PARENTS’ LEAGUE FALL 2018 NEWSLETTER
THE CITY AS A CLASSROOM
Summer 2019 Maymester Programs Lia Haisley Senior Academic Advisor, International Relations & Global Studies
During summer 2019, the College of Liberal Arts will again offer a broad portfolio of customized Maymester programs designed to give UT Austin students the opportunity to study abroad with a UT professor in a structured short-term academic program. Maymesters are four-week, three-credit courses, taught by UT faculty in an international location that compliments the curriculum being offered. To maximize the student experience during the short four weeks abroad, enrollments on Maymesters are kept low, generally with 20 or fewer students admitted to each program. This allows for a highly customized and interactive experience that goes beyond the traditional classroom learning environment. On a Maymester program, the city or region becomes the classroom and students will engage with the local community though meetings with local community leaders, visits to museums, service learning, research, volunteer work, and supplemental language instruction. Along with a number of returning programs, the College of Liberal Arts will offer a new Maymester this year. International Relations and Global Studies Professor, Dr. Stephanie Holmsten, will lead a program to Santiago, Chile, where students will spend the month studying economic and political development, international organizations, and culture. Students will also develop professional skills by meeting with community leaders, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations. Participants will live in apartments in central Santiago, and the program includes several field trips as well as an excursion to nearby Valparaiso.
Below is a list of all Maymester programs offering Liberal Arts coursework during summer 2019. The application deadline is November 1, 2018, and students will be notified of their acceptance at the beginning of the spring 2019 semester. Vienna, Austria Havana, Cuba Vienna, Memory and the City: From Imperial Capital Cuba in Question taught by Dr. Jossianna Arroyoto Global Metropolis taught by Dr. Steven Hoelscher Martinez Belo Horizonte, Brazil Cuenca, Ecuador Social Inequality in Brazil taught by Dr. Leticia Nature, Society, and Sustainability in Ecuador by Dr. Marteleto Gregory Knapp Beijing, China London, England Social Entrepreneurship in China taught by Dr. Roots of Social and Economic Justice: An Leonard Moore International Perspective taught by Prof. Barbara Anderson and Prof. Lauren Gulbas Santiago, Chile (NEW) Foundations in International Relations and Global Mexico City, Mexico (NEW) Studies taught by Dr. Stephanie Holmsten Critical Latinx Masculinities in Education: Transnational Perspectives taught by Dr. Victor Costa Rica Saenz and Dr. Emmet Campos Land Issues in Rainforest Conservation taught by Dr. Ruth Buskirk and Dr. Debra Hansen
Maymesters continue to be one of the most affordable study abroad options available to Liberal Arts majors. Thanks to flat rate tuition, students already planning to take a full-time course load during the spring semester are not charged additional tuition for the Maymester class. Instead, students pay a program fee that generally includes housing, most meals, in-country transportation, and many of the costs associated with the experiential learning aspects of the program. Scholarships and financial aid for Maymesters are readily available. Students interested in applying for funding should check with both the UT Study Abroad Office and the College of Liberal Arts, as scholarships vary by program.
