Living-Learning Communities
Fall 2009-Spring 2010
A living-learning community is an exceptional opportunity for students to live and learn together in a residential community. Valdosta State University offers five living-learning communities to our residents. Students who indicate an interest to live in one of the 6 living-learning communities on their housing application, must fulfill all housing application requirements. In addition, students must meet the program's criteria and complete a program application. Program applications and more detailed information can be found by following the link provided under each program's description. Once students are selected to be members of one of the learning communities they will live together in a designated residence hall, take one or more courses together, and participate in fun activities specifically designed for their community. A student cannot be involved in more than one living-learning community, and students are strongly encouraged to live with other students participating the same program to experience a true living-learning community.
Air Force ROTC: Air Force ROTC is an experience that transforms the ordinary individual into a well-disciplined, purpose-driven person with a guaranteed career upon graduation and completion of the program as well as pride and a sense of honor to last a lifetime. Air Force ROTC offers tools to give the average person an advantage over their peers by teaching him/her: time management, physical training, military discipline, bearing, and a host of other skills that enable the individual to exude professionalism in all aspects of his/her life. Upon successful completion of the Air Force ROTC program, cadets are fully prepared to move on and take their new role as an officer on active duty in the Air Force. For more information on Air Force ROTC visit their website at http://www.valdosta.edu/afrotc.
Emerging Leader Program (ELP): ELP is designed to encourage and develop freshmen student leaders. Emerging Leaders participate in an academic class, ongoing activities during their first year and attend an exciting and fun retreat in August. The program is dedicated to preparing students for positions of leadership both inside and outside the University community and encourages involvement in opportunities that promote leadership, citizenship, service, and personal development. Upon completion of this program, students can advance into the Existing Leader program in their sophomore year. The ELP program is open to all incoming freshman and includes a selection process. Application information is located at the web address below. Students can select the major of their choice and still participate in the program. ELP participants will be pre-registered for the Emerging Leader class (VSU 1102) and two freshman level academic courses for their first semester. Students selected for the ELP cannot be enrolled in any other living-learning community. Applications for the Emerging Leader Program are available on-line at http://valdosta.edu/stulife/leadership.
Foreign Languages House(FLH)
The foreign languages house will offer participants the opportunity to live in a residence hall with other students dedicated to learning foreign languages and exploring foreign cultures. Participants will live together on a floor which includes a classroom/lounge where they can socialize in the languages they are learning. Both French and Spanish majors as well as other students registered in at least one foreign language course each semester are invited to live in the foreign languages house. Resident assistants with an interest in foreign language will help coordinate and organize social, cultural, and academic support events. Participants will play games, sponsor conversation cafes, screen foreign films, organize cultural cooking sessions, and explore the possibilities of studying abroad. For more information about the Foreign Languages House and to obtain an application to be a part of this living-learning community please e-mail Professor Babacar Mboup at bmboup@valdosta.edu or Professor Luis Bejarano at lgbejara@valdosta.edu or call the Office of Modern & Classical Languages at 229-333-5948.
Freshman Year Experience (FYE):FYE is a year-long student success program designed to maximize every student’s potential. The program is open to freshmen who do not want to declare an academic major until after their first or second semester of college. The major component of the FYE Program is the freshman seminar (VSU 1101). The freshman seminar professor serves as the student’s academic advisor throughout the first year of college. During the first semester, the seminar focuses on helping students make the transition to college through classes on academic skills development, goal setting, time management, critical thinking, and personal development. When you become a member of the FYE Program, you also become a member of a learning community. A learning community is a group of 25 students who have at least three classes together with other students in FYE. Because the classes are linked, students are afforded a rich interdisciplinary experience. In addition, each learning community has a peer mentor and tutor to help with subjects such as math, political science, and history. You can learn more about FYE by visiting http://www.valdosta.edu/oasis/fye.shtml.
Honors Program: The Honors Program offers interdisciplinary seminars, a special track of core curriculum courses, and opportunities for independent research that lead to a Certificate in University Honors. The program is designed to provide for the stimulation and challenge of academically motivated students so that they achieve their full academic potential, while at the same time providing recognition for such students' endeavors. The Honors Program encourages connections between disciplines, interdisciplinary programs, innovative and unusual approaches to subject matter, and a reliance upon experiential learning that is fully integrated into the course content. The courses and seminars are designed to give all students in the Honors Program a shared intellectual experience in order to develop a community of learners and to encourage a spirit of collegiality in the pursuit of knowledge, a spirit that is essential for intellectual growth and personal fulfillment. The only requirement for Honors Housing is that the student be admitted to the Honors Program. For additional information about the Honors Program please visit http://www.valdosta.edu/honors/. Students participating in the Honors Program are invited to live in our new Honors facility, Reade Hall.
NEW! V.O.G.U.E (Voicing Our Gender's Unity and Equality): Designed to enhance women’s knowledge of social justice issues that relate to women and gender; and to help them make early connections with a variety of women and gender related campus and community programs. Women participating in this living-learning community will study and experience the way gender intersects with race, ethnicity, nation, sexualities, age, religion, mental and physical abilities, immigration status and other diverse structured systems of social inequality. During the program, students in the learning community will participate in a variety of classroom and community experiences that focus on women and gender issues. Students will participate in campus activities designed to bring about awareness concerning human rights issues. Some examples of activities include The Clothesline Project—a visual display of t-shirts hung on campus that bear witness to survivors as well as victims of domestic violence. Women will be encouraged to pursue a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. You can learn more about the Women and Gender Studies program by visiting http://www.valdosta.edu/womenstudies/.
All living-learning communities, based on the number of participants, will be placed in one of our residence halls that has been renovated since 2004.