In Erdman, extolling the virtues of the lemur over the owl as Bryn Mawr's mascot.

2013 is here and in a few short weeks our students will be trickling back to campus, restored and ready for the new semester. It is always a bit strange to speak of the “spring” semester, since January, February (and a good chunk of March) tend to be fairly dreary and glum, at least when it comes to the short days and cold, cloudy weather. It was perhaps with this in mind that Mawrters of years past decided to hold Hell Week, the College’s third and perhaps most complicated tradition, during the first half of February. Hell Week shenanigans certainly inject some color and flair (in the guise of endlessly creative costumes), hilarity and a little madness into what would normally be a fairly grim time of the year. Several students, past and present, credit Hell Week with making Bryn Mawr truly feel like home and contributing to the sense of community that the College is known for. Being “helled” was definitely a highlight of my first year as dean and I will never forget the surprisingly liberating sensation of getting up on a chair in the middle of Erdman and delivering a five minute speech on why Bryn Mawr should adopt the lemur as its official mascot (see photo above).

This year, February will also be a little brighter because the College will be awarding its fifth Hepburn Medal to legendary musician, poet and visual artist, Patti Smith. Named in honor of screen legend Katharine Hepburn, a Bryn Mawr alumna, the Hepburn Medal is given to women “whose lives, work and contributions embody the intelligence, drive and independence of the four-time-Oscar-winning actress.” In addition to attending an award ceremony and celebration in Goodhart Hall on  February 7, Ms. Smith will give a special performance just for students earlier that day. We are all looking forward to what promises to be a highlight of the year.

After getting settled into classes, enjoying Patti Smith and surviving Hell Week, many of our first-year, sophomore and junior students will turn their attention to making plans for the summer. Bryn Mawr offers a generous array of summer funding opportunities that allow students to pursue research, individual projects, community service and pre-professional internships all over the world. Applications for most of these funds are due in February and early March. For a complete listing of what the College offers, visit the Student Summer Funding webpage.

As for many of our seniors, spring 2013 will be a time of conflicting emotions: joy at being done with major requirements, the thesis and the swim test and sadness that soon they will be graduating and leaving college behind. In a place as bound up in tradition as Bryn Mawr, there can be a particularly sharp sense of loss as May 18 draws near (particularly if plans for graduate school or a job are not yet set). In the Dean’s Office we try to be helpful to students as they negotiate these final months, offering perspective, encouragement and congratulations as each final milestone is reached. As parents and family members, you can do the same! After all, it is a momentous time for you, too.

Until next time,
Michele Rasmussen
Dean of the Undergraduate College

It’s official: autumn is here. The colors are glorious, the recalcitrant leaves blowing into buildings and drains, less so, but as we all break out our sweaters, tights and hats, there is a certain excitement about the Bryn Mawr fall traditions that are just around the corner.

Some parents may have seen their daughters last week during fall break. It is not unusual for this visit to stir up a variety of emotions in students. Some are just grateful to have a class-free week of sleeping in, catching up with old friends (if their schools have the same break schedule as ours) and eating non-dining hall food. Others may seem unusually stressed out and refer constantly to the huge amount of work they have to do. First -year students might seem far less enthusiastic about college than they were six weeks ago, whether due to roommate issues or homesickness. All of these reactions are normal — they indicate that students are experiencing college as it really is. Learning how to cope with a heavy work load, setbacks and less than ideal situations is an invaluable skill (and one of the “unofficial” requirements of being at a place like Bryn Mawr).

The good news is that the next couple of months includes some real fun. Halloween is coming up and this holiday has long been embraced by Mawrters as a time to get creative with costumes (perhaps a trial run for Hell Week — more on that in a future post!) and attend Radnor residence hall’s Halloween bash, one of a handful of large-scale student-hosted social events that take place every year. Another Halloween tradition is the Dorm Trick or Treat for the children of Bryn Mawr faculty and staff, where the kids get to visit the “spooky” dorms for candy and gifts prepared by the undergrads. Afterward, everyone gathers for a big party in Thomas Great Hall.

The arrival of Halloween coincides with the second of Bryn Mawr’s four student Traditions (the first was Parade Night, held during the first week of classes). Lantern Night, which  takes place at nightfall in the Cloisters of Thomas, is when all new students receive their lantern in their class color (light blue for the Class of 2016). To prepare for Lantern Night, every new student has to memorize and learn how to sing Bryn Mawr’s song, “Sophias.” This is no easy task given that it is in Greek and doesn’t exactly have the catchiest of melodies!

