Dr. Renaudin's efforts led to the development of the Second Year Research & Creative Experience (SYRCE), designed to serve sophomore students, where retention was weakest. The SYRCE began as a constellation of ten courses designed for second year students to fulfill the requirements of General Education in area C2, "Literature, Philosophy, & Values," SYRCE offers students a multi-disciplinary approach to a common topic, renewed every year. Students attend a series of lectures delivered by ten faculty members from all Arts and Humanities disciplines; students also attend weekly seminars in which they debrief the given lectures, explore discipline specific material, and workshop research and creative projects focused on some aspect of the general topic. The structure of SYRCE fosters collaboration, creativity, research, modeling and mentoring amongst students and faculty alike in an effort to engage the whole student. The ten participating faculty members collaborate and team-teach; they sit on stage to model listening to each other's lectures, all the while discovering each other's interests, lecturing styles and practices, and learning from each other. They contribute to creating a new culture of collaboration, inspiring students to work together as a team and support each other as peer mentors. The experience culminates at the end of the semester in a symposium held in the Green Music Center, a state-of-the-art concert venue, where students have the opportunity to showcase their accomplishments.
SYRCE has been offered every semester since its inception, in 2014, with Dr. Renaudin serving as coordinator while teaching the Theater Arts & Dance seminar. Every year 480 students are offered this opportunity to inspire others—their peers and professors, but also high school and college freshman students, as well other members of the community who attend the public symposium. Samples of students' accomplishments can be found on the SYRCE website:
http://web.sonoma.edu/ah/syrce/.