Academic Address at Orientation

New student orientation is rightfully focused on adjusting to life at college and getting administrative and logistic things taken care of, but maybe there is a missing academic dimension? We do have the book discussion session which is academic-ish, and faculty are invited to participate in various activities (and could be said to be the stars of one: first orientation sessions), but is there anything which really introduces students to the academic intellectual world they are about to join?

What about an address each year by a faculty member that talks a bit about learning, the life of the mind, the purposes of education, what liberal arts means in the 21st century, what's exciting in a particular field, etc.?  We'd have to set some guidelines so that it wasn't just a lame introduction to one's own department or division or the same old same old.  We'd expect people to take it seriously, we'd plan on archiving the talks or publishing them in the Quarterly or posting the video online.  They'd be about marking a transition (YOU ARE AT MILLS NOW).  They'd convey academic and intellectual values (integrity, honesty, search for truths, importance of science, the empirical and the theoretical, life of the mind and the issues of the day, etc.).

Evolution of College 005 into a New Student Experience.

College 005 has been a topic of conversation for ages. Even if we view it solely as an assessment tool, it's not very good. Maybe it's time we should ditch it and take the opportunity to more fully engage with first semester students and give them some valuable skills and raising the bar across the board.

For many of the students entering Mills, the whole business of being away from home and transitioning from high school and community colleges into a 4(plus) year institution is a challenge and this effects the rest of the curriculum and student experience.   Students arrive at Mills with extremely varying levels of preparation in areas ranging from financial well being, time management, study skills, evaluation of information, presentation of information, and use of technology.  

Perhaps a collaborative effort that draws on student life, library, and faculty could define a set of transition skills that would include information related skills, technology skills, and study skills along with "life" skills.  We could define an inventory of "baseline skills we expect and which are necessary for success" and then put together a really excellent program that would not be seen as a mere onerous requirement but would be appreciated as providing skills I need today.

The "course" could be taught in sections by a number of instructors allowing for smaller groups to rotate through the experience in a manner that was efficient (with regard to both faculty/staff time and student time) and effective.  Examples of similar offerings by other institutions can be found here:http://fye.sdes.ucf.edu/?p=seminar and http://www.hartwick.edu/campus-life/first-year-experience