Dean of Freshmen

Residential Houses

New students move into their respective rooms where they will be greeted by House Team members and other student leaders. You will pick up your room key and Check-in material in your house.

Villard Room (Main Building, 2nd Floor)

After moving into your room you will need to head to the Villard room to receive your V-CARD, post office key, and late “Vassar Adventures for New Students” assignment. Representatives from Student Accounts and Financial Aid, Health Services, Security, Career Development, Student Employment offices, Religious and Spiritual life, and Campus Life/First Year Programs, among others, will be available to distribute vital information and answer questions in the Villard Room.

(Rose Parlor)

Students' Building, second floor

Christopher Roellke, Acting Dean of the College, Joanne Long, Dean of Freshmen, and DB Brown, Dean of Students, will give parents and families an overview of what is to come during Orientation and answer questions.

Residential Houses

This time is set aside for new students to meet with their Student Fellow groups. Student Fellows act as peer advisors to help new students in their adjustment to college life.
The meetings will take place in your residence house. Your Student Fellow will contact you regarding exact location.

Chapel

President Catharine Hill will address the families of new students. Also welcoming new families and friends will be Joanne Long, Dean of Freshmen; Christopher Roellke, Acting Dean of the College; Jonathan Chenette, Dean of the Faculty; DB Brown, Dean of Students; Robert Brigham, this year’s Convocation Speaker; and Jimmy Kelly, Vassar Student Association President.

Residential Houses

Noyes Circle

Chapel

Students will be welcomed by Catharine Hill, President; Christopher Roellke, Acting Dean of the College; Joanne Long, Dean of Freshmen; DB Brown, Dean of Students; Edward Pittman, Associate Dean of the College; Robert Brigham, this year’s Convocation Speaker; and Jimmy Kelly, the Vassar Student Association President.

This meeting will take place in your House.

Please see your Student Fellow for more information. All new students will meet the house leadership, which includes the Student Advisor, House President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, House Fellow Intern, House Fellows, and House Advisor. Important information about house policies and procedures will be discussed. Any questions about the house can be answered during this time.

Athletic and Fitness Center Gymnasium

Advisors’ offices or assigned meeting rooms

In your Orientation packet you will find a letter from the Dean of Freshmen telling you who your pre-major advisor is, where to find him or her, and when your meeting with him or her is scheduled. In this meeting your advisor will discuss some important aspects of academic life at Vassar, including the transition from high school to college; expectations for class attendance, laboratories, and the submission of written work; examination policies; and academic integrity. You will also learn when and how to contact your professors, and where to go for help when you need it. Your advisor will then give you your preliminary fall schedule (the results of your summer pre-registration) and answer any questions you may have about the registration process.

If you need help finding your advisor’s office, ask your Student Fellow for directions or stop by the Dean of Freshmen Office (Main North, Room 128). If your advisor is a member of an advising team, look for your assigned room in your orientation packet.

Department and Program Offices

Representatives from all academic departments and programs will be available for individual consultations. If you are not sure which math or language course is right for you, or if you received a 4 or a 5 on an AP exam (or equivalent IB or A-level examination) and want to take an intermediate-level course, or if you are interested in a special permission (SP) course, such as Art 102-103 or music lessons, this is the time to get the information and/or permissions you need. You must have taken a college-level introductory psychology course to place out of Introductory Psychology. Be sure to bring your registration form with you.

Department and program office locations for departmental advising

Adelaide Villmoare will give an overview of the suggested method of preparing for the possibility of a career in law.   After this meeting students can begin revising their fall course selections in preparation for their advisor meetings.

Kathryn Libin will meet with students interested in taking Harmony (Music 105/106), and will schedule advanced placement tests for qualified students who wish to place out of Music 105.

Members of the Pre-Med Advisory Committee will give an overview of the requirements for preparation to apply to medical and other schools in the health professions.  After this meeting students can begin revising their fall course selections in preparation for their advisor meetings.

Laura Yow, Peter Antelyes, and Michael Joyce will explain policies and procedures for advanced placement in English.  All students wishing to take a 200-level English course in their first year should attend this meeting. 

Representatives from the science and math departments will give an overview of the sciences at Vassar.  They will discuss curricular offerings and answer questions about their programs.  Math advising will also take place in the Math Department lounge, Rockefeller 305.

Art Department faculty will describe the content of this course and explain how to register.  All students currently pre-registered for Art 105, or wishing to enroll, or just curious about Art 105-106, are invited to attend.

