Executive Director, First-Year Experience and Student Transitions
Faculty Director, IMPACT (Leadership) Living and Learning Community
Faculty Fellow, Writers Ink. Learning Community
Mr. Richie Gebauer serves as the Executive Director of the First Year Experience and Student Transitions at Cabrini University. In this role, Gebauer and his team have oversight of Beginnings, the university’s summer orientation for incoming students, Pathway to Purpose program, and the university’s learning community program, which is comprised of 14 communities – 7 living and learning communities and 7 learning communities. This program includes 33 faculty teaching across these 14 communities, each offering a robust curriculum and co-curriculum focused on integrating learning across contexts.
In addition to his role as Executive Director of the First Year Experience and Student Transitions, Gebauer serves as Faculty Director of both the IMPACT (Leadership) Living and Learning Community and the Writers, Ink. Learning Community, teaching courses in writing, social justice, and leadership.
Gebauer was named an “Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate” by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition in 2015 for his work in the area of the first-year experience, specifically his efforts dedicated to learning community growth and development and first-year retention. He currently serves as a member of two editorial review boards - the Learning Communities Research and Practice (LCRP) journal hosted by The Evergreen State College’s Washington Center, the National Resource Center for Learning Communities and E-Source for College Transitions hosted by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition – and as an at-large council member for the Learning Communities Association, the national association for learning communities.
Gebauer has several publications related to the integration of high-impact practices in the first year of college, particularly focusing on learning communities and first-year writing seminars. His research, focused on residential learning communities, is currently supported by the Center for Engaged Learning at Elon University. He also presents and consults nationally on critical issues in higher education, specifically learning community growth and development, first-year student learning, and leadership development.
Gebauer earned a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from James Madison University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Franklin and Marshall College.