DATA ANALYSIS FOR LIBERAL ARTS STUDENTS Robert Vega Director, Liberal Arts Career Services Every year more of our data are collected for much of what we do: from shopping online to liking posts, and from subscribing to news feeds to streaming music. This big data is valuable to companies and organizations around the world who use the data to develop sales & marketing strategies, implement management solutions, forecast market changes, spot trends, and identify threats – just to name a few; and they need people to analyze the data properly. To that end, data science and data analysis jobs offer lucrative salaries in a fast-growing market with a demand for skilled candidates projected to increase 28% by 2020. So, you might be wondering: where does a Liberal Arts major fit into this? For many students, working with data is not a career interest, and they will pursue other paths. However, for those students interested in analytical, consumer insight and marketing careers, having a good career development strategy while at UT Austin can position them well for a potential data analyst role. Liberal Arts majors typically possess the basic foundation needed for data analysis, but they will need to seek out relevant experience and hard skills to increase their competitivity for these roles. Strengths & Skills: The key competencies shared by most data analysis roles are problem solving and analytical skills. Fortunately for our students, a liberal arts education inherently teaches and allows students to hone these skills. Our students have a strong multi-perspective, creative and cross-cultural problem-solving background. And through regular analytical coursework – whether in linguistics, philosophy, economics, government, or sociology – our students use critical thinking skills to identify trends and patterns, articulate complex ideas, and present concisely synthesized information. Experience & Hard Skills: Students interested in data analysis should complement their liberal arts studies with practical experiences and technical skills. The best way to gain practical experience is through data-related internships and research projects. These experiences not only give students working knowledge, but also help students develop an effective professional network. As for hard skills, there are many opportunities on campus for students to develop these skills. Students can seek out courses with quantitative reasoning flags, technology-based certificates and minors, and free Lynda.com courses that specialize in technology and software (including data analysis languages like Python and R). With all that in mind, if your student expresses an interest in data analysis – let them know it is possible, and encourage them to get started by visiting Liberal Arts Career Services to strategize a path towards that end. We’re here to help!
TIPS FOR ACADEMIC SUCCESS Casey Bushman Administrative Program Coordinator The stadium is roaring with crowds again, temperatures are finally dropping, and students are receiving their first grades for the semester. Whether it’s their first college exam, the first seminar in a new major, or simply the weight of a new academic year, this can be an anxious and stressful time for students – especially when classes aren’t going as well as your student hoped. When those panicked calls and distraught messages arrive, it’s important to remind them that the entire University is here to support them and many academic resources are at their disposal. Encouraging your student to meet with their academic advisor is often the best first step. Our advisors know the University thoroughly and can help identify the source of academic difficulty and make individualized recommendations for the best resources at the University. They can also help connect your student with resources specific to their major and the courses in which they are struggling. There’s no better way to succeed in a course than being prepared, showing up to class, and participating in the discussion, but when that isn’t enough, a trip to the professor and the teaching assistant’s office hours can make a big difference. While it can be intimidating to go to office hours for the first time, instructors are eager to talk to their students. Students can use one-one-one visits to review confusing concepts from a lecture, ask questions about homework, gather strategies for success in the specific class, learn about research or graduate school opportunities, or simply to get to know their instructors. Talking with instructors outside of the classroom can also help students be better prepared overall and make them more comfortable participating and engaging in the classroom.
Third, encourage your student to utilize the Sanger Learning Center, which offers one-on-one and drop-in tutoring on a long list of specific courses. In addition, there are learning specialists, academic coaches, and workshops that can help with general study skills and time management issues. If writing is the culprit, the University Writing Center offers one-on-one sessions with students at all stages of the writing process. Student fees embedded in tuition already pay for all of the services offered by Sanger and the University Writing Center. If students act quickly, they can often overcome academic difficulty early in the semester by utilizing these and other resources identified by their academic advisors. For more persistent or significant issues, it may be possible to drop courses until November 1; dropping classes can have consequences, so students should discuss their situation with their advisor before taking any action. However, drops can often be avoided when UT Austin’s vast network of academic resources are utilized, and a panicked call in September can often be a distant memory by December.
