
First Year Experience
First Year Experience
The First-Year Program at Manhattanville helps new students to develop critical reasoning, research and writing skills, explore the liberal arts curriculum and navigate the transition to college. Completion of the First-Year Program is required for all undergraduate students entering Manhattanville with fewer than 30 approved transfer credits.
The Goals of the Program
To provide students with foundational instruction in critical thinking
To provide an introduction to the liberal arts curriculum
To provide intensive foundational instruction in academic writing
To build close faculty/student relationships during the first college year
Curriculum
FYP 1100: "Principles vs Prejudices"
CSCH 1100: "Principles vs Prejudices
Philosophy Statement
Manhattanville College challenges students to develop the values and skills that make our community valiant. What it means to be valiant was notably expressed by the American abolitionist, orator and clergyman Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887):
It is not what we read, but what we remember that makes us learned. It is not what
we intend but what we do that makes us useful. And, it is not a few faint wishes but
a lifelong struggle that makes us valiant.
Our welcoming first-year learning environment encourages students to become active participants in our college’s mission to educate “ethical and socially-responsible leaders for the global community.”
Each first year student engages in curricular and co-curricular learning opportunities rooted in the College’s tradition of education in the Liberal Arts and Sciences and its commitment to the value of academic, experiential, and service learning. Our diverse, inclusive, and supportive environment allows all students to become effective participants in their own learning and development. As first-year students join our community of engaged scholars, educators, and professional staff, they are encouraged to develop as independent, ethical thinkers. They are also empowered to search for knowledge, express their creativity, participate in community building, and synthesize a wide range of learning experiences.
- Intellectual curiousity and analytical ability
- Active participation in the Manhattanville Community
- Respect for themselves and others
- Compassionate engagement with each other and the world
- Effective written and oral communication
- Ability to understand and identify the ethical dimensions of problems

Mary T. Clark Center for Religion and Social Justice




