Key Communities: Supporting Student Success by Mitigating the Negative Effects of Lower Academic Preparation and At-Risk Attributes on Graduation and Retention

Key Communities is a program designed to restructure the first-year experience for students from historically underrepresented populations at Colorado State University. The program creates a community with frequent and rewarding contact among faculty, staff, and students in a variety of settings, both inside and outside the classroom, to foster academic integration, personal and social integration, and cultural integration. Key Communities has five communities: Key Academic; Key Culture, Communication, and Sport; Key Explore; Key Health Professions; and Key Service, each with 75-150 students, and is further organized into smaller clusters of 19 students. The program also employs strategies such as a comprehensive recruitment process, a two-day orientation, a shared residential experience, integrated course clusters, and a leadership and staffing model that includes undergraduate Key mentors, full-time Key coordinators, and Key seminar faculty.