Christopher Bjork and Erin McCloskey will give a short presentation about the requirements for education certification and answer any questions about the process.

All foreign language departments will be available to students for placement advising in Chicago Hall except Chinese and Japanese, which will be in SC 322 and SC 324, respectively.  See listings at the back of this schedule.

Jannay Morrow, Acting Dean of Studies, will chair this meeting to introduce the Transfer, Visiting, and Exchange students to the class advisors and administrators of the various offices and services that comprise the Dean of Studies Offices. Issues briefly discussed will include college regulations, degree requirements and support services. T/V/E students should bring their Orientation Folder with them to the Advising meeting on Friday.

Wondering what your professors will be like? Curious about a subject you’ve never studied before? This is your chance to find out. Thirty-six members of Vassar’s faculty will give informal talks about their current research. There will be two 45-minute sessions beginning at 3:00 and 4:00, with many fascinating presentations to choose from in each.

Come learn more about a department of particular interest to you in an informal setting. Meet the professors and enjoy refreshments and conversation.

Don Marsala and Kim Squillace from Security and Jim Kelly of Environmental Health and Safety will discuss security and fire safety issues.

Join the Library and CIS (Computing and Information Services) for a look at the technology and library resources available to you at Vassar College. There will be tours of the library, an introduction to VPrint, the campus print management system, and a chance to win a grand prize. These tours will be conducted at 15-minute intervals; please consult the schedule below for the time assigned to your residence house. Library and Computing staff will be on hand to answer any questions you might have.

Tour Schedule:
7:00pm - Main
7:15pm - Raymond
7:30pm - Strong and T/V/E Students
7:45pm - Noyes
8:00pm - Cushing
8:15pm - Lathrop
8:30pm - Jewett
8:45pm - Joss

Vassar students know other Vassar students best. That is why in this program you will be engaging in an open dialogue with wellness peer educators and other student leaders about the potential im- pact of alcohol and other drugs on your experience at Vassar. Students will have the opportunity to test their knowledge about the type and extent of use on campus. The goal of this program is not to tell you what to do, but to allow for an exchange of accurate information to help guide your decision making.

Advisors’ Offices

Now that you’ve had a chance to reflect on your choice of courses and to obtain information and advice on placement, you will meet again with your advisor to discuss your schedule in detail and make any desired changes (add or drop courses, change sections, etc.). This is the time to add any intermediate or advanced courses that were not included in the summer pre-registration, except for special permission courses that require the instructor’s signature (these can be added during the first two weeks of classes). Since you may not be able to register for some of the classes you have chosen, you should also discuss some alternative selections with your advisor and put them down on your form. At the end of your meeting, your advisor will sign your registration form, signifying that you have consulted with him or her.

NOTE: Do not leave your advisor’s office before he or she signs your form! You cannot register for classes on Friday without a completed and signed form.

Advising takes place in the Dean of Studies Office (Main North 128) and the Study Abroad Office (Main North 172)

The Office of the Dean of Studies will coordinate the advising and registration process for all Transfer, Visiting, and Exchange students. Please consult your House Fellow Intern for more information about this meeting.

Metcalf/Baldwin Tent, Behind Metcalf

All new students are invited to visit Baldwin Health Services, the home of our on-campus medical clinic and women’s health service, and Metcalf House, the home of the Health Education Office, Disability and Support Services, and the Counseling Service. Take this opportunity to ask questions, receive informational brochures, and meet staff from each office. Additionally, each office will have giveaways that promote peace of mind and wellness. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn about the resources that will help you to thrive at Vassar!

Open House Schedule:
9:00am - Noyes & Cushing
9:30am - Strong, Raymond and, T/V/E Students
10:00am - Lathrop
10:30am - Joss
11:00am - Jewett
11:30am - Main

* Students who are unable to make it at their designated time should come by the Open House when they have completed their meeting with advisors or sports physicals for valuable information

Baldwin Hall

Be sure that the appointment you make does not conflict with the time you are scheduled for registration.

College Center 240

All entering students must come to College Center 240 (Main Building, 2nd Floor) to finalize their schedules for the fall semester with a representative from the Office of the Registrar. Students register at specific times based on the number of units for which they were pre-registered (those with no units go first, then those with .5 units, 1 unit, etc.) and on a random draw number, which is printed on your schedule form. Consult the Registrar’s letter in your orientation packet to determine what time you should arrive. Don’t forget to bring your pre-registration form, signed by your advisor, with you! On the way out, be sure to sign the Matriculation Book! Signing this book signifies that you are an official candidate for a degree at Vassar College.

