Coordinated Undergraduate Education (CUE)

Coordinated Undergraduate Education (CUE) is a CUNY-wide initiative that is aimed at bringing together various components aimed at promoting student success in order to provide students with a coherent undergraduate educational experience. At each CUNY campus, CUE is defined by the coordinated programs that express the unique mission of the institution.

CUE at KCC: Building Communities of Practice for Student Success

At the core of Kingsborough's mission is an abiding commitment to the proposition that every student who comes to our college can succeed. Those students who express an interest in joining our diverse community, regardless of academic preparedness or career interest, are given the unmistakable message that the College not only expects them to succeed but is prepared to provide them with the support they need to succeed.

Similarly, at the core of our mission is the challenge of providing a quality liberal education that recognizes the fast-paced, changing nature of today's world. The College is responding to the change in knowledge practices brought about by technology, globalization, and the need for mobility and flexibility in the workplace through an integrative and interdisciplinary approach to general education. The new principles and expectations of the CUE Initiative have guided the College's plans, now energized under the leadership of President Regina S. Peruggi. The faculty, administration and staff are rethinking academic programs, academic support, and student services towards the total integration of each into one comprehensive system of academic opportunity for students.

Associate Dean Reza Fakhari serves as the senior administrator in charge of the CUE Initiative. Collaborating closely with Associate Dean Loretta DiLorenzo-who continues to facilitate general education reform at the College-he has formed an energetic CUE Coordinators Team (see the attached list.) The CUE Team, working together, has conceived "Building Communities of Practice for Student Success" as their theme for 2006-2007. Out of nine CUE programs submitted this year, six are new and expressly designed to improve teaching and learning and enhance retention, graduation and transfer rates.

Each of the nine CUE projects has its own objectives but together they have one goal: to enhance student success. This year's proposal seeks to achieve this goal by focusing on the two pillars of a quality undergraduate education-an enduring foundation in general education and teaching effectiveness. To one degree or another, all CUE projects promote the integration of knowledge and skills through application and practice. All CUE projects seek to enhance teaching effectiveness through consistent and on-going faculty development and tutor training.

Kingsborough has just completed its decennial review and has begun a phase of self-renewal. Experienced faculty members are working side-by-side with new instructors. They are supported by an administration committed to adapting the institution to rapid societal, technological, and economical change. College-wide cooperation has contributed to new interconnected approaches to assessment and planning. The creation of two mutually supportive faculty development centers, one focused on technology and the other on pedagogy, both reporting directly to the senior administrator for CUE, now promote more effective teaching which has resulted in improve- ment in student learning outcomes. KCC's Learning Communities project, a recognized national model, is showing significant improvements in students' academic progress and 1,000 (about 38% of) first-time freshmen, both ESL and non-ESL, are currently participating. The 2006-2007 CUE programs will further enhance all these developments in multiple ways. CUE will fund new programs designed to enrich continuing CUE programs, as well as draw all CUE projects together so that the knowledge and skills students need to acquire will be reinforced in multiple ways.