Another fall campus event is Family Weekend, which traditionally takes place over the first weekend of November. This year’s weekend is scheduled for November 2-4 and registration will  be open until November 1. The full schedule is online — if you would like to attend and have not yet registered, please be sure to do so! Family Weekend is a great time to meet the staff and professors who work with students, hear about faculty research and scholarship, enjoy athletic events, tour campus and Philadelphia and meet other parents and families. We hope to see you there!

Dear Parents,

Welcome to the Bryn Mawr College Community! The beginning of the school year is always an exciting time on campus. Having the opportunity to introduce and share a place that Bryn Mawr students are so proud to be a part of is always a wonderful experience.

Bryn Mawr is unique in many ways. Perhaps, though, the most defining characteristic is our resounding spirit of self-governance. We are frequently asked what self-governance means. The phrase, much like one’s education, is developed through action; what you put into it warrants its return and meaning for you as an individual. We have a sense of autonomy and authority over the changes at our institution that gives Mawrters an unparalleled connection and sense of belonging to Bryn Mawr.  As a student, however, I have learned that self-governance is much more than that. It is the sense of respect and responsibility that has been entrusted in students by their peers, administrators, alumnae and other community members. It is the sense of confidence that our thoughts and ideas are valid, important, and hold weight for others. It is the sense that we are capable of being strong, independent individuals with the support of a community behind us. The concept of self-governance is rather simple, but its depth in our community is what carries its true value.

The Self-Government Association (SGA) is a manifestation of this permeating spirit. The SGA became the first organization of its kind when it was founded in 1892. Today, the organization takes on many roles within the Bryn Mawr College community. From allocating club funding, to upholding the Honor Code, the SGA is the overarching organization that helps students remain accountable and responsible for themselves while still maintaining a commitment to the greater community. In addition, SGA is a major resource for student advocacy to administration, faculty, and staff.

Being a self-governing student body requires patience, commitment, and support from all community members. As new stakeholders in our community, we hope that you will take the time to understand what holds us all together.

For more information about SGA please visit our blog at: sga.blogs.brynmawr.edu

Or feel free to contact the Executive Board at sga@brynmawr.edu

Best wishes for the upcoming year!

Anassa Kata,

Vrinda Varia

SGA President 2012-2013

Emily Greene Balch, Class of 1889, was one of the College’s most distinguished graduates. An accomplished scholar in the social sciences, she fought vigorously to advance the rights of women and reduce poverty. She was also an ardent pacifist, and in the aftermath of World War I helped establish the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. In 1946, Balch was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (her medal is part of the College’s special collections). Thus, when the faculty revamped the first-year college seminar program in 2009, it seemed fitting to rename this cornerstone of the first-year academic experience in honor of Balch.

Every fall, about 25 faculty members teach an Emily Balch seminar (referred to as “ESems” in campus vernacular) to 12-15 first-year students. The overall goal of the Balch seminars is to introduce students to the modes of critical thinking, close reading, writing and discussion that are so vital to the liberal arts tradition. Each faculty instructor organizes his/her seminar around a theme or question that transcends any particular discipline or major, using a variety of media (texts, films, websites, performance pieces, journalism) to explore seminar topics and stimulate intellectual engagement. Biweekly one-on-one conferences between each student and her professor are an integral part of the ESem experience and ensure that by the end of her first semester, every student has benefited from substantive interactions with a Bryn Mawr faculty member. The ESem sections offered every year are truly fascinating — for a sampling of what new students will be taking this fall, click here.

Last year, Bryn Mawr inaugurated a new tradition for the first-year class, the Emily Balch Seminar Speaker Series. A joint collaboration of the provost’s office, dean’s office and college writing program, the speaker series is intended to bring together the first-year class to hear from a notable writer about the influences, creative underpinnings, and methodology of his or her work.  Karen Russell, author of the New York Times bestseller and 2012 Pulitzer prize fiction finalist, Swamplandia!, was invited to be our first Balch speaker. Russell, who was also teaching in Bryn Mawr’s creative writing program last fall, engaged in a funny and touching on-stage conversation with creative writing program director, Dan Torday, while pages from her published work were projected on a giant screen behind them. After Q& A with the students in the audience, everyone proceeded from Goodhart Hall to Thomas Great Hall for an unforgettable dessert reception.

