“No class on Fridays? Awesome, sign me up!”
That’s how Kailey Mullane (’20) decided to join a First-Year Interest Group (FIG) as an incoming freshman in the summer of 2016. At the time, she didn’t know what major she wanted to pursue, but she’d just received a zealous spiel about the FIG program from her Student, Orientation, Advising, and Registration (SOAR) advisor.
The spiel had gone something like this: FIGs are learning communities of about 20 first-year students, who together take a bundle of linked classes for their first semester. The advisor added in a few freshman selling points, such as the benefits of small class sizes, opportunities to meet new people and interdisciplinary learning experiences. Sold, Mullane picked a class group called Children, Marriage and the Family.
“I was interested in the philosophical topics, the professor was highly regarded and the schedule was nice,” says Mullane, who was excited about the “Fridaylessness” of the course offerings. “It was such a silly whim of a decision, but it really worked out.”
Looking back, Mullane says this impulsive pick forever changed her life and career path — and she’s not the only one. This year the FIGs program is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and in that time 20,559 students have participated in a FIG.
When Mullane decided to join a FIG, it was met with a gentle, “What the heck are you doing?” from her parents, who knew she was leaning toward what she calls a “business-esque” trajectory. But that didn’t deter Mullane, who stands by this being the best decision she made in college.
This is in part because the program introduced her to Harry Brighouse, the Mildred Fish Harnack Professor of Philosophy, Carol Dickson Bascom Professor of the Humanities and main class instructor for her FIG. He helped her refine her “business-esque” approach into a degree in economics and communication arts.
“He was such a mentor, helping me talk through what I liked and didn’t like about certain classes,” says Mullane, who now works in strategy consulting. “He was the one who told me to look into consulting. From getting to know me in the FIG, he thought I would like this work, which was so valuable to me as a student who didn’t understand what types of jobs to consider.”
That nudge has shaped Mullane’s career today, which she describes as a perfect mix of analytics and communication. In some ways, she even draws on her philosophy background.
“It molded the way that I think,” she says. “I’m a much better person, strategic thinker and analytical thinker, just because I can step back, see both sides and be objective.”
Mullane would “absolutely highly, highly recommend” the FIG program to incoming freshmen, even going so far to put it on the podium of top five decisions she’s made in her life.
Brighouse is a shining example of the purpose of the FIG program, which is to personalize pedagogy and help incoming students make a successful academic and social transition into college. Both he and the FIG still come highly regarded.
“The best part is probably the connections,” says Lauren Carroll, a freshman from Hudson, Wisconsin, who is currently enrolled in the same FIG Mullane was. “I really like the group of girls that are in my FIG. We all have different backgrounds, but at the same time, with Harry mentoring us the way that he has, we’ve become able to understand each other’s perspectives.”
As a sociology student, Carroll has an even deeper appreciation for those interactions. From opening her mind to meeting new people and forming friendships she might never have expected, to comparing her own upbringing with the experiences they read about and concepts discussed in class, the FIG has enriched Carroll’s early college experience.
“It helps you engage with the materials in class a lot better, and it helps you have a support system,” she says. “It helps you understand that it’s okay to speak up and ask for help, and it really does help you form bonds with other people at school.”
By the end of the semester, Carroll, like Mullane, was no longer in the same boat as just any other freshman.
“You have an advantage, just making a smaller community for yourself,” Mullane says. “It opened the door and made the big Madison experience feel much smaller.”
That is what the FIG program does: It gives students a foundation for integration, a caboodle of peers in their corner and a network of professors, like Brighouse, to go to for support.
“It’s hard to build that relationship when you just feel like a random kid showing up to office hours or a 300-person lecture, whereas the FIG immediately gives you a leg up in doing that,” says Mullane. “And then you can build those relationships, which I have been just so lucky to foster and maintain into adulthood.”
To this day, Mullane still goes to Brighouse for advice. She describes Brighouse as one of the most cherished people in her life.
“He’s a good ear, and he really knows me very well,” she says. “I’ve lost count the amount of times I’ve cried in his office and just talked to him about life, school, boys, whatever it was — I got such a strong mentor and friend out of doing that FIG.”
One such boy, the topic of many a conversation, just recently became her husband. And of course, Mullane’s long-term confidant drove down for the wedding.
“I talked to Brighouse a lot about him while we were dating. And here we are, married with a 10-week-old puppy — which would not have happened without the FIG,” she laughs. “I’m not even kidding.”