Important: If you do not come to College Center 240 on Friday afternoon, your registration will be cancelled and you will lose your place in the courses for which you were pre-registered.

Sanders Auditorium

1:00 - 2:30pm (Last names A-L)
3:00 - 4:30pm (Last names M-Z)
Renee Behnke, Manager of Student Accounts, will provide general information about the Office of Student Accounts and the Cashier’s Office, includ- ing the monthly billing process, bookstore charges, payment options, and office hours. Michael Fraher, Director of Financial Aid, will discuss the Financial Aid process, provide general information about the Financial Aid Office and answer questions. Elaine Hughes, Assistant Director of Financial Aid, will discuss the federal Stafford and Perkins Loan pro- grams and answer questions.

NOTE: If your scheduled time for registering for classes conflicts with the Financial Aid/Student Accounts Information Sessions for your section of the alphabet, you may attend the other session.

Skinner Hall

The Bayit, 51 Collegeview Avenue

Sponsored by Vassar Jewish Union and Office of Religious & Spiritual Life

Students’ Building, 2nd Floor

Sex and Sensibility is an educational theatre production created by Vassar students in order to promote an engaging conversation about navigating new peer relationships at college. Current Vassar students will present a creative and interactive performance that will promote dialogue and encourage critical thinking about relationships and sex. From understanding personal boundaries, identifying negative behaviors, to exploring bystander intervention in the prevention of gender-based violence, come participate in helping to define the social norms for our campus. What are the issues? The dynamics? What are the effects on college students? How does it affect OUR community?

 Immediately following the performance, trained student facilitators will lead small discussions and provide information about on- and off-campus resources. Come with an open, inquisitive mind to ask questions about the expectations, rumors, or ideas you may have or heard about Vassar and a chance to win some prizes! This session contains sensitive material.

Residential Houses

Everybody knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Get a good start to your day by joining us for breakfast with the House Fellows, Student Leaders, House Advisor and your new neighbors.

Chapel and Discussion Locations

Learn about the Vassar community and how you can contribute your unique experiences to it. Current students will share live, spoken stories about Vassar experiences. Small group discussions, led by student facilitators, will allow you to share your own reflections as you enter and participate in this dynamic intellectual community. This program establishes a starting point for future dialogues about what it means to live and learn at Vassar.

Various locations

It’s time to explore Vassar, Poughkeepsie and more.  Meet us at ACDC ready for adventure. You will leave with your groups to go to your adventure sites, where lunches will be provided.

Ballintine Field

Walker Field House and surrounding areas

Enough sitting around! Here is a chance to get up, get moving, show dorm spirit and get involved in a variety of activities, including volleyball, basketball, swimming, aerobics, and soccer. Dorms will compete in “Brewer Games” for recognition, bragging rights, and prizes. Coaches, faculty, student athletes, and wellness peer educators will be participating and helping out.

Walker Field House

Come meet other first year students and hang out on inflatables, get a henna tattoo, and more!

Pickup in Main Circle

Vassar Chapel

Sponsored by the Vassar Catholic Community

Vassar Chapel Tower

Sponsored by Ecumenical Protestants and Episcopal/Anglican Church at Vassar College

ACDC

Chapel Basement

All interested singers are invited to sing in the Fall 2008 Convocation Ceremony on Wednesday, September 3 at 3:30 pm.

Walker Field House

The Vassar Queer Coalition (QCVC) presents an interactive session for the college student about the stereotypes and realities of sexualities and gen- ders. See your Student Fellow for more information.

Residential Quad

Join us on the Quad to watch “Iron Man” starring Robert Downey Jr.! Don’t forget to grab a blanket and snacks!

Residential Quad

Skinner Hall, room 105

Chapel Lawn

Trying to make spirituality part of your learning? Want to get involved in inter-religious conversa- tion? Interested in community-based learning and service? Meet student group representatives and learn more about the many campus- and neighbor hood-based programs of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. Refreshments and brochures provided. All are welcome.

Faculty Commons

College Center, Room 235 (Temporary location for Campus Life/LGBTQ Center)

The Campus Life/LGBTQ Center is the Campus Life Resource Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Communities and Social Justice Education.  The Center hosts social and cultural programs, collaborates with faculty and student organizations, and provides leadership opportunities to enhance the campus life experiences of LGBTQ students.  Visit our resource center for important information, watch a film, pick up announcements, and much more!  All are welcome here.

