Colleges of the Year: Appalachian State

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Students enrolled in small freshman seminars and learning communities return to Appalachian for their sophomore year at a higher rate than do their peers who don't partake in the program (90% vs. 84% for 1999's freshmen). So the school is expanding the program, which is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. More than 50% of the incoming class will take part in freshman seminars this year, up from about 40% last year. And students in each freshman seminar are enrolled together in at least one other course to form a learning community.

When freshmen arrive for one of the two-day orientation sessions held over the summer, their parents are invited to come along. About half do. While the kids take placement tests and register for courses, their parents attend lectures on the development of young adults, confer with parents of current students and get tips on how to gauge their kids' academic progress. ("Ask your students their professors' names two or three weeks into the semester" is one piece of advice from freshman seminars director Rennie Brantz. "If they don't know, they're not engaged.")

During orientation, kids are required to bunk on campus. That's optional for parents, but about half seize the opportunity to sample dorm life. Sarah's mom, Merry Jusiewicz, 49, arrived with concerns about sending her daughter so far from home but left reassured: "I got a real feeling of a genuinely caring faculty."

Some faculty members resent the focus on freshmen, accusing the administration of "hand holding." Joni Petschauer, director of freshman learning communities, pleads guilty: "Yes! That's exactly what we're doing. We're extending our hands to them for the first semester. I embrace that."

Last month, instead of asking their new classmates, "Where are you from?" many freshmen arriving at Appalachian asked one another, "Have you read the book?" The following day, the 2,321 freshmen broke into small groups for discussions led by faculty and administrators of A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines' acclaimed 1993 novel about a black man condemned to die for a crime he did not commit and the black teacher who visits him in jail. Author Gaines is scheduled to deliver the convocation address this week. And later this month the theater department will stage a play adapted from the book.

Beyond those planned events, it is the spontaneous eruptions of interest that are most gratifying to the freshman advocates at Appalachian. Jeffrey Grubbs, 18, a freshman from Charlotte, says that he rarely reads for pleasure but tore through this summer's assignment, savoring the rich evocation of 1940s Louisiana. "It's just drenched in setting," he marvels. One evening after the formal book discussion, he persuaded some visiting friends to give the book a try. As the school year begins, Appalachian has its freshmen on the same page--and spreading the word.