From the 2012 Senior Fund....

This year the Barnard Senior Fund is raising money to donate the senior class gift to the "Bear Essentials” Fund! This fund will help students with the costs of college not traditionally covered by financial aid such as sheets, winter coats, or other basic school supplies. With any gift you get an awesome pen (might we suggest $20.12 in honor of our class). With a gift of $50.00, you get a Senior Fund tumbler and are inducted into the Barnard Fund Society. Regardless of the size, every gift matters. Right now we are currently at about only 10% participation. Help us raise that number by making the Barnard community stronger and giving today! If you're interested in donating, stop by our table from 11:00 AM-1:00PM in the Diana 4/24, 4/26, or 5/1 or Give online at barnard.edu/gift Thanks for your support!

Senior Experience Crossroads ConferenceSunday, February 19, 201212:00-5:00 p.m. @ Barnard HallJoin SX for the annual Senior Experience Crossroads Conference!
The SX Crossroads Conference provides all the resources you need to transition to life after Barnard.  Plan to attend this important, free conference for an exciting keynote speaker, workshops with Barnard alumnae, free food, prizes, and more.

This year’s conference features brunch and a keynote address by Barnard alumna Sydnie Mosely ’07.  Mosely founded “The Window Sex Project,” a dance performance and ongoing conversation about preventing verbal harassment and restoring agency to women.  In addition, the SX conference will feature several workshop sessions tailored to seniors’ needs and interests.  Sessions include:

Apartment Hunting in the City
Cooking on a Budget
The Art of the Elevator Pitch
Creating The Three Year Plan
Healthy Relationships After Barnard
Entrepreneurship and Non-Traditional Careers
Health Care After Barnard
Surviving Grad School

Ready to register?  Click the following link to secure your spot for the 2012  Senior Experience Crossroads Conference.  Everyone who registers before February 12 receives a special gift!

http://seniorexperience2012.eventbrite.com/

COMMENCEMENT 2012 !!

January 27, 2012   

To:       Seniors

From:  Aaron Schneider, Senior Class Dean

As you  know, the 2012 Commencement exercises have been scheduled for Monday, May 14 and Wednesday, May 16.  The Barnard ceremony, which will be followed by a reception for graduates and guests, will take place on Monday afternoon on the Columbia campus; the University Commencement exercises will be held in the same location at 10:30 am on Wednesday. The Baccalaureate service, a nondenominational service for candidates from the undergraduate divisions of the University and their guests, will be held on Sunday, May 13, at 9:30 am in St. Paul's Chapel.  Tickets will be required for guests attending the University Commencement, but not for the Barnard ceremony or Baccalaureate service.  (I will shortly send to your parents a mailing providing them with these details, along with information about parking, local hotels, and limited on-campus accommodations.)  In late March you will receive further details concerning the various events, as well as information about how to acquire tickets for the University Commencement.  (Each participating senior is entitled to four tickets.)

Those eligible to participate in Commencement in May are students who will graduate in February 2012 (but have not previously participated in a May ceremony) and students expected to complete the requirements for the degree by May 2012.  Any other students who wish to participate must seek my permission--see me as soon as possible if there is any doubt as to whether you’re eligible.  Be certain that you qualify to participate before you rsvp, below.

We’re  collecting rsvp information via a secure online form, which will allow you to do the following:

·       *  Provide contact information for you and your parents

·        * RSVP for the Barnard and Columbia ceremonies

·        * indicate your interest in applying to be a Senior Marshal

·        * apply to be the Academic Speaker

*n  * nominate Faculty Marshals

·        * nominate a senior for the Bryson Award

TO ACCESS THE ONLINE FORM, CLICK THE LINK BELOW: 
 https://docs.google.com/a/barnard.edu/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGhBeEFDdTRzMkJ5dlc5TkVLVVNacEE6MQ

Please allow yourself a few minutes to complete the form, and be sure to submit it by Friday, February 3.

If you have questions about any of this, or about anything else having to do with commencement, don't hesitate to contact me or Ms. Lillian Appel (lappel@barnard.edu), the Commencement Coordinator.

From the Dean of Studies Office....

Recommendations Service

The Dean of Studies Office will be closed from Friday, December 23 through Monday, January 2.  Please be sure to plan accordingly.  If you need to have letters sent out before December 23, please  submit your request(s) on or before Friday, December 16.

