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By Rebecca A. Doyle
Approximately 900 new LS&A students and their parents found their way to Hill Auditorium Sept. 2 to listen to more experienced scholars talk about their undergraduate experiences.
The LS&A welcome program was one of many in a week-long series of events designed to make new students more familiar with the campus, programs, academic atmosphere and cultural opportunities at the University before the start of classes last Thursday.
Michael Martin, associate dean for undergraduate education and professor of biology, aroused interest by telling the group that first, the U-M is not a teaching institution; second, a lot of what new students will hear at the University will be of little use to them; and finally, that the best way to profit from their experiences at the University is to learn to play.
Explaining his assertions, Martin said the University is “about learning, not teaching. This is a single community of learners, and that means faculty as well as students.
“What you learn in your courses is not enough. We can’t teach you what will happen in the future, and what we can teach you about the present will be obsolete in 10 years,” he continued.
“You should instead think of the faculty as people who have a skill—the ability to learn—that we can impart to you.”
Martin also told the students that he did not mean Thursday–Sunday parties when he talked about play.
According to Einstein, he noted, play is the essential feature in productive thought.
“So go out and play—reinvent the world.”
The LS&A newcomers also heard from:
David Schoem, assistant dean for undergraduate education, who assured them that they were exactly the right people to be at the U-M;
Elizabeth M. Douvan, the Catharine Neafie Kellogg Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies, who urged them to make an effort to know their professors better;
Henry C. Griffin, professor of chemistry, who spoke of the great opportunities in research; and
Robin D.G. Kelley, associate professor of history and of Afroamerican and African studies, who spoke about the freedoms that college life provides when compared with high school.
But probably the most meaningful words came from second-year student Miriam Vogel and David Garcia, a third-year political science major.
“Last year at this time,” Vogel said, “I was wandering around this campus not recognizing a single thing. I was in the wrong dorm with two more roommates than I had expected, my schedule was all messed up and CRISPing was a nightmare.
“I was trying to remember why it was that I had so adamantly wanted to go to the University of Michigan.”
Vogel rediscovered the reasons within a few weeks.
“The University of Michigan is unique,” she said. “Here you are surrounded by possibilities—music, theater, people from all over the world, politics, history and the best college sports teams anywhere.
“Take advantage of the world-class academic environment that Michigan offers.”
Garcia concurred with Vogel’s apprais
