So much to talk about

Posted April 12, 2011 by homerj

Where will I start? I guess I should start by letting all the readers know why I have neglected blogging this semester. I took over the responsibilities of the “Fellow for Dean’s Initiatives” while they hunt for the new fellow. (The past Fellow got a ‘big kid’ archives job in RI.) So I have been planning all of the events around GSLIS. This is a really fun job, but there are so many events it takes up all of my time! We have these programs called “Lunchtime Lectures” and they are informal ‘classes’ but instead of learning about the reference interview, you learn about happiness. You are also welcomed/encouraged to bring your lunch to any of these series. There are some refreshments available and a number of professors attend the event. Another notable aspect of these lectures is the fact that you get to have an introduction of a topic even though you are not in a specific concentration. For example, a few weeks ago I attended a lunchtime lecture about censorship in children’s literature. As an Adult Reference person it was very interesting to learn a little bit about the other side of the public library. More information about the lunchtime lectures can be found here: Lunchtime Lectures
We also recently had Academic Advising Day, which is pretty much Orientation for Grad School. This is the time when you are a new student meet some professors, some other students starting the program the same time as you are, and your advisor. It is also when you pick your classes for the first time. This can be very stressful for some people, but honestly I never understood why people were stressed about classes. I always just picked what I could, and if I missed a class I wanted I simply planned out the rest of my schooling to make sure I could get a particular class in my time at school. Simmons is really cool and really flexible about things so just ask for some help and everyone tries to pitch in and offer some help/advice.
Below is a link to the gsliscast, the podcasting site for GSLIS. In there you can find some lunchtime lecture series and the recording of this past academic advising day. This also will give you a pretty good indication of the different types of events we offer at Simmons GSLIS.
http://gslis.simmons.edu/podcasts/
Bye for now!