We Do, Do We?: Making the Most of Summer by Engaging with New Students

As graduation approaches, we must begin to say “congratulations and farewell” to our newest alumni. In my office, however, we are also starting to think about ways to engage the new group of master’s students that will be joining the Computer Science Department at Columbia University (CS@CU) in the Fall. A majority of our master's admissions decisions are sent out in April and May, which is several months prior to orientation week. This means we will spend the summer months, defining our engagement strategies with new students, building community, and providing advice on course plans and mapping to ensure a pleasant start to their CS@CU experience. Our team - Student Services – will work tirelessly to connect with our new student population through the activities and events outlined below: 

 

In our welcome email, we introduce students to the MS program requirements and advising resources so that they can begin thinking about their courses and reach out if they have questions. We also aim to set our orientation dates by the time the welcome email is sent out so that students can plan accordingly. A significant number of our MS student population are international students so the earlier they know of the dates, the better.

Another key part of the welcome email is information on how to connect to the department and current students through social media. Our team maintains a Facebook group and a LinkedIn group, where we post department events, reminders, job and internship opportunities, and provide a space for students to share and ask questions. Additionally, these spaces allow students to connect with current students and alumni. We provide multiple venues for students to connect and reach out to us and to each other because there are students coming from all over the world. We want to make sure that they are able to access us as a resource before the semester begins, especially for students from locations that do not have open internet policies. Our team also uses these spaces to help develop a community among our new students and for the new students to become familiar with the current CS@CU community.

 

Registration for new graduate students occurs in mid-July. To help students prepare for registration, last summer, we started offering advising sessions through Skype in early July. These sessions were 10-15 minute sessions with members of the Student Services team. Students asked us about registration, degree requirements, and career development. Our goal for these sessions is to provide the opportunity for students to meet with us directly and for both us and the students to start putting faces to names.

 

Towards the end of August, our team conducts new student orientation for our incoming MS students. Program orientation takes place over two days, and during the rest of the week, we host socials, events, and smaller sessions for the students. New students are also required to attend a school orientation during this week.

Our primary goals for orientation week are to provide the nitty gritty program details students need to start the semester and offer workshops on skills and knowledge that will help them successfully transition to both the department and to campus. During the program sessions, we ask a few current students to speak about their experiences and answer questions. In addition to the program sessions, last summer, we offered workshops on citation management, resume and career development, communication skills and “netiquette,” and time management. For community building, we hosted a happy hour just for new students, a social with current students, and a scavenger hunt for resources around campus.

 

Our team’s engagement activities and events in the summer provide opportunities for students to familiarize themselves with available campus resources, and to begin to ask questions they may not otherwise know the answers to. Though these strategies have proven to work for us over the last few years, we recognize we must do the necessary work to ensure our practices align with students’ needs. Accordingly, we have shared our ideas with all of you to gauge what is happening at your institutions. As we start to prepare for our incoming Fall 2016 master’s students, we are seeking to improve our sessions and continue to build community among our students. What are you doing on your campuses to engage incoming students during the summer? What initiatives are you moving toward and which practices have you left behind? What is your rationale for doing so?

 

Our quest to put students first and ensure effective engagement practices are what have led to this call for information. Feel free to send me an email, or join the conversation on the @ACPACASHE Facebook and twitter to let us know how YOU engage students during summer. 

 

Kathryn Angeles

Student Affairs Officer, Columbia University

ACPA CASHE Fellow, 2016-2017

 

About Kathryn: Kathryn works with undergraduate and master students in the computer science department at Columbia University. She is a graduate of George Mason University (MA) and Vassar College (BA).  You can reach Kathryn at ka2550@columbia.edu, and @katangeles on twitter.