Slone named First-Year Experience Director

In an effort to further enhance the first-year experience for incoming students, the University of Pikeville has created a unique program that offers support throughout the transition to college. Amanda Jo Slone, associate professor of English, has been selected to lead the program as the inaugural First-Year Experience Director.

“First-Year Experience is a concentrated effort designed to orient new students to college life, help them integrate into an academic and social network of professors and classmates, and provide them with the knowledge and resources necessary to their success throughout their college career,” said Slone.

First-Year Experience is comprised of such activities as First-Year Orientation, Welcome Week and First-Year Seminar – a one-semester course.

Slone, a Pike County native, earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Pikeville College (UPIKE), a master’s degree in English from Morehead State University and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from West Virginia Wesleyan College. She is currently enrolled in the doctoral program for educational leadership at Northwest Nazarene University. At UPIKE, Slone teaches Foundations of Writing, Composition I, Composition II, Foundations for Success, Creative Writing, Appalachian Literature and Appalachian Theatre.

“Professor Slone has demonstrated a commitment to our students and is invested in their success in- and out-of-the-classroom,” said UPIKE Provost Lori Werth, Ph.D. “We are extremely pleased in her leadership as she leads the First-Year Experience program.”

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