The participating students will live together in a residence hall and work in an academic and/or co-curricular program together.
The programs are intended to provide students with an academic and peer support network, facilitated by faculty and Residence Life staff. Although LLCs are new to St. Thomas, there is a long history of their presence in higher education and with it, data to provethey are effective.
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Mary Ann Ryan believes students who are involved in LLCs apply more critical thinking skills, apply knowledge to new settings, express more commitment to civic engagement and act on their commitment by volunteering or taking service-learning courses.
The four LLCs will focus on different concepts: sustainability, wellness, Aquinas Scholars Program and two sets of paired courses where the curriculums are intertwined.
The sustainability LLC will focus on environment conservation and research. The wellness LLC will look into health promotion and maintaining a good lifestyle on a college campus, and the Aquinas Scholars Honors LLC with focus on providing enriching academic experiences and co-curricular activities.
The two sets of paired courses LLC will not only have students take classes together but also live in a co-ed dorm in Murray Hall. One side of the residence hall floor will be for women, the other side for men. This is part of a pilot program that Director of Residence Life Aaron Macke claims will inspire productivity.
The LLCs are still being developed by a wide range of people. Associate Professor of Geography Paul Lorah is working on developing the sustainability LLC and said the program is receiving a huge amount of support across campus.
“A wide range of people have been involved. Faculty, staff, students, academic advising. This has been the work of many people,” Lorah said.
Lorah has worked on developing activities and co-curricular content for the freshmen who will be involved in the sustainability program. St. Thomas students will work with community partners to get involved with local environmental issues. The community partners have not yet been determined.
Sustainability students will go out on field trips to collect data, eventually leading to a conference presentation and grant writing.
Incoming freshmen may signal their interest in joining an LLC on a housing preference form. The sustainability LLC has room for 24 students. If up to 24 apply, all will get in, but if over 24 people apply applications will be filtered.
Lorah believes that LLCs will make life easier for incoming freshmen.
“It’s hard being a freshman. You’re away from home, you may not know anyone here. LLCs will help freshman get to know each other,” Lorah said.
Macke agreed with Lorah and said he believes the inclusion of LLCs at St. Thomas will greatly benefit student experiences not only in freshman year but throughout their college careers.
“It will provide additional learning experience for first years and improve their transition into college, improve retention, build relations between students and staff, improve the use of on campus resources and general attentiveness to campus,” Macke said.
Although there is still work to be done, faculty members are excited to see what impact the LLCs will have at St. Thomas. Ryan said the effort will be worth it.
“Learning doesn’t end when you leave the the classroom … with the Living Learning Communities there will be so many opportunities for students to partake in,” Ryan said.
Jeffrey Langan can be reached at lang5466@stthomas.edu.