}.:"... ' Ma beS''Ppmlw]ttu ('-A ) I / '. l . 3CHELLE LEE THOMPSON Just Sittin' Here ~an " st S7 I College - the est place to learn it all The University boasts a top-25 rank- ing among American colleges, a beau- tiful campus and an NCAA champion key team. ut that's just what they print in the brochures. Not to undermine the efforts of the hockey team, but there is more to the University that the administration wouldn't dare publish. Some of it is printed here, in The Michigan Daily. But most of what students learn at the University doesn't come from classes or the Daily. 'here's another side to the Universi- ty - with unlisted classes such as How to Pick Up Members of the Opposite Gender at Fraternity Parties, What to do When You Forget to Do a Paper, When to Skip Class and Veg Out on the Diag and Where to Go for Food at 4 a.m. What? You say you didn't CRISP into those courses at orientation? Well, it's OK. At any point, you can t to learn about more than chemistry philosophy. I advise starting early. Go out, make friends, live in the dorm and listen to people. It's a safe bet you'll learn more from your hallmates than your profes- sors, spend more time drinking caf- feine than sleeping and spend more on the phone bill than on books. View all that positively. If people just sit in class and take notes, then study, write papers and A exams, they don't learn anything. Take advantage of something the University does publicize - there are more registered student groups on this campus than on any other. Join an IM team, volunteer, march in the band, go Greek; or write for the paper. Just do something, as they say. But it's not like high school where you can do everything. Try one or two things at a time, then stick with one *anization. It will reward you. Drop by the Diag. There's usually something going on at noon and on sunny weekends. It's a great place - where else would you find the Angell Hall Computing Site, the Harlan Hatch- er Graduate Library, Hash Bash and the Christian Coalition Good Friday Rally, all in the same location? Leave your safe group of friends one night a week and explore on your own. Speaking of new things, if you've ided on a major, even if you have known what you wanted to major in since you were two, forget it. People change majors 17 times in college on average. Think you're pre-med? Try computer engineering. Think you're architecture? Try vocal performance. But whatever you decide to major in, talk to people who are older and find ot who the good professors are. Take r classes and schmooze with them. can say these things and give this unsolicited advice because I am going to be a senior again this year and seniors know these things. Reflecting on my first year, I was scared of the University and preferred hanging out with friends from middle school. Bad move. Middle school was nothing compared to college. In college, possibilities are endless. You may hook up in the stacks of * Grad Library. You may find a church to fulfill your soul. You may score the winning swish in an IM hoops game. You may meet the man or woman of your dreams. I've only done one of these things, and I won't tell you which one. You may do all or none of these - who knows'? The important thing is that you walk home at 3 a.m. with 10 of your closest ends one night. That's how you learn ngs about other people and yourself The important thing is that you fall down the steps of the Union and make a new best friend out of the sympathet- ic soul who takes you to the hospital. That's how you make friends. The important thing is to join an Education evolving for under grads By Jodi S. Cohen I)aily Staff Reporter For some fans, the University means Maize and Blue. Hail to the Victors and young athletes scoring points in front of thousands of spectators. For some patients, the University means patient-centered. state-of-the-art health facilities amidst a nationwide move toward managed care. For some students, the University means quality education at the No. I public research institution in the country. At a university that spans more acres than any other school in the nation and serves a diversity of people, undergraduate students may feel lost in the shuffle. "People are realizing that undergraduate education is an absolutely essential part of this institution," said former Pres- ident James Duderstadt, who stepped down July 1. Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education David Schoem said recent trends show that during the last decade, more efforts have been geared toward improving the educa- tion of undergraduate students. In the early 1980s, he said, this was not the case. The sense that Michigan was a large, impersonal institution was truer in the early 1980s. It is not as true anymore, he said. Schoem said some obvious changes at the University include smaller classes and more faculty-student interaction, especially in outside-the-classroom education. Efforts to improve language courses, expand community service programs and integrate technology are other trends in undergraduate education. LIVING-LEARNING PROGRAMS "We are significantly improving the quality of life intellec- tually within the residence halls," Duderstadt said. "Most of(a student's) time is spent in a residential environment. That should be a learning environment." Tom Weisskopf, who took over in July as director of the Residential College, the University's model living-learning program, said these communities enable students to spend more time learning in non-traditional settings "There are many ways that people can learn," People are Weisskopf said. "The liv- ing-learning community realizing draws on many modes of t a learning. A good learning undergraduate experience has to have a great deal of variety." education is The University's history of living-learning communi- an absolutely ties dates back to 1962 when the Pilot Program was essential part developed as a "pilot" to the Residential College, which of this began in 1967. Since then, living-learn- institution ing programs have expand- ed. There are currently fiveJes Duderstat living-learning communi- Former University ties, including the Honors president Program, the Residential College, the 21st Century Program, the Pilot Program and the Women in Science and Engineering Program. A section of the Undergraduate Daily Research Opportunity Program joins the group this fall. In addition, a living-learning task force is studying the most effective ways to expand the programs; some changes will go into effect this year. "It really enriches students so it is not just a matter of punch- ing in at the classroom and punching out at the end of a lecture," Weisskopf said. "If it is just a matter of checking in and check- ing out, you are not really able to get that much out of it." UROP is the newest addition to the University's living- learning communities. Originally formed as a learning com- munity outside the residential environment, UROP will begin a pilot live-in program this fall. Forty-eight UROP students and two resident advisers will /ay live on a co-ed hall in West Quad. Sandra Gregerman, the program's director, said living with ry. other UROP students will enrich students' participation in the program. eer- "I think there will be more opportunities for them to discuss hirt, their research with each other," she said about the program, e , which creates research partnerships between about 700 first spF and second-year undergraduates and 400 faculty members. heir The 21st Century Program also will expand this fall, dou- eek, bling in size to accommodate 600 students. The students, who nony Please see EDUCATION, Page 9C NOPPORN KICHANANTHA, Recent University graduate Drew Woodruff studies in the Law Librar (top) LSA senior Rainey Bice and Engine ing senior Paul Pan, in the green s paint a mural on the window of the Pediatric Center at University Hos tats as part of an assignment for t Drawing 101 class. (left) As part of National Coming Out Wi a "Coming Out of the Closet cerer was held on the Diag. (above) .._.- MSA works to represent students at all levels By Laurie Mayk Daily Staff Reporter Students at the University have their own elected last spring in campuswide elections. We are concerned with The duo will lead the .AJA Ns R Moving to campus 2 I