Denison Class of 2029,
Welcome to Denison! I am excited to welcome you to campus. Everybody 最新萝莉社 wants your next four years to be filled with friendships, fun, and intellectual and personal growth. For this to occur, I want to share some advice on the best way to take full advantage of your Denison education:
Be fully engaged in your courses and the campus community. This starts with academics. Classes are small, and the learning is active. Dive into your classes and be fully engaged in them. Enjoy the books you read, papers you write, labs you complete, rehearsals and performances you are part of, and discussions you have in class. Take a wide range of courses across the humanities, social sciences, arts, natural sciences, and interdisciplinary programs.
This also applies to campus life. Denison is the perfect size. We are larger than most liberal arts colleges, which means there are a lot of opportunities. And we are small enough that students can try new things. Get involved in different ways. Participate in campus activities you already enjoy while opening yourself up to exploring new interests and developing new passions. Try things that were not available, or you would have been too embarrassed to try in high school.
And be sure to take advantage of the intellectual and cultural life of the college. Attend talks by visiting speakers and professors, concerts, art openings, and academic department events. Try some wellness programs offered by the Hoaglin Wellness Center or the Mitchell Athletic Center. Visit the Denison Museum.
Develop a wide range of relationships. Relationships define Denison. Embrace this wonderful quality of the college.
This starts with our exceptional faculty. Get to know them. Make it a point to introduce yourself to every one of your faculty members during the first week of classes. Go to their office hours. Our faculty care about our students and want to unlock your intellectual potential by engaging, inspiring, and challenging you. Getting to know faculty is a core part of the Denison experience.
Do the same with staff. From our Student Life team to people who work across campus, Denison is filled with people you can learn from and who can be a source of support for you. Get to know them.
And, of course, get to know your peers. As you develop friends, make sure you get to know a wide range of people. One of the great things about Denison is the wide array of interesting people from diverse backgrounds on our campus. Make it a point to get to know everybody in your orientation group, residential hall, and classes. Find friends who share your interests and open yourself up to developing friendships with people who are different from you.
The deeper your relationships with faculty and staff, the wider your range of friends, the more you will enjoy and grow 最新萝莉社.
Expect a lot of yourself, be performance-oriented, and ask for help early and often. Denison is designed to challenge you in a supportive environment with faculty and staff who believe in you and want the best for you. We only learn to do hard things by doing hard things.
Everything is not going to go well all of the time. When things are difficult, avoid the temptation to believe that everybody else is succeeding and happy while you are not. Instead, seek out support from faculty and staff. Our campus community wants to help you grow and flourish.
While we don鈥檛 expect you to always get it right, we do expect you to focus on learning and growing. Be excited about being challenged and focused on learning to perform at your highest level academically and in your athletic, artistic, and other campus pursuits.
This is particularly true during your first semester. There will be some incredible moments, and you might stumble. That is normal. Enjoy the moments that go well, and don鈥檛 be surprised when some things don鈥檛 go as planned. The stumbles are normal. Ask for help early and often.
Everything above depends upon you being curious about everyone and everything. Arrive on campus with curiosity about the courses you take, the people you meet, and the new things you will try.
Too often, we are driven by fear and anger, which makes our world small, uninteresting, and stifling. Avoid it.
- Replace fear of failure with a curiosity about how you can learn from it and improve.
- Replace fear of embarrassment with curiosity about trying and doing new things.
- Replace anger over the views of others with curiosity about why they see things differently and what you can learn from them.
Curiosity is a gift the liberal arts will give you that will enhance your life. It will make your world broader, more interesting, and fun.
An essential part of being curious is keeping your mind wide open. A college campus isn鈥檛 expected to reflect or speak with one voice. At Denison, this is true about even the most pressing of issues that you may think have a clear 鈥渞ight鈥 answer. The purpose of a university is to give ourselves space to explore, create, and refine ideas, thereby adding to the world鈥檚 knowledge and understanding. We should always challenge orthodoxy, starting with our own.
A liberal arts education is about engaging with ideas, even distasteful ones, as part of learning to understand and contribute to the world. Make sure you read Denison鈥檚 Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom.
I realize this letter is long and contains a lot of advice. I will repeat these messages on your first night on campus at the Induction Ceremony. Keep this letter and read it every few months during your first year. Each time, you will read it slightly differently! If you are inspired, let me know what advice was helpful and what you might add or change.
To summarize my advice: Show up eager to dive into your classes, be deeply engaged across campus, and develop relationships with faculty, staff, and a wide circle of your peers. Don鈥檛 be surprised when something is hard or a lot is asked of you. We will challenge you because we believe in you and want the best for you. Ask for help when you need it. Embrace all that it means to be a Denisonian. Create your own Denison experience in ways that prepare you for the life you want to live. You made an excellent choice for college, and we are excited to welcome you into our community.
Adam S. Weinberg
President
Denison University