Enhanced student life
complements classroom learning

As the University has won praise for its enhanced and expanded academic quality under President Roselle’s leadership since 1990, day-to-day student life has seen significant improvements as well.
Here are just a few highlights of these changes:

• Technology has been completely integrated into the infrastructure so that students can use wired and wireless computer access for everything from conducting research at the transformed UD Library—where thousands of resources are available online—to preparing in-class PowerPoint presentations, using e-mail to communicate with professors and sharing classes via live video conference with students and guest lecturers in other countries.
  
  
• The award-winning use of technology also has facilitated a variety of formerly time-consuming administrative tasks that students now can do online, from registering for classes to ordering textbooks to checking their final grades. All these improvements have enabled the University to meet one of the primary goals Roselle listed early in his tenure: to become a student-centered, student-friendly institution.
  
  
• All freshmen now participate in an innovative First Year Experience program designed to lay the groundwork for a successful academic career. For some new students, the program involves special seminars or participation in the Honors Program, but the largest number become part of one of numerous clusters of about 22 freshmen who share the same major or academic interest area. Students in a cluster take some classes together, live in the same residence hall and participate in meetings and projects with a peer mentor.
  
  
• The campus has become more diverse since 1990, and issues involving gender equity (Title IX) in sports have been addressed.
  UD’s Marching Band, which has grown to about 300 musicians, has gained national recognition, and the spirit teams—cheerleaders, dance team and mascots—have been successful in numerous national competitions.
  
  
• The University also has won acclaim for taking an early lead in combating alcohol abuse among students, including nine years of support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A variety of initiatives, including parental notification and a “three strikes and you’re out” policy, as well as student-targeted public education efforts, have been implemented and continue on campus. All focus on identifying high-risk drinking as a public health issue and emphasizing the right of the community to create an environment free from the negative effects of such behavior.