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Dean’s Note

Greetings!

Last week, you received an email containing your Wesleyan email address and information about the WesPortal. If you are having any issues with your new account, email Paul Turenne in ITS. The New Student Checklist contained in the WesPortal will keep you informed about upcoming deadlines, such as the Health Forms, due tomorrow June 15 to healthforms@wesleyan.edu . It would be a good idea to dedicate next week to completing as many of the items on the New Student Checklist as soon as possible. Besides the Academic Interest Questionnaire and the Academic Self-Reflection Essay that I cover in the Academic Highlights below, there are several other items that require your attention by June 28.

  • If you have documented accessibility needs, please complete the Disability Notification and Accommodation Form.
  • Take the Placement Tests for math, foreign language, and music theory if there is any chance  you will take a course in that area during your Wesleyan career.
  • If you are a fall transfer student, sign up to be paired with an upper-level transfer student in the Transfer Connections Program.  Past participants have reported great satisfaction from being able to discuss their experiences with other transfer students at Wes.
  • The Learning & Living Seminar for first-year students is an opportunity to live with your classmates from that course in the same residential hall and cultivate a greater intellectual and social community. Check out this great video by one of our interns.
  • Be sure to submit a photo for your WesID card before the deadline. You will need it to gain access to meals, residences, and other vital campus facilities and events.

Finally, Wesleyan’s First Year Matters (FYM) program engages new students in meaningful dialogue through a common reading.  This shared experience serves as an introduction to intellectual life at Wesleyan with an address by the author followed by a Q&A and group conversations.  All new students are required to provide a written response to the reading over the summer as well as participate in sustained dialogues throughout the first semester.  A Body, Undone by Christina Crosby, Professor of English at Wesleyan, should be arriving on your doorsteps or inboxes within the next few days. A letter from Michael Whaley, Vice President of Student Affairs, and Joyce Jacobsen, Vice President of Academic Affairs, regarding the book selection and the FYM program for the Class of 2022 is available here.

Academic Highlights

Academic Advising as a Partnership between Faculty and Students

The Academic Interest Questionnaire (AIQ) is used to gain insight into your academic and personal interests, motivations, and challenges.  You need to submit the AIQ and the Self-Reflection Essay by June 28.  Students have found these exercises beneficial in getting their thoughts and hearts ready for the college journey, and they will help us to assign you a faculty advisor.

Your advisor and I, as your class dean, are looking forward to learning more about about your hopes and interests.  We want to cultivate a relationship of openness and trust with you so that you will feel comfortable discussing with us your educational goals, course-related issues, career interests, and adjustment to campus life. If we cannot answer your questions, we will refer you to resources that can support your success, including faculty with the discipline-specific knowledge you seek.  While the faculty will be available all year long, they also will be available at the Academic Forum during orientation to answer your questions before you begin the fall semester.

Your advisor and I encourage you to explore a range of disciplines and interests—from the personal and professional value of studying languages and cultural immersion to the wonders of the cell and outer space to the beauty of form, color and the word to the power struggles across the globe—and all that’s in between and beyond.  We will work with you to make sure that your schedule is balanced across the disciplines, in the kind of work and assessments your courses demand, and the times at which they offered.  It will be important to allocate time for study, self-reflection, and socializing.

I will talk more about advising and course planning in later notes.  In the meantime, explore the landing page for entering students and pay attention to the checklist deadlines.  Have a great week!

A Message from the Orientation Interns

Hello, class of 2022! We hope your summer is off to a great start! We want to remind you that you CANNOT mail any packages to Wesleyan that will arrive before August 10th. Any packages received before August 10th will be mailed back.  As you fill out your health forms in preparation for your arrival, you might want to peruse our personal advice about health resources available on campus.

The Davison Health Center, Wesleyan’s on-campus health clinic, offers a variety of services to students, including lab services, immunizations, sexual health services, and general check-ups. Visits are free and most services are offered at a reduced price than that of off-campus medical facilities. On the second floor of the Davison Health Center, you’ll find Counseling and Psychological Services—or CAPS, for short. CAPS runs mental wellness events and group meditation programs.  CAPS maintains confidentiality, so don’t be afraid to reach out to them —especially through free individual counseling sessions — as you cope with the challenges posed by a new academic environment.  Davison also houses the Survivor Advocacy and Community Education office (SACE), which is available as a confidential resource to students who have experienced sexual assault, stalking and dating violence or other forms of intimate partner violence.

In August, as you can see on the New Student Checklist in your WesPortal, all students will be prompted either to accept Wesleyan’s on-campus health insurance using Cigna as the Preferred Provider, or to decline this insurance in favor of another. Luckily, there are forms of subsidized health insurance in CT—such as National General, United Healthcare, and Husky Health CT—for those who cannot afford Gallagher. Husky D, which is equivalent to Medicaid, is the subsidized insurance of choice for many of Wesleyan’s low-income students that are nineteen years old or older. REMEMBER: it is important to start looking into insurance options now because the process of applying can be a long and stressful one.

Read more about The Davison Health Center
Read more about CAPS
Read more about SACE

As always, have a good week! GO WES!

The Orientation Interns
Maximilien Chong Lee Shin ‘21
Caridad Cruz ‘21
Christopher Jackson ‘20
Virginia Sciolino ‘21
orientation@wesleyan.edu
(860) 685 5666

Summer Sendoffs – as of 6/11/18

  • Thursday, July 12 – NY, NY
  • Saturday, July 21 – Los Angeles, CA
  • Sunday, July 22 – Bay Area, CA
  • Wednesday, July 25 – Mamaroneck, NY
  • Saturday, July 28 – Washington, DC
  • Thursday, August 2 – Fairfield County, CT
  • Thursday, August 2 – Boston, MA
  • Thursday, August 9 – Seattle, WA
  • Monday, August 13 – Chicago, IL
  • Wednesday, August 15 – Philadelphia, PA

Find out more about Summer Sendoffs.