The Senior Year Experience: Facilitating Integration, Reflection, Closure, and Transition

Just as colleges and universities give attention to helping first year students transition INTO the college experience, many schools are realizing the need to give more purposeful attention to helping students transition OUT of college and into the rest of their lives. This book gives insight into students' cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal development and how where students ARE in their development is not always congruent to what employers and graduate schools EXPECT students to be... and how we can help students build those bridges! Topics included in this book can be helpful whether you are evaluating an existing Senior Year Experience program or seeking to design one. Information in various chapters can be used specifically for student affairs professionals in:CAREER SERVICES Ch. 5: "Are College Seniors Prepared to Work?"STUDENT ACTIVITIES/LEADERSHIP Ch. 8: "Leadership Education in the Senior Experience"SERVICE LEARNING/RESIDENCE LIFE "Ch. 9: "Developing 'Civic Virtue' Among College Students"ALUMNI DEVELOPMENT Ch. 14: Preparing Seniors for Roles as Active Alumni"ACADEMIC ADVISING Ch. 11: "Creating Pathways to Graduate School"and all faculty and student affairs educators who work with MULTI-ETHNIC STUDENTS Ch. 13: "College-to-career Transition Programs for Multiethnic Students"The book includes a helpful list of references and a sample syllabus of a senior capstone class developed and used by the authors. For student affairs professionals who are seeking to bridge the gap between curricular and co-curricular education on campus, this is a comprehensive, easily readable resource that makes reference to a number of colleges and universities that have successfully implemented Senior Year programs. I have searched the websites of those schools for additional ideas and information.