This fall, we are thrilled to be building on this new first-year tradition by welcoming Alison Bechdel as our 2012 Emily Balch Seminar Speaker. Several ESem faculty will be incorporating her graphic novels, Fun Home and Are You My Mother?, into their seminars and the entire Class of 2016 and the faculty will be invited to hear Bechdel speak on September 27 in Goodhart. Given her enormous popularity, Bechdel will also be meeting with interested sophomores, juniors and seniors at a Q&A session and book signing in English House earlier in the day.  We are all looking forward to her visit and will be sure to cover her time on campus in a fall edition of our parents’ and family newsletter!

July 3, 2012

Dear Parents and Guardians of the Class of 2016 and Transfer Students,

We are delighted that your daughter has chosen Bryn Mawr College, and we are looking forward to her arrival in August!  Please find enclosed some information for parents about move-in and Customs Week, and college resources and services that support student health and well-being. If you haven’t already, we would be grateful if you complete and submit the Student’s Guardian Information form, so that in the future we may contact you in the manner you prefer.  The form is available online at http://www.brynmawr.edu/gateways/parents/guardian_form.shtml.

You may be wondering how your role will change as your daughter begins her new life at Bryn Mawr.  While we hope that your daughter will flourish with her new independence, we also know that her self-confidence will depend on knowing that your help is available if she encounters difficulties. This summer, all of us are focusing our attention on your daughter making a good start at Bryn Mawr. Once the semester begins, parents are the ones most likely to hear about anything that goes wrong.  Please don’t panic over a few unhappy phone calls at the beginning of the semester. They usually just signal the normal ups and downs of adjusting to a new environment.  If things do not seem to be improving, however, please call the Dean’s Office (610-526-5375) or urge your daughter to speak with her assigned dean if she has not done so already.  We want to support her and do what we can to ensure that her first weeks at Bryn Mawr will be good ones.

While the faculty and deans work directly with your daughter, please know that her dean will also encourage her to speak with you about problems or concerns that she brings to one of us.  In serious situations, we will insist that your daughter contact you or ask her to let us do so.  In emergency situations or when we discover that a student’s health or well-being is at serious risk, we will, of course, contact you.  For this reason, it is essential that your daughter provide us with your emergency contact information and that she update it every semester when prompted to do so.

If you are new to the Bryn Mawr community, you should know that your daughter is about to enter a place where she will be challenged, inspired, and celebrated. In addition to learning from faculty who exemplify the very finest examples of scholar-teachers, she will be able to take advantage of a rich selection of curricular opportunities such as our 360 ° programs (http://www.brynmawr.edu/360/) and innovative blended learning courses (http://nextgenlearning.blogs.brynmawr.edu/ngl-at-bryn-mawr/).

Beyond the classroom, she can apply what she learns in her courses to meaningful projects and research in the wider Philadelphia community through our signature Praxis program (http://www.brynmawr.edu/ceo/programs/praxis/), externships and internships. A major focus of the Dean’s Office is facilitating a vibrant and engaging undergraduate student experience, and I hope your daughter will benefit from our efforts to balance rigorous academics with leisure and fun in the residence halls, at campus events and in the great city of Philadelphia.

I hope that you and your daughter enjoy these last few weeks together and that the transition to Bryn Mawr goes smoothly for all of you. Please know that my colleagues and I want to do everything we can to help make that possible — please call on us and encourage your daughter to do the same.

Sincerely yours,

Michele A. Rasmussen
Dean of the Undergraduate College

P.S.  Family Weekend 2012 is scheduled for November 2-4. More information will follow and soon appear on the Parents’ and Family page at http://www.brynmawr.edu/gateways/parents/.

Have questions?

Please do not hesitate to contact the Dean’s Office. Deans and staff are available to assist you and your daughter every weekday, 9am to 5 pm.

Phone: 610-526-5375
Email: deansoffice@brynmawr.edu

 For a parent’s perspective on any questions or concerns you may have, we invite you to contact 2012-13 Parents’ Council co-chairs, Rob and Donna Kahelin:
rkahelin@comcast.net
dmkahelin@comcast.net

Arrival and Customs Week

Most members of the class of 2016 will be coming to campus on Wednesday, August 29^th for the start of Customs Week, but some members of the class have been invited to move in earlier to participate in pre-season athletic team practices or the International Students Orientation.  All new students are officially welcomed on August 29^th.  Arrival day and the Customs Week are designed to assist entering students as they embark on their college experience.

