Welcome to a new academic year at Winthrop! The faculty, staff, and students are excited to be starting the 2012-2013 academic year. As classes begin, I want to be sure to introduce the many resources available to students, parents, and family members in our University community. In this issue of the Eagle Family Connection, we will highlight some of these resources that are available to maximize your student's experience at Winthrop.
Parents and family members are vital to their students' academic and co-curricular success during their college career. You are valued members of the Winthrop community. We are devoted to creating a culture of care in our University community where everyone is dedicated to the well-being, education, and growth of your student. We look forward to working with you through this academic year and keeping you connected to the University and informed of opportunities for your student.
Our office is here to be your connection to the University and our resources. We are happy to serve as a point of connection for you through answering your questions or putting you in touch with those who can. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have by e-mailing us at familyprograms@winthrop.edu or calling 803/323-2387.
Go Eagles!
Carrie Brunt Whiteside
Program Director, New Student & Parent Programs
Winthrop University and the Office of New Student and Parent Programs are excited to invite you to attend Family Day 2012 on September 29, 2012! This weekend provides you the opportunity to visit with your student and take part in numerous activities and events planned for your enjoyment.
The registration fee for Family Day 2012 is $30 per person (children 6 and under are free). Your registration fee covers the President's Breakfast, the Family Day Lunch with the Symphonic Band, all other activities, a Family Day giveaway, a Family Day t-shirt, and administrative costs.
Family Day 2012 Registration is now available! To register for Family Day, please
click here. You will need to enter your student's last name and birthdate to access
the system. Once in the system, you will enter information for each family member
you are registering.
Please note that the last day to register or cancel for a refund is Friday, September
21, 2012.
We hope you will join us on September 29! Please do not hesitate to contact our office at any time if you have any questions at 803/323-2387 or via e-mail at familyprograms@winthrop.edu.
Time management can be one of the most daunting dilemmas for college students, as well as adults. However, at the Winthrop University Academic Success Center, we believe that you don't manage time — you manage yourself. Every person gets 24 hours per day, but choosing how you spend these hours through careful planning is what makes the average student, employee, or parent into an exceptional one. Here are some tips for self-management that you can use for yourself and share with your college student:
(T)hwart over-commitment. If you are doing too much, no amount of planning or self-management can make you feel in control. Learning to respectfully say no to groups, friends, family, and superiors about non-essential projects can help keep you from overcommitting. However, creating a schedule and prioritizing your commitments can help you differentiate between actually being overextended and wasting valuable time.
(I)nvest your time wisely. Keep a schedule and follow it — make time for work and play. Scheduling free time is an excellent way to make sure that you get to do something fun without realizing four hours later that you let it get out of hand. Utilizing a paper planner, Google Calendars, or the planning feature on your smart phone can help you plan out your day. You can also make more efficient use of your time by combining tasks like reading while you wait in line or sending important e-mails while the laundry is going. However, be careful about multi-tasking — your brain's attention is like a spotlight, focusing on one thing at a time, so combine a mindful task with a mindless one.
(M)inimize your problem areas. Take a day and map out how you use your time. How long do you spend socializing — in person and online? What about sleeping, commuting, eating, working, studying, etc.? Doing this can help you figure out where you are spending too much time and find areas where you can maximize your efficiency. Minimize things like TV watching, time on Facebook, or long lunches for increased productivity.
(E)liminate procrastination. By figuring out the reasons behind your procrastination, you can confront them head-on to complete tasks efficiently. Are you feeling unprepared or incompetent about this latest project? Are you a perfectionist? Are you trying to avoid a superior, family member, or professor by holding up a task? Confronting these feelings can help you get on track and move forward with your work.
The Academic Success Center is an office dedicated to student success at Winthrop through "helping underprepared students prepare, prepared students advance, and advanced students excel" (NADE). By offering services such as one-on-one peer tutoring, personalized assistance with learning strategies and self-management of time, specialized services for students on probation or students with incompletes, creating Academic Action Plans, and much more, our office would be delighted to be a part of your student's success journey. Please visit our website for more information about our office or for more resources on self-management of time and planning.
