Keeping up with academics over break by Jennifer Vestal. associate dean and director of the Academic Resource Center

If your student is returning home for Thanksgiving break, it is advised that families develop a plan together for how your student’s time will be spent while home, so expectations are met on both sides. For example, your student may want to hang out with friends, while you expect they spend time with you and family, or pick up extra shifts/work and earn some money. Talk about balancing time over breaks with the Four F’s:

1. Time with Family — immediate and extended relatives or family traditions

2. Time with their Friends — from high school, childhood, their romantic partner and perhaps, meeting up with Denison friends who live nearby

3. Time for Faculty — don’t forget about academic work that can be completed while on break. (Catch up on reading, review notes, draft a paper, etc.)

4. Time for Fun – okay, maybe not fun, but some time for pleasurable activity - schedule a haircut or needed appointment, sleep in, go for a run in a favorite park, take a hot bubble bath (no one takes baths in a residence hall), cook a favorite recipe, etc.

Career Program information by Hank Malin P’15, executive director of the Knowlton Center for Career Exploration

We hope that your student is having a positive and productive fall semester. Our office has been busy over the past several weeks meeting one-on-one with students, sponsoring programs on a variety of career-related topics, and hosting employers on campus.

I want to take this opportunity to highlight a few programs that we are publicizing to students. Encourage your student to participate in any/all of them!

OnBoard — OnBoard is one of our signature programs at the Knowlton Center. OnBoard consists of 60 self-paced units filled with content, pre- and post-assessments, and real-world simulations that give students real-time feedback on topics that range from Excel, to Project Management, to Finance Skills, to Marketing. Each unit takes somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes to complete. These units are only available during Winter, Spring and Summer breaks. Access to OnBoard for the winter break will open right after finals, and your student will receive login information in Handshake and via e‑mail.

Wisr — Wisr is an online student and alumni/parent networking platform that allows students to identify alumni or parents whose background or careers match their background or potential interest(s) and then set up a phone discussion with them. If your student hasn’t signed up yet, they should! If you are willing to be contacted by current students or recent graduates, please sign up for Wisr today.

Externships/Job Shadowing — Winter break is an excellent opportunity for students to spend a day or two (or even a half day) shadowing someone in a field they are considering. We encourage your student to use Wisr to identify someone near home who might be willing to host them for a day. And, of course, students should feel free to contact others in their network (i.e., their Denison or high school friends’ parents, etc.) for that opportunity!

Boot Camp — We will offer this accelerated program during the last three days of winter break (January 16-18, 2019). The three days include career development workshops (Career Exploration, Resume and Cover Letter writing, Interview Skills, Networking), a “First Look” trip to organizations in Columbus, and a networking opportunity with local alumni. This program is particularly appropriate for sophomores as well as for juniors who are returning from a term off-campus/abroad, but it is open to all students. Specific details were provided to sophomores a couple of weeks ago and to all other students in early November.

Below are three opportunities for you to become more involved or informed in our efforts.

Research and scholarship news from the Lisska Center for Scholarly Engagement

Each summer, more than 120 Denison students from all class years and majors receive monetary awards to conduct an independent or collaborative project under the close supervision of a Denison faculty member in our acclaimed Summer Scholar Program. Awards go to projects in all the disciplines: about 60 percent of Summer Scholars work on projects in the sciences; the rest undertake projects in the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts. (Projects do not need to be in the student’s major).

Denison Summer Scholars receive a stipend ($4,000 in 2019), a campus housing allowance, and they are free from the pressures of grades and credits. On-campus awards support 10 weeks of work with a faculty-led laboratory research team or on an independent project of the student’s own design. It’s a unique opportunity to explore an intellectual passion, experience the challenges and rewards of intensive academic research, and build a close relationship with a faculty mentor. We encourage you to view a recent brief video about the program. Off-Campus awards support projects that must take place partly or fully away from campus. Last summer, students traveled to Martinique, England, Spain, Poland, Guinea, and elsewhere to conduct research. Off-Campus awards provide additional funds for travel expenses.

In addition, Early Experience awards offer current first-year students (rising sophomores) a chance to conduct a shorter and less-intensive project (five to six weeks) as an introduction to scholarly research. (First-year students may still apply for regular 10-week awards.)

The first step for interested students is to seek a faculty mentor and work closely with that professor to develop a compelling proposal. Students should attend an upcoming information session and get started on their proposals this semester. Information sessions will take place in the Burton D. Morgan Center Lecture Hall at 4:45 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Monday, November 12. The application deadline is February 1, 2019.

Transportation to the Columbus Airport

For students who need to get to and from the airport around break time, the university partners with SHARE for shuttle service, for a fee. Your student can sign-up for a SHARE timeslot.

A note to families of seniors graduating in May

As you make plans for Commencement Weekend 2019 (May 17-18), we encourage you to consult the Commencement web section for information about the weekend schedule and campus accommodations.