universities in the United States.^[13]

FE is split into seven components which are housing, meal plans, leadership opportunities, peer leaders, networking, tutoring, and a seminar class known as GT 1000.^[14]

[edit] History

FE was created in 1992 under President John Patrick Crecine. The program was begun to improve support for freshman coming into the rigorous Georgia Tech environment. Georgia Tech had strong SAT scores and its freshman came as part of the top 10% of their graduating class, however the U.S. News survey information on Georgia Tech found that the funding per student, freshman retention rate, and graduation rate were low. During its first 3 years, the SAT scores of freshman increased from 1992-1994 and were the highest of any public university in the United States. By 1995, 65% of freshman chose to participate in the program. The retention rate and GPA both increased during this time.^[15] Housing also increased with the addition of many West Campus apartment-style dorms due to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, with Georgia Tech functioning as the site of the Olympic Village. This allowed the program to grow to its present status of approximately 1,950 spaces for students.^[16] It currently has a retention rate of over 90% of freshmen and an average freshmen GPA of 2.9. Because of this strong evidence of success, it has been used as a model for other universities and has been featured at professional conferences and organizations as an example of a successful program used to combat the common problems facing freshman entering college.^[17][18]

[edit] Housing

FE Housing is found on both the East and West Campuses. All of the participating residence halls are traditional-style dormitories, with most on East Campus being single-sex and most on West Campus being co-ed by floor.^[19] All of the residents in the FE dormitories are freshmen except for the student staff known as Peer Leaders. This aspect of the program is built on the idea of having students taking comfort in the fact that other students are in similar situations (taking similar courses and course loads, sharing similar experiences, etc.).^[20] From 2006-2008, the program used 12 residence halls. Due to increasing number of admitted freshmen, this has increased to 17 halls for the 2008-2009 school year.^[21] Two of the previously used halls (Harrison and Howell) will be closed for HVAC upgrades.^[22][23]

[edit] East Campus

Residence halls on East Campus are Brown (female), Cloudman (female), Field (co-ed by floor, houses Honors Program), Glenn (male), Hanson (co-ed by floor), Harrison (female) (which will be closed for Fall 2008/Spring 2009 semesters), Hopkins (female), Howell (co-ed by floor, housed Honors Program prior to Fall 2008), Matheson (co-ed by floor), Smith (male), and Towers (male). Before 2008, only Brown, Cloudman, Glenn, Harrison, Howell, Smith, and Towers housed the Freshman Experience program on East Campus. East Campus is serviced by Brittain Dining Hall.

[edit] West Campus

Residence halls on West Campus are Armstrong, Caldwell, Fitten, Folk, Freeman, Hefner, and Montag. All are co-ed by floor. Hefner was closed in the Fall 2007/Spring 2008 semesters for renovations. Prior to the Fall 2007 semester, only Caldwell, Fitten, Folk, Freeman, and Montag housed the Freshman Experience program on West Campus. West Campus is serviced by Woodruff Dining Hall.

[edit] Meal Plans

[edit] Leadership Opportunities

[edit] Peer Leaders

[edit] Networking

[edit] Tutoring

[edit] GT 1000

[edit] Criticism

As students progress through Georgia Tech, many complain that one of the main components of the Freshman Experience Program, networking with the faculty, is lacking. In a recent survey in April 2003, students ranging from their freshman year to their senior year complained of the lack of involvement by the faculty, but it was especially by the freshmen. Students felt that the faculty members were professional and knew the curriculum, but were unable to teach it. Also, some were cited as saying that their did not feel that they were really given the chance for involvement with their peers or in leadership (two other key components of the program).^[24]

[edit] References

v • d • e Georgia Institute of Technology
Academics and Research	College of Architecture · College of Management · Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts · College of Computing · College of Engineering · College of Sciences · Library · Georgia Tech Research Institute · Georgia Tech Research Corporation · Nanotechnology Research Center · Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Athletics	Yellow Jackets · Athletic Director · Football (2007 · coach) · Men's Basketball (2007-08 · coach) · GT-UGA rivalry · Atlantic Coast Conference · Bobby Dodd Stadium · Alexander Memorial Coliseum · Russ Chandler Stadium · Campus Recreation Center
Campus Life	Freshman Experience · Midtown Atlanta · Technology Square · Home Park · DramaTech · Under the Couch · Momocon · WREK Radio · Georgia Tech Cable Network · The Technique · The Blueprint · Georgia Tech Lorraine · Georgia Tech Savannah · Junior's Grill
People and History	President · Faculty · Alumni · Athletes · History · Legends and Traditions