Residential Houses
The Call for Interdisciplinary Living-Learning Community Proposals
Purpose
UC seeks to create new communities within its residence hall system that will appeal to and serve the needs of baccalaureate-level students admitted to the university for fall 2013 and beyond. These students will be well prepared for college, possessing both broad and deep learning interests. The new residential communities or “Houses” selected through this call-for-proposal process will be designed to appeal to this highly capable student population. Proposals must support students with interdisciplinary learning interests (as captured in themes like leadership, sustainability, innovation, social justice/civic responsibility, thriving cities, healthful living, global engagement). The specific student population intended to reside in the House must be identified within the proposal; the House concept must be designed in ways that this target population finds compelling and that will result in filling the House’s designated living space with residents who are committed to supporting the House community.
What is a Residential House?
Residential Houses are living-learning environments that assign a group of interested students to live within a defined university housing area in order to interact around a specific learning focus or common purpose, typically an interdisciplinary academic or professional development theme. Each “House” community, regardless of its assigned physical structure, has a well-developed framework and culture for interaction that incorporates clearly defined learning goals, expectations for student resident participation, specialized activities designed to accomplish stated goals, and opportunities for reflection as well as public sharing of accomplishments. The required learning framework is supported, in partnership with Resident Education and Development, by significant and committed involvement from faculty and staff with expertise related to the House’s interdisciplinary focus. If the House learning framework incorporates enrollment into a specified set of courses it may also be classified as a Learning Community and involve the Center for First Year Experience and Learning Communities as one of its partners.
Be sure to fill out the proposal worksheet!
Proposal and Implementation Timeline
- Call distributed: September, 2011
- Notification of interest (optional): October 1, 2011 through November 1, 2011
- Potential applicants may contact Dawn.Wilson@uc.edu to be added to a distribution list to receive notifications about resources, including information sessions, which may be useful to applicants as they develop their proposals.
- Proposals due: January 18, 2012
- Proposals selected for advancement to Tier 2 review: February, 2012
- Tier 2 review meetings begin: March, 2012
- Proposal selections finalized: June, 2012
- House implementation agreement(s) finalized: July 2012
- House(s) marketed through new student recruitment activity: Begins August, 2012
- House(s) offered through Housing & Food Services application processes: Begins November, 2012
- House(s) marketed through targeted invitations to incoming students: Begins November, 2012
- Student on-campus housing applications due: May 1, 2013
- House(s) room assignments distributed to students: Summer 2013
- House(s) open: Fall, 2013