Dear Members of the Vanderbilt Class of 2029,
I am so excited to be sending you this message—my first communication with you directly and the first of what I hope will be many conversations that we have together. As dean of Residential Colleges and of The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, one of the most important parts of my job is to connect with all of you and to help you have a meaningful, fulfilling, and yes, challenging, first year at Vanderbilt.
In addition to my role as dean, I am also a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning. I study how people learn and develop identities in relation to different disciplines—and how those identities can change based on the organization of classrooms and other learning environments. This makes my job in Residential Colleges particularly interesting, as I attend to how we design programs, activities, and experiences that help students learn about and make sense of who they are. Identity-building is a core activity in college, and you will have new experiences and meet new people who help you to learn more about the world and the role you want to play in it.
One of the first programs you will be a part of is called Vanderbilt Visions, a required six-week sequence for all first-year students. Visions is designed to help you learn about the expectations of Vanderbilt students, to connect with other members of the academic community, and to find support and learn about resources as you make the shift from high school to college. The transition to college puts you in a space where almost everything is new—the people, the place, the food, sometimes even the weather. That novelty can be exhilarating and, at times, challenging as one adapts to the new environment. In either case, this novelty creates an opportunity to think intentionally about who you are, and how you connect with others—even, or especially, with those whose experiences and outlooks differ from your own. For that reason, this year our programming will explore stories that connect us.
Storytelling is a powerful cultural mechanism. It is the dominant way we communicate about ourselves, our values, our fears, and our ambitions. Listening to each other’s stories creates a point of connection, a way to learn how our experiences are similar to and different from others. Storytelling is also one of the primary ways we create memories, and it is key to recalling them. Research in cognitive science has demonstrated that the stories we know and tell are so powerful that they even influence what we notice about the world—and how we choose to act as a result. Stories are not only a response to our experiences, they drive those experiences. Stories are important tools in our lives.
To build onto your own experience of eliciting and reflecting on stories, the summer assignment for the Class of 2029 will involve interviewing someone in your community you find interesting or you think may have experiences or perspectives different from yours. Ideally, this is a chance to interview someone you do not know well (not someone you live with or see every day). Approaching others with curiosity, asking questions to elicit understanding and listening with full attention will help you to connect with others through their stories while also challenging your own thinking. Exact assignment directions follow, including how to submit your interview and reflections.
In order to form a community and connect with each other, let’s start to share our stories. I am looking forward to hearing yours.
Until August,
