Our Campus

1. Melvin W. Jones Scholars Learning Community: A community for first-year non-majority students.

2. Our Campus • Established as a land-grant institution in 1869 • Carnegie Foundation Doctoral/Research Universities-Extensive • Student body 22,973 • Faculty and staff 5,870 • Alumni 186,000 • Externally funded research $102,497,596

3. Student Enrollment • Total Student Body 22,973 • First-time Freshman 4,235 • Male 12,070 • Female 10,903 • Black 589 • Hispanic 733 • Native American 158 • Asian 1,156 • White & Unknown 20,337

4. Learning Community Structure at our Institution • Communities are initiated by sponsoring academic unit • Open to first year students only • Students are co-enrolled into two to three courses together first semester • Students live on the same part of a residence hall floor • Peer mentors and faculty sponsors develop co-curricular activities on a monthly basis for participants • Our first community started in 1994 was the Freshman Learning Community, followed by the Psychology and Journalism, 1996 • One full-time position split between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs to coordinate all Learning Community initiatives

5. Learning Communities Biology 23 Business 50 Criminal Justice 10 Engineering 90 General Studies 40 Joint ROTC 20 Mass Media Perspective 20 Music 45 Natural Resources 10 Scholars Communities College of Education & Human Sciences Advantage 25 EN Thompson International Scholars 20 Justin Smith Morrill Scholars 10 Melvin W. Jones Scholars 25 Pre-Law Scholars 15 William H Thompson Scholars 125 Total in Scholars 220 Total in Learning Communities 308 Combined 528 Learning Communities Today

6. Formation of MJS • Initiated by the faculty and staff Black Caucus • Goal of providing a community for minority students on a pre-dominantly white campus • Community Focus • Academic Support • Develop Leadership Skills • Engage in Community Service • Connect with Lincoln Community • Initial Community Challenges • First non-discipline based LC • What unit will sponsor the community • Funding sources • How to identify the community

7. Advisory Board Dr. Colleen Jones • Special Assistant to the Chancellor • Faculty in the College of Business Administration • Spouse of Melvin W. Jones • Faculty • Admissions, Multicultural Recruiter • Career Services • Housing, Residence Director • Academic LC Coordinator • Student

8. Courses • ETHN 100: The Minority Experience • Introduction to the interdisciplinary study of American Indians, African Americans, Latinos and other racial minority groups in the United States. • ALEC 102: Interpersonal Skills for Leadership • Introduction to the principles and practices of positive interpersonal relationships for leadership development. An experiential approach, field projects and a supervised service project.

9. Activities • Weekly Meetings • Similar content to a “foundations” course • Leadership development • Workshops • Career Networking • Academic Achievement • Dinner with the Chancellor • Community Outreach • Service Projects • Community Navigators

10. Community Snap Shot Community Size Demographics Hispanic 28 Multiracial 24 African American 82 Native American 7 White 3 Asian 1 Male 50 Female 95 Cohorts 2004 31 2005 37 2006 34 2007 43 Total 145

11. Community Snap Shot cont. College Fine and Performing Arts 7 Journalism 17 Public Affairs and Community 5 Nursing 4 Undeclared 28 Agricultural Science 1 Architecture 5 Arts & Sciences 39 Business Administration 20 Education and Human Sciences 10 Engineering 7

12. Funding Sources • Support from Admissions & Housing • Melvin W. Jones Foundation • Initiative for Teaching and Learning Excellence Grants (internal) • Other Funding Factors • Students do not pay a program fee to participate in this community • Student organized fundraising

13. Campus Impact • Jones Scholars Alumni Student Organization • Student Leadership & Employment • Majority Students • Development of new Scholars communities

14. Back Page Dr. Doug Zatehcka Director of Housing (402) 472-3561 dzatechka1@unl.edu Keith Zaborowski Associate Director of Housing for Residence Life (402) 472-3885 kzaborowski1@unl.edu AnnMarie Williams Academic Learning Community Coordinator (402) 472-0698 awilliams6@unl.edu