By Rebecca Wyatt, OU Web Writer

Since 1993, Oakland University has offered freshmen the chance to build friendships and become more exposed to university culture through Collegiate Communication, also called COM 101. The first section of COM 101 for transfer students will be held in the fall semester 2006, providing the transfer students the opportunity to connect with the campus in new ways.

“We decided to introduce this section because our transfer numbers are constantly increasing,” said Sara Webb, coordinator of New Student Programs. “The course gives us the opportunity to introduce the students to the Oakland University community and it gives them the chance to interact with other transfer students.”

The one-credit course will meet for the first 12 weeks of the fall semester. Beth Deverna, tutor coordinator from the Academic Skills Center, and peer leader Erika Pezold, who were both transfer students in college, will provide the 25 students in the course information about OU, resources on campus and discuss issues transfer students face.

COM 101 began as an eight-week, non-credit program in 1993 under the title “Freshmen Success Seminar.” In 1995, New Student Programs and Department of Rhetoric, Communications and Journalism offered COM 101 for the first time as a one-credit, 12-week course.

COM 101 has been credited with increasing retention of the students who participate. In 2004, 75.5 percent of the students who participated in COM 101 continued at OU the following year, nearly 5 percent more than those who did not.

During the fall 2006 semester, 30 sections of COM 101 will be offered. Staff from the Student Affairs Division and academic advisers serve as instructors. The workload is such that students can expect to handle the course as part of a full-time schedule of 12-16 credit hours.

The transfer student section of COM 101 will be offered from 3-4:20 p.m. on Thursdays. Students interested in taking the course can register for course number 40692 using the SAIL system during registration.

For more information on COM 101, visit the New Student Programs Web site, call (248) 370-4418 or e-mail nsp@oakland.edu.