Customs Week involves new students in activities that help them get to know one another, the College community, its norms, and the many campus resources available to them.  Parents are often concerned about getting students moved into their rooms and helping them make essential arrangements for living away from home.  The residence halls open at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, August 29^th.   Keys are available beginning at 8 a.m. at Facilities Services in the Ward building next to the Schwartz Gym.  New students and their families travel to Bryn Mawr from all over the world, so please do not encourage your student to take a “first come, first served” approach to choosing a bed space in a double or triple room.  Assignment of spaces within a room or suite needs to be negotiated in a way that includes all the students involved.  While the majority of students arrive with their families, there are also students whose parents cannot be here on move-in day.  Please extend your help and courtesy to these students so that everyone feels welcomed!

Parents often ask about remaining on campus during Customs Week. While we understand your concern about your daughter making a successful early transition to Bryn Mawr, we ask that you not stay on or near campus through Customs Week.  We suggest that you make plans to leave campus just before dinner on the arrival day, Wednesday, August 29.^th

If family members do remain in the area, they may not stay in the residence halls.  It is important for students to participate fully in the Customs Week orientation program, so family visits should be planned around scheduled Customs events.  Customs Week assists any students prone to loneliness or homesickness by connecting them to their peers and the College community as a whole.  Students are introduced to classmates, advisers, faculty, and staff members. A brief description of the Customs as well as a schedule for parents on arrival day (available in early August) is available at http://www.brynmawr.edu/enteringstudents/arrival.html.

Access Services for Students with Disabilities

Bryn Mawr College is committed to the full participation of individuals with disabilities in all aspects of campus life and welcomes students with disabilities to the College community.  The Access Services office in Guild Hall provides individualized support and reasonable accommodations for eligible students with learning, physical, or psychological disabilities.  If you think your daughter may need academic adjustments in the classroom or access in the dormitory or other campus facilities, please have her contact Stephanie Bell (sbell@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7351), Coordinator of Access Services, as soon as possible.  For additional information — including the eligibility criteria and documentation requirements — please visit the Access Services website at http://www.brynmawr.edu/access_services/ .

Drug and Alcohol Use

In the remaining weeks before your daughter leaves for Bryn Mawr, it is important for you all to be aware of some of the challenges that she may face during her first year of college.  In particular, she will need to be prepared to make informed decisions about using alcohol or drugs. Bryn Mawr does not have sororities, fraternities, or other kinds of social clubs that frequently provide alcohol at parties and other events.  This does not mean, unfortunately, that we are immune from the problems caused by students abusing alcohol and drugs.  We are proud of the efforts of our students, faculty, and staff to address the problems posed by alcohol and drug use on campus.  There is a strong campus consensus that stresses safety, responsibility, and care for fellow members of this community.

Parents play a vital role in reinforcing these values. We hope you will talk frankly with your daughter about your expectations and concerns. Useful websites for parents of students leaving for college include: http://rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/ and the section on Alcohol and the Law at http://www.lcb.state.pa.us.  The interaction of alcohol with prescribed and over the counter medication is summarized at http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Medicine/medicine.htm.

Campus policies, expectations, and services related to alcohol and drug use are available for your review at the Student Activities website: http://www.brynmawr.edu/activities/partyinformation.shtml and the Health Center website: http://www.brynmawr.edu/healthcenter/drugsandalcohol/index.htm.

This summer, new students will be expected to complete an on-line education program CollegeAlc as part of the first-year Wellness program.  With a common knowledge–base in place about alcohol and its use and misuse, we will be better able to use the Customs Week and Wellness program to help students prepare for some of the most difficult challenges involved in living safely and happily in a college community:  responsibility for one’s own behavior, responsibility to the community, confronting problems which arise, and using the supports and resources available.

Health and Counseling Centers

We also urge you to encourage your daughter to let the Medical Director of Student Health Services know if she has had medical or psychological problems in the past which might resurface under the stresses of adjusting to a new environment.  Sometimes parents want so much for their children to have a fresh start as they begin college that they discourage them from seeing a counselor or local physician who can support them through the transition to college.  While this is an understandable impulse, it can be a problematic one.  As all medical and psychiatric information is kept strictly confidential, it certainly does not compromise your daughter’s privacy to inform Bryn Mawr’s medical professionals of your daughter’s history.  In addition, providers at the Health Center and Counseling Center can refer students to off-campus specialists in this area if that seems more appropriate or comfortable for the student.

