The University of Connecticut is creating a living and learning community for black men in response to low graduation and retention rates among the school's male African-American students.
The ScHOLAR2RS (Scholars) House will be located at a new dormitory set to open in the fall.
The students will live together and receive specialized academic, career-development, and social support.
The voluntary program has room for 43 students who are expected to be mostly freshmen and sophomores.
There are about 580 African-American men out of about 21,000 undergraduates at UConn. The graduation rate for black men is about 55 percent, well under the 81-percent rate for all male students and the 83-percent rate for all UConn undergraduates.
The learning community is one of eight that will be housed in the new dorm.