Living and learning is the focus of new orientation program

A view of the new Community Commons building on North Campus, which will house dining and athletic facilities that complement those of the Robert Purcell student union. Architects envisioned the Commons as a beacon of light visible across North Campus at night. Robert Barker/University Photography

By Susan Lang

To make the first week for first-year and transfer Cornell students special and social, as well as significant, a revamped orientation program will feature all the pomp, circumstance and festivity of Commencement. It will include more than 65 universitywide programs and a dozen initiatives, ranging from faculty greeters, student mentors and programs for parents to a midnight mixer and discussions throughout campus focused on the same book, the only academic experience all students will share in common until graduation.

The cornerstone of the new orientation program, however, is the opening of two new North Campus residence halls, which will house all 3,000 first-year students in one location, and a new student commons. All transfer students also will be housed together for the first time in the renovated West Campus residential halls. Special programs will take place throughout the year at both locations to foster social and educational connections and learning.

"The primary goal not only is to help new students make the transition to the Cornell community and culture but also to make orientation a unifying educational experience that will introduce first-year students to the breadth of the intellectual, social and cultural environment at Cornell," said Susan H, Murphy, vice president for student and academic services. Murphy had charged the North Campus Committee with developing a special living-and-learning orientation program two years ago. "The new orientation program also is designed to expedite students' new relationships with faculty, staff and other students," she said.

The new focus on living and learning includes the recognition that students may learn as much outside of the classroom as in the classroom and that experiences in residence halls are a vital part of one's education.

To launch a smooth beginning and mark the innovative spirit which is characteristic of the new initiatives, first-year and transfer students are being assigned specific times to check into their residence halls to prevent bottlenecks and driveways overcrowded with cars bringing new students.

As in the past, second-, third- and fourth-year upper class students will volunteer their time to help during orientation, unloading cars, giving directions, handing out refreshments and materials and serving as mentors for the entire week, each with the same handful of students. But this year, scores of faculty also will join the ranks of greeters as new students arrive on campus.

In addition, all new students, who were sent during the summer complimentary copies of the book Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond, will meet in Barton Hall at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 26 to participate in a faculty panel discussion about the book. Students then will attend one of 235 small groups around campus for two hours on Aug. 27 to discuss the book with two assigned facilitators, including a faculty member and a seasoned student and/or a staff member.

Afterward, assignments relating to the book will be made in some freshman writing seminars.

"We are seeking to prepare our new students for the educational opportunities here and to familiarize them with diverse opportunities available at the university," said Provost Biddy Martin. "The decision to discuss a particular book stems from our desire to provide new students with an initial social experience and a shared intellectual one, plus an opportunity for academic exchange between students and faculty outside of the classroom.

"We hope to encourage dialogue within our community of thinkers who might find this an occasion to speak to one another across Cornell's many departments and disciplines," Martin said.

The orientation program also is designed to provide improved social experiences for the new students. The First Night Festival, for example, will include comedians, caricature artists, roving magicians, movies and a dance party.

"For the first time, we are scheduling events on three different nights, past midnight, to provide non-alcoholic social activities as an alternative to private parties during the late hours for students," said Meg Nowak, assistant dean of students for new student programs and student support. Other large social events will include an outdoor barbecue and square dancing on North Campus at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, and a picnic at the Plantations at noon Tuesday, Aug. 28. In addition to the more than 65 programs for all new students, more than 20 co-curricular events are planned specifically for transfer students.

Knowing that the first six weeks are the most critical for new student transitions to college life, the North Campus initiative also includes various programs focused on the transition.

"The Office of Student Affairs and Diversity/Campus Life will be holding many special activities for students, such as movies, discussions, lectures and socials, during the initial six-week period to heighten awareness about the cultural richness of Cornell students," said Irma Almirall-Padamsee, director of student affairs and diversity for Campus Life. "We also are offering staff development programs for academic and co-curricular staff to better understand the seemingly familiar 'red flags' for new students who might be having a difficult transition, as well as the red flags which mark less familiar responses." Students vary tremendously in how they respond to the experience of the first year, she said.

Almirall-Padamsee also pointed out that mentoring in any shape is a valuable tool for successfully navigating the transition to college. First-year students are encouraged to find peer, staff and faculty mentors not only to help them with the new stress of campus life but also as a way to foster a stronger connection to Cornell and between new and upper class students. A brand new effort along this vein, for instance, is the Asian Alliance Mentoring Program out of Campus Life, which pairs first-year Asian-American students with specially trained faculty or staff mentors for one year in a formal mentoring relationship.

But new orientation programs won't end after six weeks. Various pilot programs for first-year students are in place for the fall semester. These include Donlon Faculty Fellows engaging in a series of programs relating to their disciplines; Weiss Presidential Fellows hosting dining discussion groups and arts programs with students in their courses; the Cornell Association of Professors Emeriti hosting dining discussion groups on Monday nights in Risley Dining; and local alumni who are being invited to take part in residential programs and to host freshmen and faculty members in their homes for a series of dinners designed to connect new students with the local Cornell alumni community.

"Overall, the new orientation program is designed to facilitate first-year students' transition to university life and to promote a universitywide experience rather than an experience driven by the individual colleges," concluded Provost Martin.