Talking about sleep and nutritional needs is also valuable.  College students tend to get far less sleep than they need.  This deficit impairs their cognitive capacities at the very time when they need them most.  Just as sleep deprivation is an issue at college, so, too, are body-image concerns.  We share a full time-time nutritionist with Haverford College, and any student may meet with her.  The Body Image Council (http://bodyimagecouncil.blogs.brynmawr.edu/), a group for students concerned with body image and eating, meets weekly, led by a counselor with expertise in this area.  Please encourage your daughter to take advantage of these services if she needs them.

Health Center staff will join the Dean’s Office staff at sessions for parents on Wednesday, August 29^th. The location will be included in the Customs Week schedule.  Kay Kerr, M.D., the Medical Director of Student Health Services and Reggie Jones, M.S.S., LCSW, Director of Counseling Services, will be available for individual appointments as well. If you and your daughter would like to make an appointment, please email Ronda Taylor at rtaylor@brynmawr.edu at the beginning of that week, indicating your availability on Wednesday or at other times during that week.

This week, preparations for welcoming our new class of first-year students really got underway. Several offices on campus are involved in matriculating and welcoming our newest students: The Office of the Dean of the Undergraduate College, Residential Life, the Office of International Programs, Dining Services, the Health Center, Facilities and Student Administrative Services all dedicate hours of time to making preparations for new students.

By now, all new students have submitted their housing request form for 2012-13 and as the Res Life staff starts working on roommate matches and dorm assignments (a major undertaking!), our incoming first-years should now be turning their attention to their academic schedule for the fall semester.  We just mailed out the 2012 edition of the Planning Your Coursework at Bryn Mawr guide (also available online), which walks students through the logistics of online course registration, placement exams, the college curriculum requirements and planning a successful first-semester schedule. For the rest of the summer, Dean’s Office staff will be available to help incoming students with any questions they have about classes and placement, and even more intensive advising from faculty and deans will be available during Customs Week (Bryn Mawr’s new student orientation program), which will take place from August 29–September 3.

We are not just getting ready for the Class of 2016 to join our community — we are also delighted to be welcoming their parents and families to Bryn Mawr! We know that as the summer progresses and move-in day approaches, many of you will be playing a crucial role in getting your student ready for college. You will become experts in extra-long bed sheets, mini fridges and how to pack up the family automobile to optimize every square inch of available space. Those of you who have already sent a daughter or son to college may have more expertise about dorm furnishings than your rookie counterparts, but if you are new to Bryn Mawr, you may have just as many questions — please do not hesitate to get in touch with us so that we can help (or refer you to the best person on campus who can offer assistance). The Parents and Families page includes contact information for the Dean’s Office — you can also send us an e-mail.

Until next time!

This past weekend, Bryn Mawr held its commencement exercises under a glorious blue sky and with much joy and celebration. While the conferring of diplomas on our bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree recipients was the well-deserved focus of the past few days, our year does not end with Garden Party and the loading up of the family minivan. In fact, over 140 students will be staying on campus through much of the summer, engaging in a surprising variety of activities. Some are taking courses through Bryn Mawr’s summer school while others are working for Conferences & Events and Dining Services to staff Reunion Weekend and the many camps and conferences that use Bryn Mawr facilities over the summer. Another group is taking advantage of college housing as they pursue research and internship opportunities at the college and in the Philadelphia area.

At colleges and universities nationwide, you’re now just as likely to hear the question, “So, what are you doing this summer?” as that perennial favorite, “What’s you major?” Summer has become a critically important time for ambitious students to complement their academic year course work with various forms of experiential and applied learning that give them much needed “real world” opportunities to explore potential career paths and acquire professional skills and contacts.

Bryn Mawr is committed to supporting students in their pursuit of research positions and internships. Because many (if not most) of these opportunities are unfunded, faculty, alumnae and the college administration are constantly looking for new sources of support to cover students’ summer research and/or living expenses to supplement the existing fellowship and internship funding streams. This spring, 184 students (close to 15% of the undergraduate student body) received competitive awards from Bryn Mawr to support their summer ’12 endeavors. A major goal of the college is to grow these existing funds so that we can significantly increase the number of students receiving summer support in the years ahead.