US, BUT BETTER:
Q&A with Liberal Arts Council President Michaela Lavelle 2019 Maymester Programs Emily Nielsen Digital Content Producer Michaela Lavelle is a psychology and humanities junior from Arlington, Texas. She is president of the 2018–19 Liberal Arts Council (LAC), an organization nearing its 40th year as the official student voice and governing body for the College. LAC engages in the academic affairs of the University by voting in the Senate of College Councils, provides community service opportunities for its members, and serves as the Liberal Arts student voice on campus. Learn more about LAC and Lavelle’s time at UT Austin in the Q&A below. Why should students get involved in Liberal Arts Council? LAC is a great organization filled with passionate and inspiring people who really care about making our educational experience the best it can be. You join committees that are putting on events and talking to the deans of the college and writing and passing legislation to not only try and fix problems students are having, but highlight the resources and assets of our student body. What is LAC’s biggest plans for this year? We have a lot of really amazing events in the works right now and a lot of policy ideas we are excited to (hopefully) push through. Our committees are working hard to flesh out their ideas, but one I can give a sneak-peek into is focused on combating the chaos and confusion of registration by setting up an event where students can help advise each other on what classes and professors to take. What motivated you to run for president? Liberal Arts Council has been my home on campus since my first semester at UT. When LAC was getting ready for elections, I thought a lot about how much love I have for the organization and the work that we do, but I knew we as a council could be more efficient and effective and I had ideas for how we could make that happen. My vision for an “Us, but better” council really pushed me to run.
What are your goals as president? A lot of my goals center on internal reformation and making sure LAC is achieving our goal of being representative of and helpful to the student body by increasing our visibility on campus. Many students in COLA don’t know who we are or if they know who we are, they don’t know what we do. I created a publicity committee under the lead of our communications director, [Christine Vo], and Christine’s hard publicity work has already created a huge boost in our recruitment success, so I am excited to watch that committee grow. What’s your favorite memory at UT Austin so far? Oh wow. I think one of my favorite memories is actually when two of my roommates and I locked ourselves out of our apartment after a spontaneous trip to Mozart’s. We all thought the others had a key but none of us did. We had to wait in the hallway for our third roommate, whose phone was dead, to come home from her sorority formal to let us in. It was a night of chaos, but it was a lot of fun (my roommates may argue with me on that, but I stand by it). What is your proudest moment? This may sound corny but I think my proudest moment was last fall, sitting in the grass outside of Calhoun Hall listening to the students in my FIG [First-Year Interest Group] [https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/student-affairs/firstyear-programs/first-year-interest-groups-fig.php] share what they were proud of themselves for doing in their first semester in college. I was super nervous about being a FIG mentor at the beginning of the year, but meeting with my FIGlets, as I affectionately refer to them, was always the highlight of my week. It was amazing to get to experience their first year of college alongside them and I was so proud of them for truly conquering their first semester. They all handled it with an enthusiasm that was contagious. I was, and continue to be, immensely proud of them. What are your professional ambitions following graduation? I am still trying to flesh out my plans, but I want to (idealistically) pursue a Fulbright Teaching Assistant Fellowship, followed by a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology studying either differing views of the child across the world, or how notions of self and beauty are passed down from generation to generation across the world. What has studying liberal arts meant to you? The thing I love most about my liberal arts education is I get to examine the world keeping in mind the people who inhabit it. I think so often in other fields, the “humanness” of what we are studying escapes us. It is important to know the specifics of how cell respiration occurs and its relation to Leber hereditary optic neuropathy. But to me, what’s more interesting, what matters, is how the woman who contracts this disease when the male to female ratio is 4:1, can advocate for herself in the doctor’s office, how the intersections of her identity inform the ways institutions such as banks will react to her loan request to pay for treatment, the history and the government behind, why people go bankrupt paying off hospital loans. The “why” and the “who” have always been more important to me than the how. That’s not the case for everyone, but I think liberal arts has taught me more than anything that phenomena don’t exist in a vacuum. There are always people involved, and that matters too.
October 27 Liberal Arts Family Weekend
January 21 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (University Closed)
November 21 – 23 Thanksgiving Holiday (University Closed)
January 22 Spring Classes Begin
December 10 Last Day of Fall Class
March 18 – 22 Spring Break
December 13 – 19 Final Exams
May 10 Last Day of Spring Classes
December 20 Residence Halls Close
May 15 – 21 Final Exams
December 21 – January 17 Winter Break
May 22 Residence Halls Close
January 18 Residence Halls Open
May 24 – 25 Graduation Ceremonies