Middlebury College will offer its free annual College Counseling Workshop, sponsored by the college’s admissions office, on Friday, June 7 , at McCardell Bicentennial Hall on Bicentennial Way off of College Street (Route 125). The event is open to the public — high school age children of Middlebury alumni, faculty, and staff are invited, as are students from Vermont high schools. Preference is given to high school juniors. The program gives an overview of the general selective college application process and does not focus on Middlebury College. The workshop is from 8:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and covers five areas: how to choose a college; how to visit a college; how a college admits its class; financial aid; and understanding the common application.

Following the final presentation, workshop participants may schedule individual afternoon appointments with Middlebury’s Student Financial Services office. Any students who are interested specifically in Middlebury College may join a group information session at 1:30 p.m. Campus tours will take place at 2:30 p.m. Parents are invited to all activities.

Registration for the free workshop is required, and the deadline to register is Tuesday, May 28.  For a complete schedule and to register, visit College Counseling Workshop. Contact the admissions office at aap@middlebury.edu with questions.

Following the final presentation, workshop participants may schedule individual afternoon appointments with Middlebury’s Student Financial Services office. Any students who are interested specifically in Middlebury College may join a group information session at 1:30 p.m. Campus tours will take place at 2:30 p.m. Parents are invited to all activities.

Registration for the free workshop is required, and the deadline to register is Tuesday, May 28.  For a complete schedule and to register, visit College Counseling Workshop. Contact the admissions office at aap@middlebury.edu with questions.

Topic: Information Security Road Show. Led by Ian Burke, Network Security Administrator.
Who’s Invited: All liaisons, Information Security Team members, and anyone else who might be interested
Who’s “Required”: Primary liaisons, please try to attend if you can. Sorry in advance for any conflicts.
Where and when: Tuesday, April 16, 2013. 1-2 pm. LIB 145.
Description: Information Security: Why should we care about it? What are the recommended practices for keeping computers and identities secure? This is a near-total revamp of last year’s information security presentation, and Ian will be bringing it to other offices at Middlebury as well as out to Monterey. Come learn, share, and provide Ian feedback as he prepares for his travels.

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“Liaison Discussion Section” meetings address research and/or technology topics of interest to liaisons. They can be conversations, or presentations, or both. They take place most often on the 3rd week of the month, but in order to allow people who work different hours to attend, they’re sometimes scheduled for different days/times.

Lynda’s recently added courses include such varied topics as “JavaScript and AJAX,” “Writing Fundamentals:  The Craft of Story,” and “Office 2013 New Features.”  Watch a single video or work through an entire course, but be warned — it’s addictive.

Description: When Hans and Steve looked at a year of our emailed Reference questions as part of the 2012 assessment of Research & Instruction, they found several types of questions which were asked repeatedly.  They’ll present a handful of them with the ways in which we responded, and then open the floor up for discussion of other common Reference questions we’ve experienced and our best answers to them.

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“Liaison Discussion Section” meetings address research and/or technology topics of interest to liaisons. They can be conversations, or presentations, or both. They take place most often on the 3rd week of the month, but in order to allow people who work different hours to attend, they’re sometimes scheduled for different days/times.

Topic: How to Reach the Uninterested Student. Led by Yonna McShane, Director of Learning Resources, CTLR.
Who’s Invited: All liaisons and anyone who might be interested
Who’s “Required”: Primary liaisons, please try to attend if you can. Sorry in advance for any conflicts.
Where and when: Friday, December 14, 10-11 am. Location LIB 201 (Watson Lecture Hall)

Description: Yonna frequently coaches students and faculty on how to improve their presentation skills. She’ll gear this session toward liaisons who lead LIS workshops. How can we “hook” students at the beginning of a workshop so that they stick with us for the whole class period? She will provide tips on handling question and answer sections of the presentation. Yonna also will give tips on professional conference presentations, including visual aids.
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“Liaison Discussion Section” meetings address research and/or technology topics of interest to liaisons. They can be conversations, or presentations, or both. They take place most often on the 3rd week of the month, but in order to allow people who work different hours to attend, they’re sometimes scheduled for different days/times.

