Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/124472
Rolling Out the Welcome Mat L ike many schools, Fordham University in New York City has seen its international student population grow appreciably in recent years, increasing by nearly 105 percent since 2006. With this growth came challenges, especially as students adjusted to the American education system and culture. To address these challenges, Fordham designed a smoother and less stressful orientation process for international students. Departments from all over the university contributed: admissions, residence life, student counseling, athletics, the academic administration, and campus ministry. Because close to half of the incoming international students were enrolling in the Gabelli School of Business, representatives from the Gabelli School became an integral part of the conversation. The result: The Global Transition Program, which aims to acclimate students to the university and head off potential problems before they even arise. The pilot program of the new orientation, which launched in fall 2012, offered a full week of events designed to help students adapt to anything that might be unfamiliar, from academic expectations to the metropolis in which Fordham sits. Since students helping students is often the most effective approach, the first step was recruiting juniors and seniors to act as peer liaisons. These ambassadors, a mix of American students and international students who had already been on campus for a couple of years, met the new students at the airport and stayed with them throughout orientation. Together they attended movies, watched athletic events, visited the Bronx Zoo, and went sightseeing and shopping in New York City. The international students also International students at the Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University, gather for a group photo during their weeklong orientation. 30 May/June 2013 BizEd became more familiar with Fordham itself: They toured the Bronx and Lincoln Center campuses, discovered which resources were available to them, and got to check out every residence hall. Once the students were comfortable in their surroundings, it was time to prepare them for their coursework. This was particularly necessary for the business students, who would take a slate of core business courses as well as Fordham's Jesuit-inspired liberal arts core. Because Gabelli's goal is to replicate today's business environment, business students work in teams—which is often a new learning style for international students. The Global Transition Program covered how to collaborate successfully, how the various business courses interconnect, what deadlines mean and how tardiness is handled, and where students could go for academic advising. It also emphasized how seriously Fordham views academic integrity and how plagiarism is addressed at our school and in American culture. During orientation week, all incoming international students also took the university's foreignlanguage competency test. Both the business and liberal arts cores at Fordham require a great deal of writing, especially among first-year students. This exam helped identify students who might need extra academic support through English as a Second Language classes. It also spurred a change in the sequence of courses that international students take: It was decided that they should enroll in writing-intensive philosophy, theology, and history coursework after they had adequate time to improve their English language and academic writing skills. Overall, the Global Transition n e i l b r e n nan by Michael Polito