China and its Discontents

On Monday, March 15th at 6-7 PM the SGA and Chartwells are hosting Faculty Night at Mather to bring faculty and students together outside the classroom. Students are encouraged to invite any of their professors and peers for a classy Mather dining experience. The SGA will be funding the cost of meals for all members of the faculty. Just show up – there’s no reservation system.

Please invite your professors and friends! There’s no barrier to entry – just show up. This is a great and easy way to bring the Trinity community closer together.

Sincerely,

Will Yale
Senator at Large

Sourced from: Trinity College Student Government Association » William Yale

Hello All,

For those not in the SGA loop, I wanted to give the campus an update on my new long-term brainchild for the year (and into next year). I’m putting together a January Term at Trinity to be held yearly starting in January 2011. If you haven’t heard of similar programs at other colleges, January Term exists to offer 1-credit courses outside of the regular academic year. Besides regular courses here at Trinity, here’s how you could earn that credit:

• Intensive programs offered at Global Learning Sites. Study abroad in this manner would be less disruptive than normal study abroad, and could be an easier path to academic enrichment. Plus, it would be cool, or rather, warm! Why spend January in snow when you could complete a month-long theater program in Trinidad?
• Classes taught by students. While it is currently rare, junior and seniors can design their own pass/fail courses, obtain faculty sponsorship, and then teach those courses. A month-long course would offer far less stressful commitment on part of the student teacher, but would still provide a valuable experience. The courses could be designed around any subject – obscure academia, practical hobbies – it just needs to be approved by the Curriculum Committee.
• Focused, meaningful internships. With academic internships soon moving over to Career Services’ responsibility and the economy bust, January would be the perfect time to step out of one’s normal semester commitments and intern in Hartford for a month. Students would work one-on-one with Career Services advisors to develop a concentrated intern experience that is more than a job-shadow or reception duties.
• Community service campaigns. Trinity students could design and lead their own community service projects within the city of Hartford. In a time when it is difficult for the college to focus as much attention on community outreach, students could be ambassadors for the school doing work that has direct impact on the surrounding community.
• Research projects for one’s major. Is there a burning question related to your field of study that hasn’t even been asked yet? Commission a study, design a course of experimentation, and answer it. There’s no better time to do original student research than in January without the pressures of a regular semester.

As you might have noticed, the focus of this program is to offer a meaningful experience during a time that otherwise might not be. I’m sure there are some enterprising students who accomplish amazing things during winter break, but I know that many, including myself, take most of the month as vacation. While I’m sure some students would continue to do so, I know many others want choice. A Trinity January Term would empower, engage, and challenge students to lead, take initiative, and design an amazing January for themselves that gets back to the core of the Trinity experience – intellectual curiosity.

While costs have not been fully determined, preliminary estimation would set tuition, room and board near $2500, with financial aid offered. January Term would be completely optional. I want to know how this program could serve you. Are there components you would add, modify, or scrap all together? What are the best ways to get students engaged? Please comment below, or email me at william.yale@trincoll.edu.

Thanks for your interest, and I look forward to hearing from you,

Will Yale

Senator at Large

Academic Affairs Committee

Sourced from: Trinity College Student Government Association » William Yale

I am pleased to announce that nearly all of the original regulations concerning After Office Hours have been removed, for the sake of attracting more students to the program. Students can now take out to dinner any professor, with any number of students, any number of times. Listening to people interested in the program, I realized that there were interactions between students and faculty that AOH needed to better promote, such as in language classes, between advisers and advisees, and in small classes such as senior seminars. The revamped rules pare it down to the basics: meals with up to $20 per person off-campus and $10 on-campus, with a faculty member present. You can still get the reimbursement form at the Dean of Students Office or under the Services tab on this website.

~ Will Yale

Class ‘12 Senator and Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee

Sourced from: Trinity College Student Government Association » William Yale

The SGA is pleased to announce the beginning of a new program, After Office Hours, to be co-funded with President Jones. Here’s how it works:

1. 2-5 students in a particular class get together for an off-campus dinner with their professor OR a larger group (perhaps the entire class) gets together for an on-campus event involving food, with their professor.
2. Pick up a reimbursement form from Dean Alford’s office, fill it out, and return it with an original receipt.
3. Free meals! (up to $20 off campus and $10 on campus per student, with one dinner per class and three per semester per student; transportation not funded – go local!)

And that’s it. Be bold! With After Office Hours, the entire impetus to hold these dinners and events is on the individual student. The variations in ideas on how to use this money and the program itself can only grow exponentially from here. Particularly with the on-campus component, an infinite number of gatherings are possible – the food is what brings people to the the table.

If you have any questions, please email me at William DOT Yale AT trinity DOT edu. The original resolution that created After Office Hours is attached below, in case you want to look at the original source material. Look out for soon-to-come advertisements!

~ Will Yale

After Office Hours Resolution

Sourced from: Trinity College Student Government Association » William Yale

As a dove-tail to Eamon’s post last week, I’m working on setting up a pilot program for next semester for student-professor dinners. Dinners would be student-initiated, and would help build personal relationships with professors. Although faculty can currently receive reimbursement for meals with students, field-trips, and meetings over coffee, there is no institutionalized program so that a small group of students themselves can organize a dinner with a professor. My plan would build such a program.

As I’ve written it thus far, the program would be a simple system of reimbursement at any restaurant up to $15 per student; any fraud would be accounted for by trust in the form of signatures and acknowledgment from professors that each dinner did take place. The as-yet-unnamed program would be integrated with the Dean of Students Office’s system of faculty reimbursement mentioned above.

I am looking for student input as to how such a program would best serve you. What should it be called? How would it best be advertised? Is the system of reimbursement as outlined fair? What, if any, set limit should be imposed on the number of students participating in any particular dinner? What are your thoughts? Thanks for your input!

~ Will Yale

Class ‘12 Senator

Academic Affairs Committee

Sourced from: Trinity College Student Government Association » William Yale