This quarter the UW is offering a course where upper-level undergraduates can mentor incoming freshman through the Pipeline Program, an effort from the Center for Learning and Undergraduate Education (CLUE) to expand its services to students who are not already independent learners.

The Pipeline Program pairs at-risk, special needs freshman and sophomores with upper-level undergraduates. They are tutored using a holistic approach incorporating study skills, time management, essay writing and other strategies with an emphasis on how each student learns.

"We emphasize skills acquisition," said Anne Browning, director of academic support programs in the UW Undergraduate Academic Affairs Office and program manager of CLUE. "I also wanted to do outreach to incoming students who might never find CLUE. Now students interested in teaching can get practice and earn credit, too."

CLUE is an after-hours program, which services include drop-in tutoring, discussion sessions and exam review sessions. Most of the classes it lists on its Web site are lower division courses.

"The class actually started in spring of last year, when it was made up of just graduate students," Browning said. "[CLUE is] a wonderful resource, but it didn't cover the end of the spectrum [in terms of learning styles]."

The program is expanding beyond the original ramifications of CLUE. There are 14 tutors and 29 students in several classes. There are also a number of graduate students who help tutor students.

"The first couple of cohorts were made up of students on probation, but currently we are working with the Summer Bridge and Educational Opportunities Program," Browning said. "Mentors currently in the class could take it again in winter or spring, but there is no commitment."

Each mentee receives three hours of one-on-one tutoring, split into two 90-minute sessions each week.

Mentors can tutor one or two students for three hours a week. In addition, they attend a one-hour seminar Monday evenings, facilitated by Browning. Students can opt to take the class for two or three credits.

"Most of the first mentors came because they were recommended by an advisor or had worked in CLUE before," Browning said. "Now, we are doing outreach. ... It's a self-selecting process. Students who come are those who want to help out, and they come for a variety of reasons."

Browning said she was excited to see mentees become engaged in their studies and understand what they need to do.

The only problem is a lack of funding, which is needed to employ graduate students as tutors for the mentees, she lamented.

Although there are similar programs on other college campuses, the undergraduate component to the program is unique. She noted that academics were only part of the mentorship process.

"Part of it is the relationship building," she said.

[Reporter Chris Paredes at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]