First Year Matters | issue 2.4

The First Year Matters newsletter is published by the Office of the Dean of the College and features information about academic and community life at Wesleyan; news about events and happenings on campus; and profiles of people and their work.

By now you should have a pretty good idea of the scope of your weekly academic workload. You may have had a quiz, exam or handed in your first paper. You may have found that college is more demanding than you planned! Never fear! Here are some tips for Reaching Your Academic Potential in Your First Semester:

The Student Academic Resources Network is a partnership of programs and offices that support intellectual growth, academic achievement and success, and post-graduation planning for all Wesleyan students. Its goals are to: foster a learning community that recognizes the relationship between intellectual growth and personal development, with attention to different ethnic, racial, national, educational, and class backgrounds, learning styles, and generational contexts; educate students about opportunities for intellectual growth, and encourage them to take full advantage of these opportunities while seeking an appropriate balance between academic and co-curricular activities; and create opportunities for students to connect academic life with the world beyond Wesleyan.

Effective time management skills can help provide structure to your days which, in turn, can help you achieve a sense of balance and control. There is nothing magical about being able to make time for everything you need to get done--it simply takes planning and making appropriate choices about how to spend your time.

There are many excellent websites that offer useful advice on how to plan your work and manage your time, including Managing Your Time (created by the Academic Skills Center at Dartmouth College), the daily and weekly interactive planners (from the Study Guides and Strategies website), the Assignment Calculator (created by the University of Minnesota Libraries), and the Time Management Virtual Pamphlet Collection (created by the Student Counseling and Resource Service at the University of Chicago). Many software programs include calendars – or you could create your own!

Discover a Wesleyan tradition: a week of Indian music, dance and food. First-year students receive one free ticket to Navaratri performance.

The CFA will present some of India's leading artists and most popular art forms during its annual Navaratri Festival. Navaratri is one of the main festivals in India, where it lasts for nine (nava) nights (ratri), and is considered a time to see family and friends, and seek blessings for new endeavors. Wesleyan's festival provides both the aficionado and the novice with an opportunity to immerse himself or herself in the culture of India. It is recognized a some of the most significant celebrations of Indian music and dance in the country.

Navaratri Performances

Friday, October 5
8:00 PM Sanyog: Dan Madhu Nataraj and Satyanarayana Raju
two of the finest dancers from India's present generation.

Saturday, October 6
2:00 PM Sabina Mumtaz Islam: The Music of North India
an accomplished singer who has performed across India and the U.S.

8:00 PM T. N. Krishnan: Music of South India
India's preeminent violin virtuoso w/ Trichy Sankaran on mridangam.

Also: talks, film, dance workshop, Indian feast, Hindu ceremony and more! Many events are free.

For more information: http://www.wesleyan.edu/navaratri

To redeem free ticket: Visit the Box Office on the ground level of the Usdan Center, or call 860-685-3355. First-year students can get a free ticket for one performance of their choice.

Join the queer community and allies at at 5:00 PM in the Usdan Center, Daniel Family Commons, for this annual reception which will include refreshments. Faculty, students and staff will share their stories about coming out and being out at Wesleyan. For more information: click here

Monday, October 29, 2007 from 12:00 - 4:00 PM AND Tuesday, October 30, 2007 from 4:00 - 7:00 PM

Influenza is a highly contagious viral illness marked by fevers, muscle aches, cough, headache and fatigue. These symptoms often have a dramatically sudden onset and usually last seven to ten days. Although Influenza almost always improves without complications, certain individuals, especially those with underlying medical problems such as diabetes or asthma may develop complications, especially pneumonia; ear infections or sinusitis may also occur. The most effective intervention is the flu vaccine.

The Davison Health Center and Department of Human Resources is sponsoring a Flu Clinic for students. The MidState VNA & Hospice will provide the clinical services and staff and the Student Health Advisory Committee will assist with clerical duties. Information about the flu, flu vaccine, notice of privacy practice and permission/consent form is available at http://www.wesleyan.edu/healthservices. Contact Health Services at 860.685.2470 with questions.

The Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression, endowed by a gift from Leonard S. Halper, Esq., Class of 1944, and named in honor of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice, was inaugurated in 1991-92.

Patricia J. Williams, professor of law at Columbia University since 1991, was born in Boston in 1951 and holds a BA from Wellesley College and a JD from Harvard Law School. As one of the most provocative intellectuals in American Law, an interdisciplinary legal scholar and public intellectual, she was a 2000 recipient of the MacArthur “genius” Fellowships award.

She was a fellow in the School of Criticism and Theory at Dartmouth College and has been an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and its department of women’s studies. Williams also worked as a consumer advocate in the office of the City Attorney in Los Angeles. She served as a deputy city attorney (1976-1978) in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office; staff attorney (1978-1980) for the Western Center on Law and Poverty in Los Angeles; assistant professor (1980-1984) and associate professor (1984-1985) at Golden Gate College; and associate professor (1984-1988) at the City University of New York in Queens.

A member of the State Bar of California and the Federal Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, Williams has served on the advisory council for the Medgar Evers Center for Law and Social Justice of the City University of New York and on the board of governors for the Society of American Law Teachers, among others.

She is the author of The Alchemy of Race and Rights: A Diary of a Law Professor (1991); The Rooster’s Egg: On the Persistence of Prejudice (1995); and Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race (1997). Influential not only in legal circles but in the public domain as well, she is a columnist for The Nation.

