Year One is a one-credit freshman seminar course designed to help first-year students navigate successfully the transition to college. The college offers a wide range of seminar topics from which students can choose each year, and each section will have similar learning goals and outcomes that are independent of the seminar topic. Each group of approximately fifteen students is led by a carefully selected faculty mentor and two upper-division student mentors well-trained and qualified for this responsibility. The course assists new students in dealing with the inevitable changes and rapid growth they will experience in their transition to college and promotes an increased sense of self-efficacy. In addition, Year One fosters new social connections with other first-year students and across the Lyon community. Students who fail to pass Year One will automatically be registered for Year One in the next regular semester.
All first-time, full-time students who graduated from high school within the last two years take Year One. The provost must approve any exceptions. First-time, full-time students who enter during the spring semester take a modified version of this course. Transfer students who have successfully completed 18 or more credits at another institution do not take Year One.
Students who take Year One and who are also placed into MTH 001 and/or ENG 001 must also simultaneously enroll in COR 101 as a companion course to provide additional support and promote success.