Upperclassmen who venture into the First Year Center this semester will be sure to notice key changes. Two familiar faces have disappeared-both J.J. McEachern, former Director of First Year Programs, and Dawn Watkins, former Associate Dean of Student Life for Community Activities, left Guilford this summer. Shelley Crisp, last year’s Academic Coordinator of First Year Programs, assumed responsibility for McEachern’s position when he left in June.
Leslie Moss, Associate Director for Student Activities and the First Year Program, stepped in to handle the programming aspects of the First Year Center. Her role was further expanded when Watkins departed from her position in Student Life.
In addition to the Avanti and CHAOS orientation programs, which most students have already experienced, the First Year Center is the office in charge of FYE classes, first-year advising, and the mentoring program.
Although its leadership has changed, the Center is confident that the transition into this year will be smooth. “We have all worked really hard this summer, not just to explore the new roles we have taken,” said Crisp, “but to make sure that the quality of programming that we offer to the students does not suffer.”
Moss agreed: “We have tried to keep the program the same, because the CHAOS team had worked with J.J. all year to…lay the foundations [of the program] in the spring.”
And, according to Crisp, those foundations are more than solid. “I am so impressed with the first-year program I have inherited,” she said. “There are a lot of colleges that would really envy our program.”