So, what are our students doing over the summer? Here is a sampling of some of my favorites for 2012:

• Hannah Smith, ’14, will be interning in the Washington, D.C. office of Senator Mary Landrieu where she will be a fully-fledged member of the senator’s team, working in all facets of her office, including legislative and constituent service.
• Victoria Chen, ’14, has an internship in Shanghai, China where she will be an assistant designer at the Shanghai Institute of Architectural Design and Research. Assigned to the New and Green Technology Department, Victoria will have many opportunities to learn how China is incorporating green technology in the development of one of its major cities.
• Yashaswini Singh, ’13, will be spending the summer at the the Millennium Development Goals Center for East and Southern Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya.  Among other activities, she will assist with a project supporting the government of Rwanda’s efforts to take selected Millennium Village Projects to a national scale.
• Six students working with Geology assistant professor, Selby Cull, are off to Houston, TX where they have been invited to participate in NASA’s undergraduate microgravity project. During their visit, they will delve into the field of astro-geology and will get to fly in NASA’s microgravity aircraft (the infamous “vomit-comet”!).

These students, along with all the other recipients of college summer funding, will showcase their experiences at the annual Summer Research and Internship Fair that takes place during Family Weekend in early November. This event not only gives our funding recipients a great venue to talk about their work and projects, but also serves to inspire our younger students as they begin to think about their own summer plans. That’s right — even freshmen aren’t immune from the inevitable question, “So, what are you doing this summer?”

Until next time!

Welcome to the very first edition of our new blog! I would like to thank the stellar team at the College’s communications and web services offices for their help and expertise in the design and creation of this new feature that is part of a revamped e-newsletter and Parents’ and Family website. I also want to acknowledge the enthusiastic support and leadership of the Parents’ Council, helmed by the indefatigable Alison Fox and Marc Reinganum, as we worked together to make this happen. In case you’re wondering about our blog title, “Deans Gone Guild,” in December several Dean’s Office departments moved into the newly renovated Eugenia Chase Guild Hall, which is located between Denbigh residence hall and Dalton. As I learned early in my time at Bryn Mawr, this particular pronunciation of Guild rhymes with “wild” — so we thought we’d have a little bit of ironical fun with it (I can reassure you that what happens in Guild is definitely not what you would see on the beaches of Cancun during spring break.)

As I walked to my office this morning, I was struck by the seemingly overnight appearance of blossoming trees on campus (truly a gorgeous sight) and realized how close we are to the end of the semester and another academic year. This is always a bittersweet time for those of us who work closely with students; while it is always thrilling to hear details about the just-admitted first-year class from our Admissions Office, it is also a little bit sad to realize that in a few short weeks our amazing senior class will be graduating. No matter how long you have worked at a college or university, it is always surprising how quickly those four years speed by – and how much growth and change occurs between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two!

Of course, for the students the end isn’t here quite yet. A month is an eternity when it comes to thesis and term paper deadlines, class presentations and, of course, final exams.  In fact, April can be a pretty overwhelming and stressful time for undergrads, so we are particularly mindful of the need to be watchful for students who might need extra support and encouragement as we head into the final stretch.

In the Dean’s Office, we have a lot to do, too. The deans are about to start pre-registration advising for the fall ’12 semester, the residential life staff are in the middle of the room selection process for 2012-13, and our director of Student Activities is busy working with the Traditions Mistresses on the planning for the final major tradition of the year, May Day. Later this week, I am having my first official meeting with the newly elected student Self-Governance Association executive board (otherwise known as the SGA e-board) and this Sunday night I will be joining President Jane McAuliffe and other colleagues from the College’s senior staff at the biannual, SGA-sponsored “Big Cheese Forum.”  This is a kind of town hall event in the Campus Center where students pose questions to the president and other college “big cheeses” about college operations, student life issues and current hot topics. At one of last year’s forums, we actually did wear giant cheese hats (there are photos somewhere, but I’ll let you google them!) but, fortunately, that didn’t really catch on. Joking aside, the event is an important way for us to connect with the student body in a way that is unscripted and informal.

I look forward to sharing future posts with you and giving you an insider’s view of what’s happening at Bryn Mawr from the perspective of those of us who work so closely with your students. Until next time!

Michele Rasmussen
Dean of the Undergraduate College