Dear Parents and Families,
The countdown to spring break is on. While your student may be focused on taking a well-deserved break from studying, you may be starting to think about what their plans are for the summer. On Tuesday, March 28 at 7 p.m. ET | 4 p.m. PT, I hope you will join a webinar with members of the Career Center team for tips and resources on supporting your student's career goals this summer. Please register and submit any questions in advance. The webinar will also be recorded and posted on the website.
In this edition, meet our new Executive Director of Health & Wellness Sonya Satinsky, get the latest insight from Career Corner and Academic Happenings, don't miss Tufts Night at the Pops (tickets on sale now), and student contributor Kylie McNulty '25 shows off some favorite campus spots to study for midterms.
Best wishes to you this spring,
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Meet Executive
Director of Health & Wellness Sonya Satinsky, PhD, MPH
With more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Satinsky has distinguished herself as a health promotion leader in higher education; a faculty member and public health researcher; and a strategic administrator and manager in health care. To guide her goals for health and wellness at Tufts, she is learning about existing programs, services, and systems that Tufts currently offers to support students. “Health and wellness are broad and nuanced topics. Among my goals are to figure out how we all help create an ecology of wellbeing on campus, one that is informed by justice and health equity,” she said.
Dr. Satinsky takes a holistic approach to health, wellness, and wellbeing. As a former faculty member, she knows first-hand that education for students happens both inside and outside of the classroom. “When I was a new faculty member, I quickly learned that students had needs and goals that differed from my learning objectives. So having experienced both academic and administrative roles, I am focused on connecting health and wellness to all of the parts of the student experience -- in service of the academic mission of the university but with an acknowledgement of the multifaceted ways that students can achieve success,” said Dr. Satinsky.
Before coming to Tufts, she served as Director of Health Promotion and Prevention Services at Princeton University. She highlights the experience of managing the COVID-19 pandemic as helping prepare her for her new role: “In the midst of this global crisis, I was able to make connections with people across campus that I may not have otherwise. It underscored the importance of social connection and brought to the forefront how intrinsic health and wellness is to our institutions and student experiences."
She also proudly highlights her local roots; she grew up in Boston, her dad is an alumnus of the Fletcher School, and she has family who have worked for the institution. “I really like being back in Boston. While it has changed from the Boston of my childhood, there is a sense of familiarity and history that I bring with me. I have a lot of respect for what Tufts offers to this area,” she said.
Asked about what she would like parents and families to know: Dr. Satinsky emphasizes, “There are caring, highly-trained professionals across our campus who have your student’s best interests at heart.” She also encourages parents to have difficult conversations to set expectations of how their student is going to take care of themselves, including talking with them about substance use and paying attention to consent when looking for a partner. “Research shows that your student is still listening to you, even if it doesn’t seem so. They may be rolling their eyes, but what you’re saying is getting through.”
Dr. Satinsky earned a bachelor’s degree in gender and women’s studies from Oberlin College, a Master of Public Health in Community Health Education from Indiana University Bloomington, and a doctorate in Health Behavior from Indiana University Bloomington.
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Academic Happenings: Midsemester Deadlines and Fall Registration
Wednesday, April 5 is the final day students can elect to have courses graded pass/fail or withdraw entirely from a class. If your student is struggling with their current courses, they should be directed to a member of their Advising Team who can help them strategize.
The Advising Period for Fall 2023 registration is March 27 - April 19. In preparation for registering, students must schedule time with their advisor to discuss plans. They cannot register without advisor approval.
Encourage your student to check their SIS account to ensure everything is up to date and ready for fall registration. Students should:
- review their degree audit and transcript to make sure they are on track and everything looks accurate,
- look up their registration time,
- address any outstanding registration holds,
- fill their shopping cart with courses and multiple back-up options, and
- validate their cart to confirm they meet course requirements and don't have time conflicts.
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| Career Corner:
Supporting Your Student’s Networking Efforts
Networking is often wrongly defined as knowing the right people, working a room, or more aggressively, asking for jobs, but it is simply the process of gathering useful information. Fortunately, you can get back to basics while helping your student develop a professional network
"Explore” is a great verb to use when talking to your network about your student’s career interests (e.g., Mario is exploring majors related to his interest in education policy. Charlotte is exploring jobs in renewable energy.). The information you share may elicit a useful tip—whether a referral, helpful resource, or otherwise—that you can pass along to your student. In the meantime, encouraging your student to connect with Tufts alumni volunteers in The Herd, our flash mentoring database and/or explore our networking resources online, is a great way to begin!
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Student Spotlight...favorite on-campus locales for studying
by Kylie McNulty '25
As students prepare to leave for spring break, we have all been hard at work finishing up our midyear essays, projects, and tests. No matter what kind of work midterm season presents me with, this is the time of year I take advantage of the wide variety of study spaces on campus. In the video below, I highlight some places I visited recently to get work done on a busy day in March.
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| Surprise your student with a Sink Coffee Shop voucher
Keep your student well caffeinated this semester while supporting Tufts’ only student-run café in the Campus Center.
Vouchers are sold in blocks of $10 and do not expire. After you add the voucher to your online cart (using the "purchase" button below), you can choose the dollar amount ($10, $20, or $50) and any combination of our voucher options. Your student will be able to pick up their voucher on campus at the Sink coffeeshop. Please email tuftssink@gmail.com with any questions, and thank you for your support!
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121st Tufts Night at the Pops!
On Friday, May 19, join your Jumbo family at Alumni Engagement's longest-running tradition, Tufts Night at Pops. Alumni, students, and their families are invited to come together at Symphony Hall in Boston for a special concert by the world-renowned Boston Pops Orchestra. This year's theme, "The Boston Pops: Made in America," celebrates three innovative and quintessentially American musical streams of the last century: cinematic music, the Broadway musical, and jazz. The program features Four Black American Dances, a new work by Carlos Simon commissioned and recently premiered by the Boston Symphony. We hope to see you there!
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Dates to Remember
March 18 – Spring Recess begins; classes suspended
March 27 – Advising Period begins; runs through April 19
March 27 – Spring Recess ends; classes resume
For students studying abroad this fall, sign-ups for required pre-departure meetings are available on the Student Life Calendar.
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Inventive by Nature, Engineers by Calling
Tufts students describe myriad inventive opportunities offered by engineering.
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Class of 2023 Parents:
Order the Senior Memory Book Now!
The book will include senior portraits and highlights from this past year. Ordered books will be mailed to addresses provided during the ordering process in late July 2023.
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Tufts Pre-College Programs
Do you know a high school student who wants a preview of the college experience? Taught by Tufts renowned faculty, pre-college programs offer engaging opportunities for high school students to explore their passions.
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Student Email Archive
Announcements and messages sent to students are available on the Parents and Families Resources web page.
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TuftsAlert
We invite you to enroll in the TuftsAlert system to be notified directly by text, phone, and/or email in case of significant emergencies affecting the Tufts University community.
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