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Residential Colleges in a nutshell
or, The Stuff You Know that You Are Supposed to Know, But it Still
Seems a Bit Unclear
In UCA’s
Residential Colleges, our primary goal is to help facilitate the
often difficult transition
between high school and college by working with faculty, staff,
and student leaders to provide a more structured and cohesive
community environment for first year students.
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In each college, around
14 General
Education Core classes are offered
inside the classroom at the
Residence Hall.
There are other courses (between 6
and 8) that are offered in the building of their departmental
home, generally because lab equipment and/or class-size
restraints require it.
In these
cases, however, the classes are still unique—some have
enrollment limited to only
students in one of the four Residential Colleges and others
limit their enrollment further by registering only students from
one or more of the specific Residential Colleges.
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Prospective UCA Students
apply during the Spring or Summer
before their first Fall Semester at
UCA for the Residential College of their
choice.
To apply, they complete the
application, write an essay, and they are assessed on the basis
of their academic, civic, and social participation in their
previous school.
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Students who enter any
of the Residential College are required to take classes that are
offered in that program.
Students must
take a minimum of
3
classes from their RC in the Fall
and
2 in the Spring.
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Generally, we encourage students to
move on to the Sophomore Year Experience
after completing their first year in a Residential College.
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In some cases, students
will remain in a Residential College beyond their freshman year
as an RA or a Mentor.
The Mentors and RAs work together
to provide programming, to address student needs, to refer
students to the appropriate resource when needed, and to serve
as positive role models.
Residential College Staff Terminology
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The Residence Coordinator is a graduate student in the CSPS
program at UCA who lives in the Hall and supervises the RA
staff.
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The Resident Master is a faculty member who lives in the
building and teaches classes, supervises the Mentor staff,
and tries to integrate academic content into the various
projects that the students pursue.
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Mentors are the Undergraduate Studies staff that are
responsible for leading Supplemental Instruction Study
Groups and building community on their floors.
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Resident Assistants (R.A.’s) are the Housing staff that are
responsible for the maintenance and judicial incidents that
occur.
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