iBridge Provides Transition for Incoming Freshmen

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A group of 23 incoming freshmen arrived on campus early this month to take part in iBridge, a program designed to help them make the transition from high school to university work.

The program, in its second year, is a partnership between the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of Diversity Affairs.  The program was created to help underrepresented freshmen - including ethnic minorities, first-generation college students and those from Arkansas counties that are underrepresented on campus - get an academic and social head-start to freshman year.

iBridge students moved to campus on Sunday, August 11 and began their classes on Monday, August 12.

The program curriculum was designed and led by Elias Dominguez Barajas, director of the program in rhetoric and composition in the department of English. The goal is to prepare students to meet the reading and writing demands of first year Composition as well as other coursework.  iBridge students also participate in activities and workshops that introduce them to the many academic support services offered on campus.

"iBridge offers students an early introduction to the academic realities of being a college student," said Charles Robinson, vice chancellor for diversity and community. "It affords these students a chance to improve their skills before it counts on their official college record. This program is a wonderful way for the university to better ensure that these students have successful progress in their academic journeys."

“The skills students acquire or refine in our English Composition courses are foundational for most of the academic work students will be asked to do at the university, so it makes sense to make the iBridge curriculum reading and writing intensive," said Barajas. "The iBridge provides a preview of what’s to come so that the students who participate will not be overwhelmed by the typical course-load of the first semester.  Students who are better informed at the start of the semester are more likely to adapt quickly to the pace and rigor of university-level courses, and we hope that this will translate into retention of these students and ultimately to their graduation.  Moreover, the iBridge allows this cohort of first-year students to establish some friendships immediately, something that will ease the transition from home to campus—in effect, ‘bridging’ that divide."

Students who attended iBridge will continue to be supported throughout their freshman year and beyond by College Access Initiative staff and the Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education, where all iBridge participants will be invited to enroll in the Academic Enrichment Program. This program provides academic workshops, social programming and faculty/staff mentoring support to ensure that students are equipped with the support system and skills that lead to a successful college experience.