Free lunch or dinner with students and professors to discuss the first-year experience

[Alexa K Martin]

TL;DR: Sign up here<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/student-faculty-discussions-on-the-first-year-experience-tickets-52827891646> to join student leaders and faculty over a nice lunch/dinner to discuss bold ideas to improve the first year at MIT.

Dear Undergraduates,

I hope you are all enjoying the first week back from break! I am writing to let you know about an exciting opportunity to meet faculty, shape MIT's future, and take a break from the end-of-semester rush to enjoy a nice meal and discussion. In partnership with the Office of the Vice Chancellor, the UA will be hosting a series of lunch/dinner discussions with faculty about bold ideas to improve the first year. The idea is to bring students and faculty together in a small, informal setting to think creatively about new ideas.

These discussions will be 1-2 hours long and moderated by a UA officer or committee member, so all you need to do is show up and join in the conversation. In preparation we encourage you to think about the following in order to foster a more thoughtful conversation:

1. Reflect on existing first-year experiences: What is one practice at another university that you have heard from your HS friends that you wish MIT would do and why?

2. What is the purpose of an MIT education in the 21st century? How should MIT change its undergraduates in their four years? What experiences or skills should MIT students have, regardless of major?

3. How well do your thoughts from items 1 and 2 align with the following?

  *   Gallup-Purdue Research on college experience that impact well-being and career engagement: https://news.gallup.com/poll/168848/life-college-matters-life-college.aspx?utm_source=Life%20after%20college&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=tiles
  *   MIT FYE Team's list of desired outcomes for the first year: https://sites.google.com/view/mitfyebb/desiredoutcomes
  *   MIT's educational philosophy:https://mitadmissions.org/discover/the-mit-education/mits-educational-philosophy/

Your thoughts on the list above will help inform the larger discussion question:

What are your blue-sky ideas for the first year at MIT, if you could invent it from scratch? What might these ideas accomplish in terms of goals for the first year and beyond?

If you are interested in participating in one of the lunch/dinner discussions, please sign up here<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/student-faculty-discussions-on-the-first-year-experience-tickets-52827891646> for a slot that fits your schedule. We will be adding more events as they get scheduled, so check back in a couple days if there aren't any times that currently work for you.

We look forward to seeing you at one of these discussions!

Love,
Alexa
--

Alexa Martin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
President of the Undergraduate Association
Department of Mathematics
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