| Parent
E-mail—July 15, 2009
—Farmer's Market
—Parents Weekend
—Technology on Campus
—Pre-Med Edge
—Learning Abroad for Parents
—Miscellaneous
During the summer, there are obviously fewer students on campus,
but that doesn't mean things are quiet. New Student Orientation
continues this week, and Transfer Student Orientation starts next
week. Summer classes are in session, and there are lots of projects
underway all across campus in preparation for fall semester. Northrop
Mall is relatively calm much of the day, as you can see on the
Walter Library Web cam (www.it.umn.edu/webcam.php),
but the activity levels typically pick up during the noon hour.
To
see what's happening right outside my office, check the Science
Teaching Building Construction Cam (http://socsciencecam.oit.umn.edu/en/JViewer.html).
My office is in the building on the far left of the picture, and
I've had a front-row view of the work site since January.
The new building is scheduled to open in fall 2010.
—Farmer's Market
An on-campus Farmer's Market is held every Wednesday through the
rest of the summer from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Church Street (www.umn.edu/ohr/wellness/farmersmarket/).
Fresh, locally grown vegetables and flowers are available.
A separate Farmer's Market on the St. Paul campus is open from
7:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays. A link from the above Web site provides
more information about the St. Paul campus market.
—Parents Weekend
Registration is open for Parents Weekend. Come to campus October
9-11 to visit with your student and attend special workshops
and programs for parents. This year's Parents Weekend falls on
the same weekend as Homecoming, which means events and activities
will be happening all across campus. Although all tickets for
the football game are sold out, parents can enjoy game viewing
and other activities Saturday at Coffman Theater with "stadium
snacks" and a half-time show on the Coffman stage. Those
who prefer arts to athletics can choose an Arts Track.
As an explanation for parents new to the e-mail listserv, the
opening of the new TCF stadium on campus this year created heavy
demand for season tickets, leaving very few seats for individual
football games, including Parents Weekend. When we found we would
have a significantly reduced number of tickets to make available
to parents, we gave priority for our limited allocation to families
of upperclassmen first. We opened ticket reservations for "Gold
Parents Weekend Packages," including a football ticket, to
parents of juniors and seniors in May, and nearly all tickets were
sold within two weeks. In June we opened reservations for the remaining
few tickets to parents of sophomores, and they sold out very quickly.
All other events for the weekend are available in the "Maroon
Parents Weekend Package," along with game viewing and snacks
at Coffman Memorial Union on Saturday. We look forward to establishing
new traditions for Parents Weekend and for Big 10 football weekends
with you this fall.
Details, a preliminary schedule, and registration information
are posted online at www.parent.umn.edu/events/parentswknd2009sched.html.
—Technology on Campus
The University's UMart Web site offers discounts on some cable,
cell phone, and Internet plans. Students can check for discounts
at www.umart.umn.edu,
but they must have registered for classes to be eligible to sign
into the site. Please encourage
them to compare costs and services, and if they have questions,
check with vendors. Tell them it doesn't ever hurt to mention, "I'm
a University of Minnesota student. Are there discounts for the
U of M?" If they have already signed up for a service listed
on that Web site, they can still contact the vendor to ask if
it's possible to receive a discount.
In addition,the Office of Information Technology (OIT) offers
two certified laptop bundles for students to purchase through the
UMart e-commerce site. Laptops come with what students need to
get started on campus. They are U of M network- and wireless-ready,
and come with the latest operating system, updates, patches, Microsoft
Office, and Symantec AntiVirus software. For more information,
go to http://umart.umn.edu. Students must be registered for classes
to purchase one of these laptops.
The University Bookstores also have computer bundles for U of
M students, as well as other academic discounts on hardware and
software. Check their site at http://bookstore.umn.edu.
—Pre-Med Edge
Incoming first-year students who are hoping to become a physician
can attend a one-day program this summer that will guide them
toward medical school. The program costs $75 and presents information
on academic requirements for medical school, out-of-classroom
experiences that help students become well-rounded applicants,
different types of physician specialties, and real-life medical
school experiences in the words of medical students. For more
information and registration, see www.healthcareers.umn.edu/events/pme/.
—Learning Abroad for Parents
We have heard from parents that there can be a certain amount of
good-natured frustration when they think about all the opportunities
the college experience offers to their student. "Why do
the kids get all the fun? What's in it for me?" As a response
to that frustration, the University Parent Program has worked
with the University's Learning Abroad Center to schedule a mini-study
abroad experience for parents next spring.
We polled parents earlier this year, asking about several potential
learning abroad destinations, and three European destinations rose
to the top. All were close in terms of popularity, but based on
cost, collaborative opportunities with on-site directors and support
staff, and timing, we selected Paris/Montpelier for a 2010 parents'
learning abroad tour. The trip will include basic language lessons,
tours and lectures, a cooking class, and other educational and
recreational activities.
The trip will be from March 31 to April 11, and the final cost
will be determined by currency exchange rates and airfares as they
stand in December. We expect the total cost to be between $3,000
and $3,500, which will include airfare from Minneapolis, hotel
(in a local two-star hotel), two meals a day, local transportation
in France, and classes and activities. For more information, including
a tentative itinerary, see www.parent.umn.edu/association/tour.html.
—Miscellaneous
Parents from out of town who need to book a hotel near campus can
check our "Local Lodging" Web page for hotels that
offer discounts to University parents: www.parent.umn.edu/hotels.html.
While we can't verify quality of accommodations, we list hotels
that agree to provide a discount when parents identify themselves
as parents of U of M students. (There may be a limited number
of rooms available at discount prices, which means hotels may
not have discounted rooms on particularly busy weekends.)
On our University Parent Web site, we ask parents to respond to
an online poll, which helps us better understand you, your student,
and the issues that families face during the college years. Please
check our Question of the Month at www.parent.umn.edu.
We recently asked how often parents and students were sending text
messages to each other, and more than half of those responding
say they are texting one or more times a week. Just 30 percent
of parents said they do not text. By comparison, we asked the same
question in February 2008, and at that time, 58.6 percent said
they did not text.
Sincerely,
Marjorie Savage
Parent Program Director
University of Minnesota
www.parent.umn.edu
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