New students at the College of Charleston will experience a brand new convocation ceremony in fall 2011.
The revised convocation format will provide more opportunities for discussion and engagement, while keeping intact the tradition of walking through Porters Lodge into the Cistern Yard to sign the ledger. “Convocation: Conversations with Faculty” will take place on August 22, 2011 from 10 until 11:30 a.m.
The goal is to introduce students to the community of scholars they are joining as well as to emphasize the value of a liberal arts education. The freshman class will be divided into small groups of about 20. They will meet with a professor for an interactive conversation in classrooms and unique venues throughout campus. Some of the locations include the stage of Sottile Theatre, the fitness facility of the Carolina First Arena, the President’s House, the Natural History Museum, Chapel Theatre, and the Avery Research Center.
More than 110 faculty members will be leading these conversations across campus and not one experience will be the same! Some faculty plan to engage students with themes from “The Known World,” the 2011 The College Reads! book selection; others will pick a current controversy in their discipline to discuss; and others plan to use an artifact, essay or media image to stimulate conversation. About half of the faculty will partner with a Charleston-area alumnus to demonstrate the long-term benefits of a liberal arts education.
“Convocation will model what we value most at the College—student and faculty engagement,” says Lynne Ford, a convocation committee member. “Alumni will help students understand that their major at a liberal arts college isn’t their occupational destiny but rather it provides a context for them to develop the critical competencies that will allow them to work successfully in a variety of settings throughout the world.”
