St. Jerome ’s has recently been selected to participate in the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Institutional Leadership Program. The program recognizes “institutions with demonstrated commitment to and capacity for action, inquiry and leadership in the scholarship of teaching and learning.”
For the next three years, St. Jerome ’s will join nine other North American institutions of higher learning in a collaboration of ideas, resources and investigation into the improvement and support of teaching and learning in a liberal arts environment. At the centre of the educational plan that led to St. Jerome ’s selection is the new first-year mentoring program known as uPods. The uPods program is designed to assist first-year students with their transition to university life by partnering them with a small group of first-year students and a staff or faculty mentor. Over the next few years, the program will be expanded to include all aspects of the students’ experience and the establishment of benchmarks that chart students’ progression through their undergraduate work.
St. Jerome ’s is also entering into its second year as part of the Intercordia program, a unique service and learning opportunity that allows students to spend three months in a developing country following a year of study and preparation. Intercordia—and by extension the focus on Beyond Borders initiatives—along with the uPods program continues the tradition of providing all SJU students with opportunities to enrich their undergraduate education.
