LIVING, LEARNING TOGETHER CSUN COMPUTER STUDENTS HAVE LIVE-IN DORM SUPPORT.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE - Stephan Tran, the first in his family to attend college, is discovering the joys of late-night dorm conversations, how to postpone doing his laundry indefinitely, and how a microwave and a cheap package of ramen noodles can be an undergraduate's best friends.

But the 17-year-old Hawthorne freshman at California State University, Northridge, also has a new group of friends who understand why he needs to study long hours for his computer science major.

``I expected that I was going to be all alone,'' Tran said. ``In high school, you're one of 700 people and here, you're one of thousands. But now I've met all these people.''

That's because Tran is one of about 50 men and women in CSUN's Engineering/Computer Science Living Learning Community. Students with similar interests are grouped on the same floor of a dormitory and are given opportunities to interact with faculty after hours and to engage in community service projects.

``It makes it a lot easier because we're all into the same things,'' added Kareem Ghanie, an 18-year-old Venice computer science major. ``It's like an instant ice-breaker.''

``These are the hardest majors,'' said Juan Lopez Driotis, 24, of Northridge, the resident assistant for the ECS floor and chief of staff for CSUN's Associated Students. ``You need your friends; you need support to accomplish what you need to do.''

Living Learning Communities have been around on university campuses for decades, and can take various forms, from floors with a ``theme,'' to highly organized cohorts of students who all take the same classes together, said Melissa Giles, associate director for residential life at CSUN.

By tying the students' classroom experiences with their after-class life, LLCs help students feel more connected to campus, do better academically and generally get more out of their college experience, Giles said.

``Right from the beginning, they have a built-in identity,'' said Dave Brewer, community director for residential life at CSUN. ``They have that built-in sense of ``We belong somewhere.''

This is the first year for CSUN's five LLCs. About 425 students, out of a total residential population of 1,900, are enrolled in the programs, which are scattered among the 14 dorms. Students were recruited for this first year; there was no additional cost beyond the standard $4,358 annual fee for room and board to participate.

In addition to the ECS, there's one for freshmen, the First Year Experience; Global Scholars, where international students are paired with Americans from across the country; Lighthouse, for students who are hearing-impaired or interested in CSUN's National Center on Deafness and deaf culture; and The Neighborhood, an LLC for older students that focuses on careers.

In the future, as the university considers adding more dorms on campus, as much as 50 percent of the housing program could be devoted to LLCs, with some faculty members actually living with the students.

The students in each LLC live on the same floor, but are surrounded by floors of other, unrelated students, to keep the LLCs from becoming too isolated, Giles said.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) CSUN computer science majors explain the advantages of living and studying together in the same dorm.

(2) Nick McDonald, seated, Brandon Zucharie, right, and Peter Chan take a study break to play interactive computer games in their dorm for fun.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer