Global Leadership Initiative A distinctive learning experience for UM students

History Enrichment program that aligns with UM year cumulative plan that incorporates multiple educational ‘best practices’: freshman seminars, experiential learning, capstone projects One goal is to increase retention of ‘average’ student  program is NOT selective Current curricular components are treated as experimental courses ‘Experimental’ phase now in 3 rd year, supported by private philanthropy

Statistics Demographics 67% female 52% in-state 25% honors students 89% Caucasian

Campus impact Faculty involvement: 36 freshman seminars taught by 35 faculty across 24 units Fiscal impact: no general-funds budget are being spent; departments and faculty have received a total of $285,000 to develop and teach freshman seminars, which works out to ~$490/student. Expected cost of capstone seminar is ~$500/student. Retention: students in GLI are retained at percentage points higher rate than comparable ‘average’ UM students.

Challenges Suboptimal retention in the GLI program of entering students during freshman year = 66%. Once past the freshman year, they tend to stay (e.g., 81% in sophomore year). Can we devise ways to better engage or support students to encourage staying in program? Slow start to junior class involvement in experiential learning and esp. study abroad. How can we facilitate/encourage/prepare them to make this leap?