The Bayit, 51 Collegeview Avenue

Sponsored by the Vassar Jewish Union

ALANA Center Community Room

An informal gathering to welcome African American/Black, Latino, Asian/Asian American and Native American students. Students will receive information about Center resources, and learn more about the ALANA Center, a resource center of the Campus Life Office. All students are encouraged to attend and meet new friends, professors, ALANA Center staff and members of student organizations—African Students’ Union, Asian Students’ Alliance, Black Students’ Union, Caribbean Students’ Alliance, Council of Black Seniors, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o Aztlan, Poder Latino and the South Asian Students’ Alliance.

Skinner Hall of Music

Presented by members of the music faculty.

Library Lawn

Walk a spiral path of luminarias. Sponsored by the Office of Religious & Spiritual Life

FDF Quad

Eric Hutchinson is a singer-songwriter who’s been featured on PerezHilton.com. Check him out at www.erichutchinson.com. Sponsored by Vassar College Entertainment

Various locations

Take this exam if you want to complete the foreign language requirement by examination.  If you want to take a foreign language course, but are not sure which one is appropriate for you, consult the department during the Departmental and Advanced Placement Advising session on Thursday, August 28.

Chinese
Sanders Classroom Building, Room 322
French
Chicago Hall, FLRC
German
Chicago Hall, Room 134
Hebrew
Contact the Religion Department at extension 5520 for location
Italian
Chicago Hall, Room 126
Japanese
Sanders Classroom Building, Room 324
Latin and Greek
Sanders Classroom Building, Room 114 (Contact John Bert Lott, Chair, Ext. 5947, SC Room 123 or jolott@vassar.edu)
Russian
Chicago Hall, Room 116
Spanish
Chicago Hall, Room 143

Skinner Hall, Room 105

Chapel Basement

All interested singers are invited to sing in the Fall 2008 Convocation Ceremony on Wednesday, September 3 at 3:30 pm.

Chapel

Fall Convocation is the official culmination of the New Student Orientation Program and the official beginning of the academic year. This year’s speaker will be Robert Brigham, the Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations. He has taught at Vassar since 1994. Robert Brigham teaches courses on the history of American foreign relations and modern America.

Along with several teaching awards, Bob Brigham has also earned fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for Humanities, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute, the Cooper Foundation, the Gilman Foundation, and the Social Sciences Committee in Hanoi, Vietnam. In addition, he has been Albert Shaw Endowed Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, Mellon Senior Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University (Clare College), visiting professor of international relations at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, and Mary Ball Washington Professor of American History (Fulbright) at University College Dublin.

Bob Brigham is author of numerous books and essays on American foreign relations, including Guerrilla Diplomacy: The NLF’s Foreign Relations and the Vietnam War (Cornell, 1998); Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy (PublicAffairs, 1999) written with Robert S. McNamara and James G. Blight; ARVN: Life and Death in the South Vietnamese Army (Kansas, 2006); Is Iraq Another Vietnam? (PublicAffairs, 2006); Iraq, Vietnam, and the Limits of American Power (PublicAffairs, 2008); and The Global Ho Chi Minh (forthcoming). Bob Brigham is currently working on a textbook on the Vietnam War with Mark P. Bradley and Lien-Hang Nguyen (Blackwell) and a history of nation-building in South Vietnam (Cambridge).

Main Circle

Rose Parlor

Skinner Hall, Room 325

Chapel Lawn

Sponsored by Episcopal/Anglican Church at Vassar College

Villard Room

The International Host program pairs individual members of the faculty, administration and staff with international members of the Class of 2012. International students will receive a special invitation to this dinner in their orientation packets.

The Bayit, 51 Collegeview Avenue

The Bayit, 51 Collegeview Avenue

Sponsored by the Vassar Jewish Union

Outside ACDC (rain date: September 14)

Interested in joining a student organization? The activities fair is the perfect opportunity to learn more about the exciting things our 127 organizations have to offer!  Representatives from the organizations will have information on what they do and how to get involved with everything from a cappella to mountain climbing. Stop by to find out how to start your own radio show or volunteer in Poughkeepsie, among a ton of other options!

Vassar Chapel

Sponsored by the Vassar Catholic Community

Vassar Chapel Tower

Sponsored by Ecumenical Protestants and Episcopal/Anglican Church at Vassar College

Skinner Hall

Jazz Ensemble Information Meeting and Audition Sign-up. All new and returning students should attend.

Skinner Hall

Wind Ensemble Information Meeting. All new and returning students should attend.