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SAFE Program HISTORY
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The idea of using
students to proactively develop an interest and
relationship with freshmen students is not new. The
precursor to today's SAFE program began in the early
1970's through the African-American and African
Studies Department. Students who had completed
introductory AAAS classes and done well were
recruited to mentor freshman AAAS students in their
end of semester class presentations. Therefore, the
main interaction counselors had with their students
was academic and in the AAAS classrooms for the
majority of the time.
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The next
stage in the evolution of the SAFE program as we
know it was the Black Student Union sponsored "WHY"
(We Hear You) peer counselors. The program started
in the early 1980's. WHY counselors were volunteers
who were chosen to mentor new freshmen in the Black
Student Union. The interaction these early
counselors had with students was chiefly social
consisting of cultural, political and spiritual
programs sponsored by the BSU.
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All the
while, minority attrition statistics and cumulative
GPA statistics showed that there wasn't much
improvement being made. As a matter of fact in the
years 1981-1983 the average GPA for African-American
students was 1.84 points. An estimated 45% of
minority students did not return to UNC Charlotte
for a second year. Something had to be done.
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In 1986,
the Dean of Students Office under the direction of
then Associate Dean Mary Howard Hamilton recognized
the need for more intensive peer mentoring. The
D.O.S. Office initiated a peer-mentoring program for
minority freshmen who were not in the AAAS
department. This program utilized paid peer
counselors. At the same time Educational Support
Services had a similar idea, E.S.S. began a
mentoring program; while the Dean of Students Office
program focused on the orientation and fit of the
student to the university.
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In 1987
Dr. Gregory Davis left a full-time faculty position
in the AAAS Department to become the Minority
Student Advisor for Educational Support Services. He
and Dr. Howard-Hamilton merged the Dean of Students
Office and Educational Support Services peer
mentoring programs into one. The SAFE Program was
born.
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In 1990, then
coordinators Dr. Gregory Davis and Jeanette Barker
enlisted the help of Assistant to the Vice
Chancellor for Student Affairs, Ted Elling, to track
the academic progress of SAFE students. The SAFE
Program has continued to thrive, growing each year.
In 1994, former Assistant Dean, Angela Haigler came
on board and worked to quantify and assess the
components of SAFE in order to clearly define what
makes a student "SAFE-ly" Involved. She also focused
on strengthening the SAFE Counselor role. Together
with Dr. Davis who is now Director of Academic
Initiatives for Mentoring Students (AIMS), the two
strived to put SAFE "on the map" as a successful
retention program here at UNC Charlotte and
throughout the region.
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