Hello everyone! I’d like to take this opportunity to again welcome our new students to the RPI community. I’d also like to welcome back our veteran students. I hope everyone enjoyed the summer and took some time to relax before coming back to a challenging year. Over the summer I was asked to write a summer GM article. I’m sure some of you have already read it. The article focused on our academic environment at RPI and some of my thoughts on what it takes to be successful here. I would like to repeat some of the points since the majority of students were not on campus when the summer Poly was released. For those who read this already, skip the next two paragraphs!
For our new students: In the first few weeks of school you’ll see a circus of activities, fraternity and sorority rushing and other events on campus. It’s easy to get lost! I recommend that you take inventory of your goals and priorities very early in your college career and tailor your actions accordingly. It’s important to remember that you have lots of resources available to help you. Talk to your advisors early. Make sure they know who you are and what you want to get out of your time here. Take advantage of learning and resident assistants. Believe me; they’d be more than happy to sit down with you to discuss your goals or to help you academically.
I am a firm believer that the quality of your education at RPI or anywhere else largely depends upon the people that you surround yourself with. When people are excited about what they are doing and are excited to find better ways to do it the learning process is significantly enhanced. This sort of culture demands that people share their ideas and knowledge with others. It demands that students help other students who are in need. It demands that students who are having difficulty in a subject matter not to worry about pride and make the effort to get help. There is no shame in taking full advantage of all the resources on campus. You paid for them!
The Senate worked hard over the summer solidifying our plans for the semester and creating our new web application as part of our communication initiatives. The first version of the web application is complete and will be online by the first day of classes. You can visit the new site at http://sen-ate.union.rpi.edu.
This web application is important for several reasons. Senators can upload documents quickly by clicking and dragging – a huge improvement over the days when someone had to manually program a link in html. Students will be able to see our minutes, agendas and other documents as soon as they’re complete. Senators can post news, events, and new links effortlessly. This means more timely and up-to-date information for students. In addition, I will be posting information about my meetings with administrators and about changes being made to enhance your experience at RPI.
Look at the site this week to learn about what has been going on at RPI over the summer and some of the plans President Jackson and her cabinet have to improve the quality of life for students here.
By the end of the month the site will have a discussion board where students can submit feedback about projects we’re working on, quality of life at RPI and other issues of interest. Moreover, students can opt to be notified when any changes are made to a bulletin board of interest. For example, if you are a student interested in parking policy at RPI, you can opt to receive an e-mail notification each time an update is made to the Parking Policy discussion board. Stay tuned...
The Senate will be working on a number of other projects this semester. To name a few: a comprehensive review of the academic advising process, working with public safety and physical facilities on a customer service initiative to ensure that students are satisfied, evaluating the cheating policy and enforcement, and improving TA grading policies. There are more and I will be talking much more about those on our site and in articles to come. I encourage all to attend one of our meetings if you get the chance. We will be meeting on Mondays at 8:00 pm in the Union Room 3202. Meetings usually last about 1.5 hours. My office is on the third floor of the Union and I am always eager to talk with students about anything. Also, you can e-mail me at gm@rpi.edu.