Description: This is an opportunity to reflect on the Portal (http://go.middlebury.edu/portal) and review its place amongst our services. Matt LaFrance, the maintainer of the project, will present on its development, features, and intended purpose. Afterward there will be time for questions and discussion.

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“Liaison Discussion Section” meetings address research and/or technology topics of interest to liaisons. They can be conversations, or presentations, or both. They take place most often on the 3rd week of the month, but in order to allow people who work different hours to attend, they’re sometimes scheduled for different days/times.

We’re also offering another opportunity to get acquainted with  — a fabulous online learning resource that uses short videos to help you acquire new business and technology skills.   Recent course additions include “InDesign Secrets,” “Managing Your Career” and “Word 2010 Power Shortcuts.”  Watch a single video or work through an entire course — either way it’s professional development that doesn’t cost you or your department a dime.

Description: We’ve all been trying new techniques to make our classes more interactive. Richard, Joy, Wendy and Carrie will share some of their recent attempts, then turn the floor over to the group for discussion. Come ready to tell others about your own ideas, whether you’ve tested them in the classroom or not. Why? Here are at least 10 reasons, and when we meet, I’m sure we’ll come up with more. Bring a laptop if you’d like to try out one of our polls.

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“Liaison Discussion Section” meetings address research and/or technology topics of interest to liaisons. They can be conversations, or presentations, or both. They take place most often on the 3rd week of the month, but in order to allow people who work different hours to attend, they’re sometimes scheduled for different days/times.

The main point of the workshop was that understanding how your brain responds to stress can allow you to improve your health and increase your productivity. Apparently, LIS is sometimes not the most tranquil place to work. LISers comprised a good portion of the audience!  Here’s what we learned.

When bad things (surprise deadlines, dissatisfied customers, arguments with colleagues…) occur, here’s what happens:

• blood leaves prefrontal cortex, and decision-making skills falter
• brain applies a filter that encourages you to see everything in a negative light; focus of attention narrows, prevents you from “zooming out” and seeing alternatives
• you become preoccupied and may “check out” causing you to miss important details and info
• blood flows to the memory/emotion part of your brain, causing you to make accidental connections that are not helpful
• compromised health due to elevated levels of adrenalin & cortisol
• brain is chemically dumbed down, forgetfulness for example

One solution: Organization. Create a safety net so that when bad things happen, you have tools in place that help you recover.

What about that bloodflow issue? Acknowledge, then choose to act. This actually reverses the bloodflow! Say, “I’m experiencing stress. Now I choose to…Take a deep breath, use a calm voice, shake it off, spend only 10 more minutes…”  It may help to plan ahead and “write a script” of such responses to have at-the-ready.

The brain uses a lot of energy — “each decision gets harder” because you’ve used up juice.  Here’s how you can fight “brain drain”:

• Feed it! Eat breakfast, lunch
• Exercise helps the brain too. It feeds oxygen into the bloodstream, and oxygen carries away the brain’s “trash” (free radicals)
• Be aware of how your brain functions — save heavy-thinking tasks for times when you’re well-nourished and well-exercised.
• Schedule times for your intentions & recharging so they will actually happen!
• Protect yourself by communicating your plan to others.
• Don’t forget to evaluate your actions for effectiveness.

Solution Summary:

• Get organized
• Be mindful — choose/decide.
• Schedule & protect your intentions.
• Connect!  Smile.  Put on your friend filter so others are more likely to view you as approachable.

Books:

• Your Brain at Work, by David Rock (if you’d like to borrow a library copy, request through interlibrary loan, or ask us to buy a copy at go/bookorder!)
• Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, by Robert M. Sapolsky (at Davis Family Library and Armstrong Library)