Dean's Corner

by Mary Nisbet, Associate Dean

Welcome to the new Academic Year! Fall quarter is always an exciting one, whether you are a freshman entering UCSB for the first time or whether you're a senior and this is potentially the last fall quarter you'll spend at UCSB. As usual, Dean Alan Wyner and I had the great pleasure of meeting a large number of the incoming freshmen and transfer students at Orientation this summer. I was particularly pleased to have the opportunity to run workshops on the Honors Program at the Freshmen Orientation sessions this year. One of our honors peers, Allison Stuart, and I presented them, and it was wonderful to meet so many of you and introduce you to the opportunities that the honors program provides.

This summer, I have also been heavily involved in restructuring and designing new administrative systems for the honors program. Our technical support group told me early in the summer that the Honors Program's previous administrative system was seriously flawed and had to be replaced. I have therefore been working with our technical group and our new Honors Program Administrator, Kate Haas, to redesign and rebuild our systems. Although we have tried to maintain as much functionality as in the previous system, we have had to remove some of web-based procedures since we were advised they were not maintainable. We will be sending out updates on the new system and procedures through the list-serve as soon as they are up and running, and in the meantime, I would ask for your support and understanding until the new system is fully functional. I also encourage you to contact me (mnisbet@ltsc.ucsb.edu) or Kate (khaas@ltsc.ucsb.edu) if you have any concerns about any aspect of program record keeping or administration.

I also want again to encourage you to take advantage of all the opportunities available to you at UCSB. Undergraduate research, the Honors Program, Education Abroad, UCDC, and the UC Center in Sacramento are just some of the many ways that you can enhance your education. As honors students, you have all the skills, talents, intellect, and motivation needed to get the best from UCSB. I wish you well for the coming academic year and success in your academic endeavors.

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