Student Engagement First-Year Honors Mentor Program at Iowa State University: Modules, Schedule, and Assessed Program Outcomes

Svitlana Zbarska, Iowa State University

The First-Year Honors Mentor program (FHMP) at Iowa State University is a successful high-impact practice that started in 1987. FHMP offers about 400 first-year Honors students from all majors the opportunity to get research experience with faculty mentors. The main objectives of the FHMP are to develop student interests in research involvement as early as their freshman year, to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the academic field, and to help them identify a research area for an Honors capstone project. FHMP participants conduct research during the spring semester of their first year with an opportunity to continue during the following summer and fall semesters.

During this session, we will share the FHMP modules and schedule including student recruitment, principals of matching mentors and mentees, a list of students’ requirements to complete the program, and variables to measure students’ successes. We also will overview the newly developed matching software which is used for student and faculty registration, preferences, and matches.

To track and assess program outcomes, all student FHMP participants were asked to complete an entry and exit survey. The purpose of this assessment project is to assess how the FHMP impacts honor students’ interests in continuing research throughout their academic careers. During the session we will share these program outcomes:1) changes in the number of FHMP participants over the last fourteen years and how it was affected by the COVID pandemic; 2) the demographic data and college distribution of the FHMP participants; 3) the number of FHMP participants who decided to continue research involvement in a following year, and 4) the number of FHMP participants who completed an honor capstone project and graduated with Honors.