ARSC Success Skills Courses
We currently offer two courses with small classes to help Arts & Sciences undergraduates acclimate to balancing school and other life obligations. These are offered to incoming first-years in the fall semester, and in fall and spring semesters for continuing students who have found themselves struggling academically for whatever reason. We are in the process of developing a course specifically for transfer students as well.
Both courses are structured to provide more direct and frequent interaction with advisement and campus support to help our students develop important communication skills, practice different learning strategies, more efficiently navigate university life, and prioritize relationship-building during crucial times in their studies.
ARSC 198: A&S First-Year Seminar
Open to first-year A&S students
Fall semesters
This course is designed specifically for new incoming students who are considering a major or minor within A&S. It is co-taught by a unique combination of Academic Advisors and graduate instructors, offering students complementary perspectives and experiences on student success and support. This is a collaborative and nurturing class environment where students can understand and develop their transitional skills, learn to better navigate the university experience, explore their individual strengths, goals, and identity, and learn how to approach future opportunities in undergraduate research.
Instructors work together to help freshmen have a successful transition to university life by offering learning environments where students will develop and explore concepts like:
- Building academic and social communities
- Engaging with your education
- Learning strategies and skills necessary for academic success
- Understanding the culture of higher education - both its opportunities and barriers to student success
- Connecting to UNM resources and support systems
- Exploring identity, representation, and self-care
- Developing communication skills to cultivate relationships with university faculty and staff
- Recognizing what it means to be a student at an R1 institution and the role of discovery and involvement in undergraduate research
Click below to see available sections for the upcoming semester:
ARSC 198 Fall 2023 Information Flyer
ARSC 198: Academic Recovery & Resilience
Continuing students on academic probation
Spring semesters
This is a much more nuanced, personalized, and involved course for students who have demonstrated a need for more direct academic and personal support and may be on academic probation. It is a 1-credit hour course taught by Academic Advisors and sometimes other student support representatives and Peer Learning Facilitators (PLFs). In this class, students will have more dedicated time to reflect and continue developing proven learning strategies. We will also bring campus resources directly to the students as they work to get back on track and decide the next steps of their individual academic journeys.
First-year students are required to take this course if they fall below a 2.0 GPA during their first semester. If you have more questions regarding the policies related to probation and suspension in A&S, please visit the College of Arts & Sciences section of the UNM Catalog, updated annually, and/or speak with your Academic Advisor. Please be advised that students required to take this course are automatically enrolled in it following the posting of the previous semester’s grades, and they are not able to drop this course on their own without permission of an advisor. If a first-year student opts not to take this course, they must inform their ARSC 198 instructor immediately and will need to either transfer to a different college within The University of New Mexico or be disenrolled from all their courses for the semester.
NOTE: This course is open to any A&S students who would like academic, social, and emotional support with permission from their Academic Advisor.
Questions? If you have any questions related to the ASCAS course offerings, please email asadvise@unm.edu and they will connect you with the Education and Development Manager, Sarah Peceny.
