Prospective
Students & Families 
Resources Learning Community Spotlight
Colbert, Jim
Eyles, Judi
Reed, Dana
Walsh, Pat
Judi Eyles
Program Coordinator of ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship, E & I Coordinator
LC Program: Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Number of years involved with Learning Communities: 4
Current Role with Learning Communities: Coordinator of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Learning Community
What are the most beneficial aspects of Learning Communities at Iowa State?
Any student is bound to be more successful on a large campus if he or she is involved in activities and meets people outside of the classroom. Learning Communities offer students a great start by immediately connecting them with other students who have similar interests or goals and by getting new students involved in some activity at the outset. Learning Community programs and student peer mentors make students feel like they are part of something meaningful on campus!
What are some LC activities that you have been involved with?
The highlight this past year was helping the students open the Barista Café, a student-run, student-owned espresso shop. What a tremendous learning opportunity for the students involved!
How do you feel, by being involved with Learning Communities, that you contribute to students’ success at Iowa State?
Based on the number of reference letters I write and weddings I am invited to attend after students graduate, I know that I have made a connection with students. It’s a great feeling to be a helpful resource for students both while they are students and after they graduate.
Do you have any other comments about working with students in Learning Communities?
What a great job I have – to work with motivated and energetic students – and to help introduce them to other people and mentors who can be helpful to them in their academic and career pursuits. In a learning community, friendships are formed that probably would not have been possible had they not been involved in a learning community program.
Dana Reed
Academic Adviser
Department: Art and Design
College: Design
LC Program: Design Collaborative
Number of years involved with Learning Communities: 2
Current Role(s) with Learning Communities: Coordinator for Design Collaborative and member of the Learning Community Advisory Committee
What are the most beneficial aspects of Learning Communities at Iowa State?
• Helping students transition into ISU successfully.
• Increasing student interaction with faculty, staff and campus resources.
• The learning communities provide opportunities for students to make life long friendships.
• Having a peer mentor to turn to when you feel lost.
What are some LC activities that you have created, implemented, or participated in?
• Welcome BBQ kick off to introduce Design Collaborative students to the faculty, staff and peer mentors.
• Design LC study groups and workshops to promote academic success.
• Design portfolio review workshops.
• All students take the Clifton Strengthsfinder© to discover their true inherent strengths and how to apply those strengths to be successful in college and life.
How do you feel, by being involved with Learning Communities, that you contribute to students’ success at Iowa State?
I feel that the learning communities provide the students with a sense of place or belonging. Through my role as a coordinator I am able to connect with the students and provide opportunities for them to learn about themselves, discover their passions and to foster a positive self outlook for their futures. The supportive nature of the learning communities provides students with a solid foundation on which to build their academic careers.
Do you have any other comments about working with students in Learning Communities?
It is a privilege to work with Learning Community students!
Pat Walsh
Advising Coordinator
Department: Human Development and Family Studies
College: Human Sciences
LC Program: HDFS
Number of years involved with Learning Communities: 7
Current Role with Learning Communities: Co-coordinator with Corly Brooke
What are the most beneficial aspects of Learning Communities at Iowa State?
- Assisting freshmen students with the transition to college
- Helping students make connections with peers, faculty, campus, and community
- Facilitating student success in the college environment
What are some LC activities that you have created, implemented, or participated in?
- Volunteering with a free meal program in the Ames Community
- Expanding students’ awareness of cultures different from their own
- Promoting specific times for LC study sessions
- Getting to know faculty outside of class (bon fire meals, pumpkin carving, cookie decorating, CY events)
How do you feel, by being involved with Learning Communities, that you contribute to students’ success at Iowa State?
The LC experiences we’ve created are aimed at helping students feel that they belong here; that they will be challenged and supported here; and that their success matters to us. This impacts their retention and persistence thus contributing to overall student success at ISU.
Do you have any other comments about working with students in Learning Communities?
Each group of students is unique and provides new learning opportunities for both the LC coordinators and peer mentors. Implementing strategies based on research of the first year college experience and the millennial generation is exciting and rewarding.
Jim Colbert
Associate Professor and Biology Program Coordinator
Department: EEOB
College: Liberal Arts & Sciences
LC Programs: BEST; BETAL
Number of years involved with Learning Communities: 10
Current Roles with Learning Communities: Service-Learning Coordinator for BEST (the Skunk River Navy); Co-Coordinator for BETAL
What are the most beneficial aspects of Learning Communities at Iowa State?
- Increasing interaction between faculty, staff, and students
- Opportunity to understand students better, allowing more effective teaching in the classroom
- Greater success and retention of biology students
- Better prepared High School Biology teachers
What are some LC activities that you have created, implemented, or participated in?
- The Skunk River Navy (http://www.biology.iastate.edu/SRN/SRN.html); over the past two falls the SRN has hauled out over 23,000 lbs of trash from local streams
- Developer of the BETAL Community
- Attendance at the Iowa Science Teachers conference with BETAL students
How do you feel, by being involved with Learning Communities, that you contribute to students’ success at Iowa State?
- BEST helps students quickly adjust to ISU and get engaged in biology soon after their arrival
- BETAL helps students make connections between their content area (biology) and their education courses, hopefully allowing them to more quickly become excellent teachers
Do you have any other comments about working with students in Learning Communities?
- It takes a lot of time and effort, but it’s worth it