Webster University: Living Learning Communities FAQ

What are Living Learning Communities (LLCs)?

Why should you want to live and learn?

What Living Learning Communities are available at Webster University?

Where are the Living Learning Communities located?

How do I apply?

What are Living Learning Communities (LLCs)?
When attending a college or university, a student should expect to gain the whole higher education experience. The ultimate academic and social experience occurs on Webster’s newly created Living and Learning Communities. Students will live and learn with a group of connected students who live residentially and share classes in their majors.

Webster University Living Learning Communities (LLCs) are communities of students on a residence hall floor with a common academic interest in communications or fine arts. These communities consist of 15 - 30 students living in the same residence hall and taking two or three linked courses. The courses revolve around a particular theme or field of study, which satisfy general education requirements. LLCs offer students the opportunity to enhance their learning experience by surrounding themselves with peers who share their academic interests, as well as integrating faculty outside the classroom experience.

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Why should you want to live and learn?

Social Support:

allows for interaction with others who share similar interests, therefore developing a common commitment to each other’s personal and academic success.
LLC members live in the same residence hall with students who take some of the same courses, it is much easier for them to form study groups and get help with challenging courses.
The first year of college is often overwhelming for first year students, but joining a LLC is a great way to make friends easily and quickly in this large, diverse community.

Faculty Connections:

In LLCs, ongoing dialogue with peers and educators assists students in making personal meaning of their academic experiences thus enhancing intellectual development.
LLC members have the added benefit of direct faculty contact early in their collegiate experience, making their learning experience more personalized.
LLCs enable students to develop communication and leadership skills and encourage an appreciation for lifelong learning.

Additional Benefits:

In addition to quality classroom experiences, students will receive additional opportunities to experience their majors outside the classroom.
Programs such as job shadowing, community mentors, faculty lectures and social opportunities will help connect what students are learning in the classroom to real life application of their majors.
Research has shown that students are more successful when their academic experiences are integrated with other aspects of their lives.
Studies have shown that across the country, living learning community students traditionally earn higher GPAs than students who are not in a learning community.
Other universities have cited that the development of living learning communities have had direct correlation on the retention of their students.

What Living Learning Communities are available at Webster University?

Pathways: Exploring Options and Making Connections
Pathways LLC Brochure
This LLC is designed to assist undeclared students to effectively explore options during the freshman year and make good decisions about what major to pursue. These students will enjoy the most exciting way to experience the freshman year, while building strong relationships with other first-year students, getting actively involved in campus live right away, and achieving academic success. This LLC will assist students in deciding major by exploring the academic majors and will assist them in making informed decisions that will help them through the rest of their academic career.

The students in the Pathways LLC will be divided into two Cohorts. The Cohorts then take following academic courses:

Cohort A
GNST 1200: Deal or No Deal
SPCM 1040: Public Speaking
INDZ 1500 - University 101
INDZ 1500: Major Exploration and Career Development

Cohort B
GNST 1200: Deal or No Deal
PHIL 2320: Contemporary Moral Problems
INDZ 1500: University 101
INDZ 1500: Major Exploration and Career Development

School of Communications
Communications LLC Brochure
The School of Communications at Webster University operates with one goal in mind: to educate and prepare students to excel as skilled professionals in a global field of communications. To achieve this goal, the school takes a hands-on approach to learning. Students work with professional-grade media equipment as early as their freshman year. Internships connect students with more than 300 employers across the nation. And most students graduate with a professional portfolio in hand.

The students in a Communications LLC will be taking the following linked courses:

MEDC 1010 Introduction to Mass Communications

EPMD 1000 Introduction to Media Production

MEDC 1050 Introduction to Media Writing OR JOUR 1030 Fundamentals of Reporting

College of Fine Arts
Fine Arts LLC Brochure
The Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts extends a warm welcome to all students!

For our arts students, the LLC prepares students for successful careers in the arts. At the same time, we provide students with an education that makes them creative and tolerant citizens with an awareness of the relevance of art in a changing world. Because of small classes and careful advising, students are able to take full advantage of a dedicated faculty that includes practicing artists and scholars.

For our music students, Webster University provides you with unparalleled experience and unrivaled training, thanks to our setting in a major urban area. Our music faculty includes outstanding professional practitioners in the composing, analysis, teaching, conducting, and performing of music. Our curricula offer real-world knowledge to help you prepare for real-world success.

The students in the Fine Arts LLC will be taking the following linked courses:

INDZ Freshman Seminar

ART 1110 Introduction to drawing OR MUSC 1010 Music Theory I

The Communications LLC is housed in the newly renovated Maria Hall. Maria Hall is a traditional residence hall that features suite-style rooms, common area lounges, kitchenettes, laundry facilities, and study rooms.

Maria is centrally located near several academic buildings, providing easy access to many classrooms. An addition benefit to Maria Hall is the main student dining hall, Marletto's Marketplace, is located on the ground floor of Maria.

West Hall

The Fine Arts and Pathways LLCs are located in West Hall. With the opening of two new residence halls in Fall 2006, Webster University is able to provide a modern, air-conditioned, on-campus housing option for students. West Hall is reserved for freshmen and includes shared two-bedroom, one-bath suites. The hall includes laundry rooms, social lounges, study lounges, kitchenettes, a recreation room, and a multipurpose room.

West is near several Fine Arts academic buildings, providing easy access to many classrooms. An additional benefit to West Hall is that it is the main freshman residential facility on-campus.

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How do I apply?
Communications and Fine Arts
Placement into these LLCs will be done through the housing application process. First Time Freshman Housing and LLC applications will be available January 1. There is a general housing application that you may download from our main housing website: www.webster.edu/applyforhousing. You must also complete an LLC application. You must turn in a LLC application along with the housing application to be considered for a LLC space. LLC spaces will be filled on a first come first serve basis after application review. There are limited spaces for both communities so you will want to send in your applications ASAP.

Pathways
The pathways program selection process is done through a separate application process. Students interested in the Pathways program should fill out an application and return it to:

Webster University
Attn: Sarah Tetley, Housing and Residential Life
470 E. Lockwood Ave.
Saint Louis, MO 63119

There is also a limited amount of space for the pathways learning community. Applications should be completed and turned in as soon as possible.

Housing Application
Communications and Fine Arts LLCs Application
Pathways Application

Application Review
After we receive your application it will be reviewed by faculty and staff in the designated LLC program. Your application will be reviewed and selected based on the below criteria:

Genuine interest in the program
How you hope to use the LLC for your college and post-college success
What you can offer the LLC to benefit everyone involved in the community

Placement on the floor
If you application is selected you will then be placed on the assigned floor. The Communications floor is designated in Maria Hall, and the Pathways and Fine Arts floors are designated for West Hall. You will also be placed with a roommate based on your personal data sheet, in order to provide the best residential match. There will be between 20-30 students placed on the LLC floor.

Placement in your classes
After you are placed in the LLC and on the residential floor, we will work with Academic Advising to place you in the linked courses with the other members of your floor and LLC. Each LLC is paired with 2-3 courses. You will be pre-registered into these courses before you attend the orientation sessions over the summer. At that point your academic advising will help you put together the rest of your schedule around the LLC courses.

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