Current News

New program will enhance students´ residential experience

December 02, 2008

Connecticut College's Dean of the College Community this week announced a new program that will enhance students' academic and social experiences and deepen connections between faculty and students by bringing them together more often in both formal and informal settings within student residence halls.

The Residential Education Fellows program, which will launch in the fall of 2009, is designed to increase faculty and student interactions outside of the classroom. Faculty members participating in the program will serve as liaisons and mentors and work closely with the student house fellows and house leaders to give and sponsor informal talks, plan educational programs and host study breaks.

"The Residential Education Fellows program is part of a larger Connecticut College effort to further integrate academic and residential learning," Dean of the College Community Armando Bengochea said. "At a residential liberal arts college, learning doesn't end when a student leaves the classroom, and this program will deepen the faculty-student engagement so essential to the liberal arts experience."

Eugene V. Gallagher, the Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies and the Gibney Faculty Fellow, Joy Shechtman Mankoff Center for Teaching and Learning at Connecticut College, will lead the program.

To begin funding the program, the Connecticut College board of trustees voted in October to designate $1 million of unrestricted endowment funds to support programming and faculty compensation. Additional funding will be provided by gifts through the Campaign for Connecticut College, the college's $200 million comprehensive campaign.

For media inquiries contact: Amy Martin (860) 439-2526; a.martin@conncoll.edu