The time has come: UVA’s Commerce School will begin welcoming its first second-year Commerce majors in the fall of 2025.
With a carefully measured approach expanding McIntire’s renowned undergraduate program to better consider student learning, academic planning, and corporate recruiting cycles, the second-years will be challenged with increased rigor and a set of opportunities that their predecessors didn’t encounter as early during their time on Grounds.
As the incoming second-year class will also have the benefit of learning in McIntire’s new spaces in Shumway Hall and renovated, historical Cobb Hall, those who support students have also seized upon this important moment to reorganize and address the shifting needs of those they serve. In relocating to their new home in the heart of Shumway Hall, the Student Success Center unites the Career Services and Student Services teams, centralizing academic advising, student life, and career development operations in order to best help Comm students.

Transforming plans into places. Student Success Center will unite the Career Services and Student Services teams, centralizing academic advising, student life, and career development operations in order to best help Comm students.
The expansive shared space provides essential student guidance in the time leading up to their first days at McIntire all the way through their early career years. In another showing of collaborative effort, the two staff teams have also launched COMMence, an initiative created to help second-years navigate the demands of a Commerce School education and make the most of the McIntire community through a three-year series of programming that begins before students start their classes in the fall of their second year.
Sarah Rogis, Director of Career Development, says that the shift to a three-year undergrad program “not only afforded the Student Success team more time for innovative success programming, but also for intentionally considering the unique challenges and developmental milestones second-year students might typically navigate.”
The process for preparing the COMMence program was extremely thorough.

Sarah Rogis
“It required significant benchmarking and research, a detailed literature review, significant data analysis, and the coordination of student and expert focus groups to first identify key second-year challenges before we could identify five key competency areas around which to build a recommended journey,” she notes, referring to the capabilities for students to be self-aware and to have a sense of curricular and career direction while cultivating a growth mindset, a sense of community, and a self-advocating resourcefulness.
Recognizing those factors and creating the programmatic structure to encourage them were only part of the equation. “It also then required the support and buy-in from a significant number of staff, faculty, student, and leadership stakeholders, both within and outside of the School of Commerce,” she says.
Easing the Transition
Sally Armentrout, Assistant Dean for Student Engagement and Academic Advising, shares that COMMence was designed to empower students to respond to common issues that college students face during their second year.

Sally Armentrout
Those issues can range from “managing an increased and often more challenging workload, connecting interests and values to potential academic and career opportunities, and identifying and making the most of University resources,” she explains, pointing out that COMMence is much more than simply another resource or daylong event. To prepare students for the start of the school year and throughout their first semester, the program will provide online resources and tools, asynchronous learning opportunities, in-person learning experiences, peer support, and community engagement.
“COMMence has been thoughtfully constructed to meet the needs and inspire the success of second-year McIntire students, while at the same time inspiring camaraderie, empathy, teamwork, and both academic and career growth,” says Rogis.
The COMMence journey begins for second-years before their first semester of McIntire classes begins, with content that allows them to inventory and assess themselves. It’s a buildup in anticipation of the COMMence Kickoff Conference, a required two-day welcome and experiential event focused on themes including cultivating a growth mindset, Commerce for the Common Good, well-being, and resourcefulness. In addition to introducing students to the McIntire Student Success team, the conference aims to quickly start fostering cohort camaraderie and guide second-years as they begin to build personalized portfolios. COMMence will host guest speakers, workshops, strategic learning sessions, and collaborative education and community-building activities.
“Interactive, fun, and self-reflected shared learning will happen through a series of learning modules,” says Rogis. After the two-day orientation conference, students will complete guided COMMence-specific curriculum, as well as “several networking, mentorship, and milestone programs throughout their three-year undergraduate journey.”
A Structure for Success
In the spring semester, second-years will continue taking self-guided COMMence curriculum, engage with McIntire board members, take part in the Backpack-2-Briefcase series with third-years, and convene for another event revealing Integrated Core block assignments for the following academic year.
During the spring, second-years will also have access to the McIntire Alumni Mentorship (MAM) program. Commerce Career Services collaborated with Advancement to relaunch the program with sessions traditionally focused on industry education, networking, materials building, interview readiness, and career connections. Students in the MAM program will begin in the spring semester, between January and May, exploring self-awareness, community building, and storytelling.
“COMMence isn’t just about supporting second-year students—it’s about shaping the whole student journey, from admission to graduation,” says Armentrout. “While we’re focusing on programs, resources, and advising to help second-years thrive, we’re also creating signature experiences for third- and fourth-years that build self-awareness, direction, a growth mindset, community, and resourcefulness.”
In addition to the aforementioned programming, COMMence also offers considerable resources, with peer and alumni engagement opportunities for students through their third and fourth years at McIntire, including alumni panels, Commerce Services connect sessions, an Integrated Core reunion lunch, and more.
“It’s been exciting to take what we’ve learned and create a strategic experience that not only supports students now but also sets them up for success at McIntire and in their future careers,” Armentrout says.