Villages FAQs

More About Villages

Want to know more about the Villages Initiative? Here are some answers to a number of questions you may have. You can also explore the student-facing Villages website at deanza.edu/villages. 

• What are the meta-majors? How were they determined?

  The six meta-majors are Artistic Expression, Business and Finance, Health and Life Sciences, Language and Communication, Physical Sciences and Technology, and Social Sciences and Humanities. (You'll find a complete list of majors within these meta-majors on the student-facing Villages website.)  These were developed as part of the Guided Pathways project with extensive collegewide input, and reviewed and approved through the shared governance process, with each department and program able to choose which meta-major to join. 

• How will students choose a meta-major? What about undeclared students? Can students change their minds?

  Students who have declared a major – most De Anza students – will be assigned to the meta-major that contains that constituent major. Students who are undeclared will choose a meta-major based on their general academic interests. Of course, students may change their meta-major (just as they can change their major).

• Why Villages? What is the goal of the Villages? What will Villages provide?

  At De Anza, we've had great success with student retention and achievement through cohort programs and learning communities. Villages, then, are “scaled-up” learning communities organized around each meta-major. The goal of the Villages is to provide academic support, student services, and social interaction with a community of classified professionals, faculty, and students who share an academic interest. For the 2021-22 academic year, the goal of the Villages is to create a sense of community for students in each village through shared activities and events. As the year progresses, in addition to these activities, Villages will begin to integrate student clubs and organizations, as well as Village-specific physical spaces on campus. As the initiative progresses in future years, student services and career resources will be integrated into each Village.

• Who belongs to each Village?

  Each Village is composed of the students who have chosen that meta-major (or declared a major within it), the faculty members and classified professionals in the departments that comprise that meta-major, as well as additional classified professionals from other campus offices or programs who are interested in working with students in that particular Village.

• What will Villages be doing? Who is determining the programming?

  Each Village will be organizing multiple activities each quarter. Some of these activities will be Village-specific, whereas some will be campus-wide (and connected with the other Villages). For example, at several points during the 2021-22 academic year, the Villages will be organizing activities to connect to the “One Book, One Campus” project. The activities during 2021-22 will be planned by the Village Launch Team, in consultation with the Guided Pathways Core Team and other administrative offices.

• What is the Welcome Day schedule?

  Welcome Day will be held on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, from 10 a.m. to noon. All activities will be online, through links to Canvas shells and other resources posted on the Welcome Day website.

  • 10-10:30 a.m. – Introduction and Welcome to the Villages. Each Village will have its own Canvas shell and Zoom “homeroom.” (Only Villages activities during this half hour).
  • 10:30-11 a.m. – Village activities in the homerooms; College programs and services concurrent at other links.
  • 11 a.m.-Noon – College programs and services; Departmental activities (if desired); Some Village programming will continue in the homerooms.

• What is the goal of Welcome Day for the Villages?

  The goal for Villages on Welcome Day is to introduce each student to their Village and to make them feel like they are part of a community in that Village. Key words are Introduction, Welcome, and Community Building.

• What types of activities are the Villages programming for Welcome Day?

  Members of the Villages Launch Team from each meta-major are designing a thoughtful and welcoming program of activities specific to each Village. Each program is intended to introduce the Village and to build community. Planned activities include student icebreakers, departmental overviews, faculty and classified professional introductions, student and alumni panels, breakout room discussions, Q&A sessions, games and club presentations. The programs will take place in each of the Village Zoom homerooms starting at 10 a.m. and will run for the full two hours; however, after 10:30 a.m., students may choose to visit other programs or services beyond the Villages.

• If students are in Villages for Welcome Day, how will they learn about other programs or services?

  Other college programs and services will be holding activities and information sessions on Welcome Day starting at 10:30 a.m. Many departments will also be planning activities starting at 11 a.m. These activities will be promoted by the Office of Communications and will be linked on the Welcome Day webpage. The Villages Canvas shells will also link to the Welcome Day page, and the Zoom homerooms will encourage students (at 10:30, 11 and 11:30 a.m.) to explore other programs, services and resources.

• What are individual departments doing on Welcome Day?

  From 11-11:30 a.m., individual departments are invited to hold information sessions, introductions, or other activities via Canvas or on Zoom within a Canvas shell – much as they did in last year’s Welcome Day program. These activities will be linked from and promoted by each Village’s Canvas shell and Zoom homeroom. If a department is not organizing a separate departmental activity, we are asking the department to direct students back to the Village homeroom, where some faculty members from that department should be present to greet students or answer questions.

• Who is participating in Welcome Day? Is it required or optional?

  Although the Villages Launch Team is planning the Welcome Day Villages events, all faculty members and classified professionals are encouraged to attend and to participate in the Villages activities that day. And, of course, Welcome Day is part of the contractually required series of Opening Days for employees.

• How will students learn about Welcome Day and the Villages?

  The Office of Communications has developed a strategy to contact students and to publicize the Welcome Day events. Students may also be contacted about their Villages by the Office of Admissions and Records. A week or so before Welcome Day, students will also receive an email from their Village with information about the Village and about Welcome Day.

• What are the majors within each Village? 

  Visit the student-facing Villages website for the complete lists.