Soon, upperclassmen will be able to participate in a new on-campus housing program that will group them with students of similar interests.TCU Residential Services will launch the “Living Learning Communities” program February in the dorms.
The program will allow students to select an interest they share with other students and group them in the same wing of their residence hall.
The nature of the program is to give students who have not found their niche at TCU an opportunity to lay a social foundation within their hall, said Craig Allen, director of residential services.
Stephanie Stanley, area director for Foster, Waits and Jarvis halls, said the LLC program will enhance students’ on-campus experiences.
The program will add to the students’ residential life and their experience on campus in general, Stanley said.
The LLC is designed to build on Chancellor Victor Boschini’s Vision In Action program which aims to create a “richer residential community and reflect a recommitment to TCU’s residential heritage,” according to the VIA Web site.
“We want to provide an atmosphere where students can take what they have learned in class and apply them in an environment which fosters intellectual stimulation, Allen said. “The LLC program is a way to further that action in the residence halls.”
Allen said the Monday at TCU program will be used to market the “Living Learning Communities” to incoming students; however, the program will only be available to juniors and seniors.
Linda Moore, professor and chair of the social work department, said programs like the LLC are not new to the TCU campus.
There was a similar program in Brachman Hall in the 1980s, Moore said.
Other colleges, such as the University of Texas at Austin and Rice University, have major-specific programs, like the LLC, that group people who are majoring in the same field together in the dorms.
Moore said she would like to see a wing that emphasizes languages.
“It would be really fun to be on an international wing which specializes in Spanish,” Moore said, “so then I could use that opportunity to use my Spanish.