We are very excited in the Office of Student Engagement & Diversity to welcome students back for another year at Winthrop. Our office has the privilege of providing our students with numerous opportunities to build friendships, develop leadership potential, and have lasting contributions in our community. By getting involved in our 160+ registered student organizations, we believe that our students will make connections, make a difference, and make Winthrop their home.
Part of the college student experience is having the ability to get involved in what
truly matters to you. On August 20, more than 80 of our student organizations had
tables at the annual Convocation Picnic. This event was a great opportunity for our
incoming students to learn more about how they can get plugged in at Winthrop. The
Fall Involvement Fair, which will be held on September 4, is another excellent chance
for our students to meet our hundreds of student organizations and find opportunities
to become engaged. We know that students who get involved tend to make lasting connections
with one another and the university, leading them to have a more positive college
experience.
Another benefit of our student organizations is the chance for students to continue
learning outside of the classroom. Studies have shown that campus involvement has
a lasting impact on students' personal development. In working as part of a team,
we believe our students will improve their leadership abilities, learn how to set
and achieve goals, and develop critical thinking skills.
We encourage our students and parents to visit the Student Organizations website where they can find a listing and description of all of our organizations. Additionally,
if a student is looking for ways to get involved, he or she can find more information
by e-mailing the organization's officers or advisor, which can be found on our website.
While not all of our organizations will interest a particular student, we encourage
everyone to pick one or two that look fun so they can get involved. Also, if a student
can't find an organization that appeals to their interests, we encourage them to start
their own. In 2011-2012 alone, we had 15 new student organizations become chartered!
For more information on getting an organization started, students can visit our website.
If you have any questions, the Office of Student Engagement & Diversity is always
here to assist you or your student. Please feel free to contact us at 803/323-2248
or studentorgs@winthrop.edu.
For nine years, incoming Winthrop freshmen have been asked to read a Common Book. These books, ranging from narratives of young people overcoming substantial odds to guides to building individual creativity, are chosen by a committee of Winthrop faculty, staff, and students for their potential to inspire and challenge our new students. The purpose of Winthrop's Common Book Project is to give all entering students a common experience, a book they can discuss in their classes, their residence halls, and their groups of friends, bringing them into the Winthrop community of learners.
The 2012-2013 Common Book is Where Am I Wearing? by Kelsey Timmerman. The selection committee searched for a book that featured a
compelling story and would fit well with Winthrop's Global Learning Initiative. Where Am I Wearing? more than met these criteria. The book is Kelsey's own story of global travel in
search of the people that made his clothes. Shortly after graduating from college,
Kelsey had a realization — almost nothing that he wore was made in the United States.
His jeans, his t-shirt, his sandals — even his underwear — were made in countries
far away by people whose lives never directly intersected with his own. Wanting to
make a personal connection between himself and the people that made his clothes, he
embarked on a journey that took him around the world. He visited Honduras, Cambodia,
Bangladesh, and China, searching for the textile factories where his clothes were
made; in most cases, he was successful in tracing his clothes back to their origin.
He's not just interested in the process, but also the people. In every case, Kelsey
meets the people that work in the factories, staying with them in their homes and
learning about the sort of lives they lead. It is this personal connection that makes
the book so successful.
What's so successful about the book is that it puts faces with large, often impersonal
ideas such as "globalization." Kelsey makes friends with the people that make his
clothes; he sees how they live, what they eat, and how much they work. The book frames
large social and economic issues in personal terms, without ever veering into large
abstractions or axe-grinding polemic. The book makes an excellent Common Book because
it takes a simple question — who makes the clothes we wear? — and uses that as a springboard
for an excursion that's both literal and intellectual. Through Kelsey's journey, we
are able to learn a lot more about people and places that are often overlooked. We're
also able to ask big questions about the sort of world that we live in. In a way,
the book represents one of the key elements of the college experience — taking something
we see every day and presenting it in a new way, such that our curiosity inspires
us to learn more and go further.
We're happy to have Where Am I Wearing? as our 2012-2013 Common Book and we'll be very happy to welcome Kelsey Timmerman to
Winthrop's campus on October 3 and 4, 2012. He'll address the university community,
interact directly with students, and continue to challenge us to ask "Where Am I Wearing?"
