A Community of Learners

All first-year students enroll in a Rollins College Conference (RCC) during the fall semester. The RCC is a seminar class in which approximately 16 first-year students meet with a faculty member to explore a topic in the professor's area of expertise. The professors are drawn from the full range of academic disciplines encompassing the arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences.

During your experience with Rollins Explorations and your RCC, you will have two groups of very important guides who will help you on your journey: RCC faculty members and Peer Mentors. RCC faculty are some of Rollins' most successful and engaging professors and individuals who specialize in helping students. Your RCC faculty member will also serve as your academic advisor for your first semester.

Peer Mentors are dynamic student leaders who will assist you with your transition into the Rollins family. You will be introduced to your Peer Mentors during the summer, and you will meet them in person on the first day of Fall Welcome Weekend. Peer Mentors will guide you throughout Orientation, and will then participate in the RCC with you. Throughout the course of the first semester, the Peer Mentors will serve as your advisors, tutors, and friends and will assist the professors of your RCC.

To register for courses, complete the Course Preference Form on your Foxlink. Please refer to the First-Year Registration Handbook before you begin the process.

Meet the RCC Faculty Director 

Mario D'Amato, Professor of  Religion, completed his B.A. at Loyola University Chicago in history and his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in the study of religion, focusing on Asian religions and the philosophy of religion. He specializes in Buddhism, primarily in the translation, interpretation, and analysis of Buddhist doctrinal texts from Sanskrit. D'Amato's dissertation, for example, looked at the distinction between Mahayana and Hinayana according to one ancient Buddhist text. One of his published articles asks “Can All Beings Potentially Attain Awakening?”

One of the things that drew him to the study of religion (besides an existential crisis) was the fact that it draws on so many different disciplines—history, literary studies, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, etc.—allowing for multiple perspectives and complex accounts of religion. And this is as it should be: after all, religion is a complex phenomenon. D'Amato encourages non-major students in his courses to pursue lines of inquiry that relate to their own chosen disciplines.