Date of Defense

6-20-2016

Date of Graduation

6-2016

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Adreinne Fraaza

Second Advisor

Kristen Hatten

Third Advisor

Elizabeth Brandon

Abstract

Fall Welcome is Western Michigan University’s annual transition program, acclimating over 3,000 first-year students to campus and the surrounding community. Within the program, the Fall Welcome Intern is a student employee leadership position that oversees the Fall Welcome Co-Coordinators, event planning for the week, internal administrative duties, and communication with campus departments and external vendors. Although an extensive amount of transition materials exist for the Co-Coordinator positions, there is a lack of such guidance for Interns. This shortfall creates difficulties for new Interns each year, who are forced to figure out much of their position on their own.

To remedy this situation, a Fall Welcome Intern Manual was created as the primary portion of this honors thesis. The Fall Welcome Intern Manual contains introductory material; descriptions, timelines, and samples of past Intern projects; how-to documents of processes and procedures; professional development guides; and staff contact and account information. Additionally, a welcome video was created that features past Interns offering their experiences and advice to future Interns.

Throughout the project, steps were taken to ensure the documents are readable, engaging, spreadable, and informative. The Fall Welcome Intern Manual will provide guidance and accountability for Fall Welcome teams for years to come, thereby benefitting the program as a whole as well as the first-year students.

Due to the presence of program account information and internal procedures, the manual is not currently able to be published for a public audience.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Restricted

Download

Share

COinS