First Year Experience
Orientation is a year-long process, beginning with June Advising and culminating
in the end of the first academic year at Muhlenberg. Faculty, current students
and staff, working collaboratively, develop a learning environment that balances challenge and support so every first-year
student has an opportunity to succeed in the transition from high school to
college life. Experiences in the Orientation year are intended to contribute
to the student’s intellectual, personal and social growth, and to the student’s integration into
a community committed to balanced and responsible engagement in academics,
residential life, and extra-curricular activities.
The College monitors that engagement and provides support through close work
among faculty, staff and upperclass students who have been carefully selected
and trained to assist first-year students.
During Orientation Weekend, special emphasis will be placed on activities to promote the transition to life as a Muhlenberg College student: familiarity with the campus, its resources, and traditions; integration into small groups so friendships and a sense of commitment to self and others as members of a community may begin; awareness of skills and attitudes, including time management and the meeting of responsibilities on a syllabus, necessary for academic success; awareness of seeking assistance through professors, Faculty Advisors, Student Advisors, Resident Advisors, Writing Assistants, and professionals in offices such as Academic Support Services and the Counseling Center; acknowledgement of the importance of diversity for a healthy community, including differences in religious, racial, and ethnic background, gender, cognitive or physical disabilities, sexual orientation, and academic disciplines; the importance of the student as active in weighing options and making responsible choices; and the importance of academic integrity.
Although the College is committed to assisting students in every way possible,
we recognize that the student must ultimately take responsibility for her/his
education. The success of the years in college may ultimately be measured
by the extent to which the student has developed the capacity for responsible
decision making.
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Muhlenberg® College