Established as a land-grant institution in 1869. Carnegi

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Melvin W. Jones Scholars Learning Community A
community for
first-year non-majority students.
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Our Campus

• Established as a land-grant institution in 1869
• Carnegie Foundation Doctoral/Research
  Universities-Extensive
• Student body 22,973
• Faculty and staff 5,870
• Alumni 186,000
• Externally funded research 102,497,596

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Student Enrollment

• Total Student Body 22,973
• First-time Freshman 4,235
• Male 12,070
• Female 10,903
• Black 589
• Hispanic 733
• Native American 158
• Asian 1,156
• White Unknown 20,337

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Learning Community Structure at our Institution

• Communities are initiated by sponsoring academic
  unit
• Open to first year students only
• Students are co-enrolled into two to three
  courses together first semester
• Students live on the same part of a residence
  hall floor
• Peer mentors and faculty sponsors develop
  co-curricular activities on a monthly basis for
  participants
• Our first community started in 1994 was the
  Freshman Learning Community, followed by the
  Psychology and Journalism, 1996
• One full-time position split between Academic
  Affairs and Student Affairs to coordinate all
  Learning Community initiatives

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Learning Communities Today

• Learning Communities
• Biology 23
• Business 50
• Criminal Justice 10
• Engineering 90
• General Studies 40
• Joint ROTC 20
• Mass Media Perspective 20
• Music 45
• Natural Resources 10

• Scholars Communities
• College of Education Human Sciences Advantage
  25
• EN Thompson International Scholars 20
• Justin Smith Morrill Scholars 10
• Melvin W. Jones Scholars 25
• Pre-Law Scholars 15
• William H Thompson Scholars 125
• Total in Scholars 220
• Total in Learning Communities 308
• Combined 528

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Formation of MJS

• Initiated by the faculty and staff Black Caucus
• Goal of providing a community for minority
  students on a
  pre-dominantly white campus
• Community Focus
• Academic Support
• Develop Leadership Skills
• Engage in Community Service
• Connect with Lincoln Community
• Initial Community Challenges
• First non-discipline based LC
• What unit will sponsor the community
• Funding sources
• How to identify the community

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Advisory Board

• Dr. Colleen Jones
• Special Assistant to the Chancellor
• Faculty in the College of Business Administration
• Spouse of Melvin W. Jones

• Faculty
• Admissions, Multicultural Recruiter
• Career Services
• Housing, Residence Director
• Academic LC Coordinator
• Student

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Courses

• ETHN 100 The Minority Experience
• Introduction to the interdisciplinary study of
  American Indians, African Americans, Latinos and
  other racial minority groups in the United
  States.
• ALEC 102 Interpersonal Skills for Leadership
• Introduction to the principles and practices of
  positive interpersonal relationships for
  leadership development. An experiential approach,
  field projects and a supervised service project.

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Activities

• Weekly Meetings
• Similar content to a foundations course
• Leadership development
• Workshops
• Career Networking
• Academic Achievement
• Dinner with the Chancellor
• Community Outreach
• Service Projects
• Community Navigators

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Community Snap Shot

• Community Size

• Demographics

• Cohorts
• 2004 31
• 2005 37
• 2006 34
• 2007 43
• Total 145

• Hispanic 28
• Multiracial 24
• African American 82
• Native American 7
• White 3
• Asian 1
• Male 50
• Female 95

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Community Snap Shot cont.

• College

• Agricultural Science 1
• Architecture 5
• Arts Sciences 39
• Business Administration 20
• Education and Human Sciences 10
• Engineering 7

• Fine and Performing Arts 7
• Journalism 17
• Public Affairs and Community 5
• Nursing 4
• Undeclared 28

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Funding Sources

• Support from Admissions Housing
• Melvin W. Jones Foundation
• Initiative for Teaching and Learning Excellence
  Grants (internal)
• Other Funding Factors
• Students do not pay a program fee to participate
  in this community
• Student organized fundraising

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Campus Impact

• Jones Scholars Alumni Student Organization
• Student Leadership Employment
• Majority Students
• Development of new Scholars communities

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Back Page
Dr. Doug Zatehcka Director of Housing (402)
472-3561 dzatechka1_at_unl.edu Keith
Zaborowski Associate Director of Housing for
Residence Life [phone] kzaborowski1_at_unl.edu
AnnMarie Williams Academic Learning Community
Coordinator [phone] awilliams6_at_unl.edu