Olin Library has copies of Patricia J. Williams' books available to the community for circulation throughout campus. Visit Olin to pick up a copy, and then pass it along to a friend.

The time and day that you are locked out determines whom you should call or visit.

If you are locked out when the Office of Residential Life is open (between 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM Monday through Friday) come down to the Lower Level of North College to borrow a key. There is no charge for this service as long as the key is returned within 3 days. Between 8:00 PM and 8:00 AM, please contact the RA on duty who will let you in. The cost is $10 per lock out. At all other times, (between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM and between 8:00 AM and 8:30 AM) please contact the Office of Public Safety at x2345 and they will let you in. The cost is $10 per lock out. For more information about Residential Life, click here

The Long Lane Farm Pumpkin Fest will be held on Saturday October 20. This year, the festival is accompanied by the Environmental Certificate Program Fall Events -- a three day extravaganza including movies, an afternoon workday and the annual Pumpkin Festival with fun and games and local musicians.

Thursday, October 18
8:00 PM, PAC001 Agricultural Movie: Future of Food.

Friday, October 19
Workday on Long Lane Farm.

Friday, October 19
7:00 PM PAC001 Guest Speaker: Scott Kellogg, Rhizome Collective, will discuss Urban Agriculture. This evening is being sponsored by The Robert Schumann Lecture Series.

Saturday, October 20
12:00 - 5:00 PM Pumpkin Festival at Long Lane Farm. Click here for more details.

This event is co-sponsored by The Environmental Studies Certificate Program and First Year Matters.

Homecoming/Family Weekend takes place every fall and features seminars, tours, open houses, receptions, and performances that provide opportunities for alumni, students and their families to get together in both academic and social settings. This year's weekend, which will mark Weselyan's 176th anniversary, takes place November 2 - 4. The weekend begins with Wesleyan's 16th Inauguration of President Michael Roth '78 at 3:00 PM on Friday, November 2. Other highlights of this year's Homecoming/Family Weekend include field hockey, soccer, and football against Williams.

The Career Resource Center, located in Butterfield A, provides students support with career planning, job hunts and internship searches. The counseling staff can help you develop or polish a resume, find an internship, choose a job shadow opportunity during Winter Break and explore careers. Drop-in Hours are Monday, Thursday, and Friday from 11:00 AM - 4:30 PM, and Tuesday and Wednesday from 11:00 AM - 7:30 PM. More information is available at http://www.wesleyan.edu/crc/.

Nutrition 101

Balance, Variety, and Well Being: all are very important principles that keep our mind and body focused on the ultimate goal: success. But how do you juggle classes, meetings, studying, and friends while trying to maintain a healthy you? The number one way to keep a healthy peace within your body is to fuel it with nutrients that will give you the energy and strength to withstand all of the elements of College Life! Your body is your vehicle - take pride in nourishing it properly. Get a Balance of 'healthy' vegetables, and maintain a healthy Well Being by sleeping 7 - 8 hours a night and getting 30 minutes of physical activity a day. Nutrition Tip from Bon Appetite.

Bon Apetit offers the services of a nutritionalist to interested students. For more information or to set up an appointment, please contact: Missy Davis, Dietician for Bon Appetit at Wesleyan, 860.685.3615 (x3614) or mdavis01@wesleyan.edu.

People

Inslee Coddington, '10

Inslee Coddington, Class of 2010 is the chair of the Community Outreach Committee (COCo) of the Wesleyan Student Assembly. This committee handles student group recognition and registration as well as working with Wesleyan-Middletown relations. As the chair of the committee, she serves as the chair of the Public Safety Advisory Committee which she says “strives to open up and maintain dialogue between students, Public Safety and the Middletown Police Department.” Inslee is also the leader of a new student organization, WesTV. This group is trying to bring back a campus TV station as a center for communication and creativity. She also works in Middletown at the Community Health Center.

Inslee notes that her favorite thing about Wesleyan is the individualism that is cultivated on campus. “There’s a place for every student and constant opportunities to broaden our horizons, both personal and global, through art, lectures, performance, classes and just daily life. There’s never a dull moment here.” This activity though, can be overwhelming. “My biggest challenge has been to not get too swept up in the barrage of activities, you can't do everything. Another challenge has been during Drop/Add, prioritizing which classes to take, and how to use my class hours and opportunities, there are so many classes and not enough credits to take them.” Her advice to first year students is to not get caught up in the first year since it goes by so quickly. “Don't wait to get involved, there are too many priceless opportunities to let a year go to waste.”

Alex Cabal - Office of Residential Life

Alex Cabal joined the Wesleyan University Office of Residential Life team this past summer, he is the area coordinator for Fauver Residence Hall, Nicolson and Hewitt Halls. Alex just recently finished his graduate studies at Springfield College in Springfield, MA. Alex is not new to the Wesleyan community though, for many years he has worked with the Center for Creative Youth, a summer pre-college program that offers talented high school students five weeks of intensive study in the arts here at Wesleyan. Words of wisdom for all students: “You always have choices, it’s important to understand the consequences of them.” Students will often see Alex perusing the halls,and talking to residents. Alex is always up for a good conversation so feel free to stop him in the halls or visit his office on the ground floor of Hewitt 8.