Dear Students,
We hope you are enjoying the last few days of summer! The Office of Advising & Co-Curricular Programs has put together some information and resources that we hope will be helpful as you navigate the next few weeks.
- Course Adjustment Information – On August 14th, Banner Self- Service opened for you to make schedule adjustments. It will remain open through the first week of classes. We encourage you to reach out to your advisor to review your schedule, answer your basic advising questions, and provide you with your unique PIN NUMBER. Remember, you will not be able to make any changes without your pin number. The Registrar’s Office has provided some additional information about the add/drop process on their website: https://registrar.lafayette.edu/course-and-exam-schedule/add-drop-announcement-fall-2023/
- Class Dean support – The class deans are your partners in success! You are always welcome to schedule a meeting with your class dean to introduce yourself, discuss your plans for the semester, and/or explore opportunities that will enhance your educational experience. Let us know if you are having challenges at any point in the semester (e.g. absences, missing assignments, or stress). Meetings with us early on in the semester allows us to connect you with appropriate resources such as counseling, accessibility services, and workshops on time management and study skills.
- Dean’s excuses – You are expected to meet the attendance and participation requirements for each class. We provide excused absences (dean’s excuses) for extenuating circumstances such as bereavement, family emergencies, or religious observances. Regardless of whether you have finalized plans or not, requests for excused absences for fall religious observances are due Friday, September 8th!
- College Transition Workshops – This semester, Dean Abigail Close will be hosting a series of Academic Success Workshops. While many are designed to assist first-year students with their transition to both the campus and academic classroom, every student may also find value in attending a session. For a complete list of what is being offered, click here!
- Health Professions- Are you considering a career in health professions? Our HP Advising team is here to support you! Get acquainted with all of the information at our website here. Advising appointments are a great way to get you started on your health professions journey. So don’t hesitate to come by our offices in 218 RISC (Prof. Nancy Waters, watersn@lafayette.edu) and 101 Scott Hall (Ms. Simona Glaus, glauss@lafayette.edu) or email us directly to schedule your advising session with us. Additionally, you can let us know about your interest in health professions by emailing us at healthprofessions@lafayette.edu. We will then add your name on our HP distribution list. This way you will be able to receive information about our HP programs, workshops, experiential opportunities tailored to health professions students, and more. You can access our programming information directly at our website at this link. We will be adding new programs as they become finalized.
- Multi-language Learner Academic Support – The English for Academic Purposes Center will continue on providing academic support services for multi-language learners. Such services include workshops, ENG100 class, Conversation PARDner group chats, one-on-one English language tutoring sessions, the center’s Spaces site for language learning materials, etc.
In this semester, the EAP Center is offering a new program called EAP First Year Institute, where we will be discussing topics include campus resources, academic writing and reading, U.S. classroom, ChatGPT, academic integrity, college academic technology tools, and cultural diversity. Here is a link to the program flyer. The registration deadline is Wednesday, August 30, at 4:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.
Meanwhile, the online magazine Global Expressions: Writing Beyond the Mother Tongue is calling for paper submissions. The purpose of this magazine is to celebrate and recognize the multi-language writers at Lafayette College and develop intercultural communications within our community by showcasing the writings written by multi-language writers. This is a very good platform for you to publish your second language writings. There is no specific requirement for the content or the genre of the article. It can be an essay from one of your writing classes; it can be a story that you want to share with other people about living in the US; it can also be a poem about friendship.
Here are some useful resources that recently added to the center’s website: Four-Year Academic Success Plan for International Students, a collection of useful technology tools and websites that are frequently used in the academic setting at Lafayette College, and a series of videos discussing areas that were mentioned by many international students as areas important but unfamiliar when they were adjusting to college life,
To learn more about the resources and programs provided by the EAP Center, please visit the center’s website: https://advising.lafayette.edu/eap/. You can also send emails to Tingting Kang at kangt@lafayette.edu to schedule a meeting or if you have any questions.
- Scholarships & Fellowships Office – Make an appointment to meet with Dean Goldberg at externalscholarships@lafayette.edu to learn about different scholarship and fellowship opportunities regardless of your class year. Additionally, we encourage you to check out our Office website and explore the myriad opportunities available. If you are a senior or recent graduate and are interested in applying for upcoming scholarships/fellowships, please be aware of rapidly approaching deadlines. Those requiring Lafayette nomination/endorsement have a campus application deadline the last Friday in August!
- Speech and Debate – Join Lafayette’s traveling Speech and Debate team! Do you have a passion for performing in front of an audience? Are you an advocate for issues of social justice or public policy? Is spoken word or dramatic performance your thing? Would you like to hone your presentation skills in a challenging and competitive environment? Joining the nationally ranked Lafayette Speech and Debate team is the perfect opportunity to perform poetry and drama, discuss politics, and communicate your ideas. Join us at our recruitment meeting at 4:30 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, Aug. 31. We will be meeting in Room L3 of the Simon Center. Pizza and refreshments included. If you have questions please feel to email the Speech and Debate team’s director, Scott Placke at plackeh@lafayette.edu.
- Student Academic Resources – Looking for a one-stop-spot for academic resources? You can find information regarding accessibility services, tutoring, advising/registration, healthy living, and more! Please bookmark this site, and share this information with your fellow classmates!
We plan to send out updates from our office each month!
See you soon!
Office of Advising & Co-Curricular Programs