BGeXperience

125 Saddlemire Student Services at Conklin, 419-372-7247
http://www.bgsu.edu/students/bgexperience/index.html

The BGeXperience is an academic program committed to making critical thinking about values a central part of the student’s college experience from their freshman through their senior years.

The BGeXperience Program begins with the BGeX Introduction, which is designed to help all first-year students make a successful transition to college and jump start their college careers. In the BGeX Introduction and the BGeX courses for freshmen, students explore the values that are central to college and begin to develop the habits that assure success in academic work and their future careers. The courses also connect students to the wider BGSU community. Except for a commitment to open inquiry and integrity in academic and social life, BGeX does not prescribe values, but encourages students to reflect on their values and decide what is truly important to them. The program helps first-year students make connections with faculty that are critical to academic success. It also connects them with other first-year students and an upper class peer mentor who assures that they successfully transition to college life by developing the study skills necessary for success and the social skills essential for taking advantage of the learning opportunities that the residential college setting provides.

All first-year students are required to participate in the BGeX Introduction that runs Saturday and Sunday preceding the beginning of fall semester. The Introduction sessions are led by a professor and an upper class peer mentor. During the Introduction, students participate in lively, interactive small-group sessions that help them learn about college expectations and introduce them to concepts useful in exploring values. They examine how values function in everyday decision making, in academic disciplines, and in social and political life. This begins the process of nurturing the critical thinking and communication skills that are important for success in college and beyond. These sessions also help new students to feel comfortable with one of their professors, an upper class peer mentor, and other first-year students. Because the BGeX Introduction is an integral part of the curriculum, there is no additional cost for the program.

Once the fall semester begins, students will continue in their BGeX class along with the other students from their Introduction group. The peer mentor also participates in the class by assisting the professor and serving as a resource for the students as they adapt to the new experience of life in college. BGeX courses are offered in a wide variety of academic disciplines. All of them focus on the particular values that are involved in the discipline and subject being studied. BGeX faculty are specially trained and uniquely committed to helping students understand the roles that values play in scholarship and decision-making in public and private life, and to acquire the skills to reflect on their own values. Students select their freshman BGeX course in consultation with an academic advisor during the Summer Orientation and Registration period.

Other upper level BGeX courses and sections of courses are available for students to continue developing their capacity to think critically about values beyond their first semester experience as they progress into their major course of study.