    Some special information about  electronic recommendations:

Before asking us to send out your recommendations electronically—that is, before entering recommendations@barnard.edu as your recommenders’ contact address—please do some checking.  Does each of your programs accept electronic recommendations from a centralized service, or must each recommender submit her/his recommendation individually?  In addition to supplying a letter, is each of your recommenders in a given case asked to submit answers to several specific questions?  If so, then you may need to ask your recommenders themselves to submit their letters electronically.   If we are unable to respond to a particular electronic prompt for one of your recommendations, we will notify you within two days of receiving the prompt.  (You’ll then need to go into your application, online, and replace the “recommendations” e-mail address with the e-mail addresses of your recommenders.) If you have any questions, please contact the recommendations assistant, Mr. Peter John:  pjohn@barnard.edu.  For general information about the recommendations service, see:   http://barnard.edu/node/7508

Important:  When asking us to send out your recommendations electronically, please fill out a request form, just as you would for paper requests.  (For copies of the request form, see  http://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline/request_form.pdf.)   It’s essential that we have a list of the schools to which you’re applying, and their deadlines, as well as the names of the recommenders whose letters will need to be sent.

Good luck with your applications, and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season.

From the Theatre Department....

Auditions 2012
For All Spring Acting Classes and Theatre Productions


January 17 & 18...
...with a mandatory meeting for all auditioners 1/17 at 5:30 PM.
If you are interested in an acting class, you must audition. You can also audition for one of our four spring productions at the same audition session.

The sessions:
1/17 from 6:30–8:30 PM
1/17 from 8:30–10 PM
1/18 from 6–8 PM

All meetings and auditions are in the Minor Latham Playhouse, 118 Milbank Hall.

Information on how to audition and audition requirements are on our website:
http://theatre.barnard.edu/auditions

Spring Production Slate:
(All students cast will receive academic credit.)

A New Play: The Egg Layers
By Lauren Feldman
Directed by Alice Reagan
The Egg Layers is a Co-production with the New Georges Theatre.

The Blind
By Maurice Maeterlinck
Directed by Alexandra Clayton (Thesis)

The Long Goodbye
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Louisa Levy (Thesis)

Gloryday
By Michael John LaChiusa
Directed by Cody Haefner (Thesis)

Spring 2012 Acting Classes:
Scene Lab (2 sections), Acting the Song, Acting Language in Action, Avant-Garde Acting, Acting Suzuki and Viewpoints, Acting Chekhov

All classes and productions are open to Barnard and Columbia students.

From the Mentorship Project....

Intern with a New York City artist

Are you a Barnard student interested in exploring the visual arts as a career? Then apply to The Mentorship Project, an initiative which matches practicing New York City artists with Barnard students for individual internships during spring 2012.

The project is organized by Barnard senior Julia Caston, in collaboration with artist Heather Hart and the Barnard Centennial Scholars

program.

All class years and majors are encouraged to apply.

Application: http://mentorshipproject.blogspot.com
Deadline: November 15th, 2011
An info session will be held on November 2nd, at 7:00 p.m, in Diana classroom LL104

Personal Statement Workshop....

My annual personal statement workshop will start up this coming Thursday. It's designed for students who are or will be applying for pretty much any type of graduate program. At the first session, we'll go over some sample statements, and then at subsequent sessions drafts of your own statements will form the basis for our discussions. If you'd like to attend, please let me know by e-mailing me at aschneider@barnard.edu. When you respond, please let me know what kinds of programs you'll be applying to. We'll be in 318 Milbank, on Thursday, October 27 (and for a few Thursdays thereafter), from 6 to about 7 or 7:15 p.m.

From the Office of International Programs....

As you may know, each year Barnard hosts a Global Symposium for hundreds of attendees. Last year, in conjunction with Women Changing Africa, six Barnard students traveled to Johannesburg to support the event and to participate in the young women's leadership workshop the day before the symposium.

This year, we will again offer Barnard students the opportunity to become Global Symposium Fellows. Fellows chosen through a competitive selection process this fall will commit to working with Barnard's administrative and faculty team throughout the coming months on the next Global Symposium, Women Changing India, to be held in Mumbai, India on March 16, 2012 (during Barnard's Spring Break). To learn more about this exciting opportunity and how to apply, visit https://barnard.edu/global/symposiumfellow. You are strongly encouraged to attend an information session next week:

· Monday, September 19, 12-1pm, 237 Milbank

· Friday, September 23, 11am-12 noon, 237 Milbank

Specific questions can be emailed to globalsymposium@barnard.edu.

The application deadline is October 2.