Students First Home Links
Letter from
the President
Students First: Building the Foundation
Students First: Building the Foundation is a comprehensive, externally guided self-study and improvement process for the first year. NKU has partnered with the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education for a two-year project using their "Foundations of Excellence®" model that takes an intensive look at the experience students have in their first year at Northern Kentucky University.
The centerpiece of the Foundations of Excellence model is a set of principles that are termed Foundational Dimensions®. These Dimensions, developed by the Policy Center on the First Year of College (now John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education) and vetted by over 300 four- and two-year institutions, guide measurement of institutional efforts and provide an aspirational model for the entirety of the beginning college experience (initial contact with students through admissions, orientation, and all curricular and co-curricular experiences). These Dimensions also provide an intellectual foundation for the entirety of the undergraduate experience.
The engine of Northern Kentucky University's own Students First: Building the Foundation process is a campus-based task force - a group with broad representation from across the campus. The work of the task force begins with a campus audit of the first year for new students and continues with a nine- to twelve-month process of evaluation using the Foundational Dimensions and related performance indicators, and culminates in the development of a strategic action plan for campus improvement.
The Foundations of Excellence process is the signature work of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education.