Study Abroad: Life-Changing Experiences, Not Just Pretty Pictures
It's easy to find glamorous photos of students participating in study abroad experiences
in far-flung locales: a group of students posing under the Eiffel Tower in Paris,
lounging on a remote, sandy beach, feeding kangaroos, riding camels, or sharing a
meal and smiles with locals. Traveling across the globe no doubt yields photo album-worthy
pictures and memories, but what remains of the experience once all of the photos have
been tagged on Facebook and the photo album has been relegated to the bookshelf? Below
is a list of the most important non-tangible assets students gain through time spent
living and learning abroad:
Employment Opportunities: Employers actively seek graduates who can successfully work on a diverse team, and
can communicate tactfully with people from varying backgrounds. Do you have a passport?
Are you comfortable leaving the local office to interface with the Shanghai branch?
Can you attend a business dinner with the CEO from Germany with poise and confidence?
In today's tough job market, these are the skills that stand out.
Foreign Language Proficiency: High school-level foreign language skills don't cut it in the real world. Students
who spend time immersed in a foreign language and culture gain practical knowledge
that can facilitate intercultural communication and accentuate any rsum.
Self-Knowledge, Adaptability, and Flexibility: What do you do if you miss the train connection in Buenos Aires, or you aren't familiar
with any of the foods on the menu in Taiwan? How do you react when confronted with
varying cultural standards and norms? Navigating a new culture, transportation system,
and academic setting affords multiple opportunities for students to get to know themselves
and how they respond to challenges. Students come back more confident and self-assured
and ready to take on the next adventure.
Global Friendships: The best souvenirs acquired abroad aren't snow globes or t-shirts; they are friendships
with foreign students! Making friends abroad affords unique insight into how people
truly live, and how humans are ultimately more alike than different, despite religious,
geographic, or socio-economic disparities. Best of all, the cultural exchange can
last a lifetime!
Broadened Worldview: The United States is large and often insulated from global affairs. It is easy to
be swayed by media portrayals of other social and political systems. Living in a different
country enables students to understand and appreciate the benefits and drawbacks of
the American political and economic landscape.
Please encourage your student to stop by Dinkins 212 to set up an individual study
abroad advising appointment, and visit our website to explore the exciting and affordable array of destinations across the globe. Taking
advantage of an international experience, regardless of location or length of time,
is a wonderful way to enhance the value of an already valuable Winthrop degree, and
the benefits of doing so will remain long after graduation.
Winthrop University Dining Services would like to extend a warm South Carolina welcome to all new Winthrop Eagles! Dining Services is about providing a venue where the student body comes together for socializing, being healthy, learning, and eating great food! Whether you are a new or returning student, parent, or guest we are anxious to provide you with an exceptional dining experience!
Meal Plans are available for everyone. Commuter Meal Plans offer a lower buy-in amount, with
fewer meals and more Cafe Cash. Commuters still have the option to choose one of our
traditional meal plans. To purchase, log on to your Winthrop Wingspan account — this
will be charged back to your student account (for a limited time only).
Caf Cash is a declining balance account on your Student ID card, same concept as a bank debit
card. Once you add Cafe Cash to your account, you can make purchases at any of the
Dining Services locations by presenting your ID card to the cashier at the time of
purchase. Cafe Cash can be used at all dining locations on campus, as well as Eagle
Express - our convenience store located in Thomson Hall. You can also purchase this
through Winthrop Wingspan (for a limited time only) and the Dining Services website.
Bookstore Bucks are a declining balance account on your Student ID card as well, same concept as the Caf Cash — however, Bookstore Bucks can only be used in the Bookstore. They cannot be rolled over to Caf Cash or refunded. You can purchase this through Winthrop Wingspan (for a limited time only) or the Dining Services website.
Please visit our website or become a fan on Facebook to learn more about the great services we offer! We are excited to have you join
the Winthrop Family! Hope to see you dining on campus sometime soon.
September 3: Winthrop is open on Labor Day
September 4: Fall Involvement Fair
September 29: Family Day
