As director of the First-Year Seminar (FSEM) program, director of university writing, and dean for administrative advising, we are excited to welcome you to the Colgate community.
Please read this letter carefully, as it contains important information related to your first year.
Academic and Social Support
The FSEM program is an integral part of the first-year experience. Each incoming student will be assigned to a First-Year Seminar, and the faculty member teaching that course will serve as your academic adviser until you declare your major. You will also have an administrative adviser, often referred to as your dean, who will help you navigate various University policies and guide your experience in additional ways.
Students from each FSEM will be housed together in one of Colgate’s Residential Commons. Your FSEM instructor, dean, the commons directors, Residential Life staff, Community Leaders (CLs), and many others will help you navigate your transition to Colgate and build strong social connections here.
You will also have the opportunity to meet other first-year students in the Living and Learning Workshop (LLW). The LLW consists of five one-hour interactive sessions held during the first half of the semester, co-facilitated by a Colgate staff member and a peer mentor. Each required meeting focuses on a topic aimed to support your academic success and meaningful engagement with the Colgate community. You will receive more information about the LLW upon your arrival.
Summer Reading
A longstanding tradition at Colgate is the Community Reads program. Each year, members of the Colgate community nominate books they believe would be interesting and timely texts for discussion on campus. A committee of students, staff, and faculty reviews the nominations. As they deliberate, they think first about you — the incoming class — and try to select a book that will especially resonate with you and spark interesting discussions. This year, the committee selected Hua Hsu’s Stay True, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Memoir.
When you arrive on campus, you will interact with many people who are eager to hear your thoughts on Stay True. These are likely to include your FSEM instructor, dean, LLW facilitators, the Residential Commons fellows, and, of course, your fellow students. Members of the broader Hamilton community will also have read the book. We are excited that Hua Hsu will visit campus as part of Colgate’s Living Writers series to discuss his book with the Colgate community, and there will be other programming opportunities related to his memoir throughout the academic year.
Book Access: You have access to a free electronic copy of Hsu’s book. Details to access your copy and for the assignment are provided on Colgate’s Summer Reading webpage.
Summer Reading Assignment
After you read Stay True, write a letter introducing yourself to your FSEM instructor and dean.
Prompt: In approximately 1,000 words, answer the following questions in any order that works most effectively for how you wish to present yourself: What would you like your FSEM instructor and dean to know about you and your hopes or concerns as you enter college? What resources will you need to thrive academically, socially, and physically, in terms of overall wellness, in your new community? Regarding your reading of Stay True, what will you be most interested in talking about when you arrive on campus? Are there themes or passages you’ll want to raise for discussion, or hope others might ask you about?
Write your letter in first person (use “I”) and address it “To my new FSEM instructor and dean,” and then allow them to really hear your voice and thinking. Do not use AI to create any part of your letter or to analyze or summarize Stay True. At Colgate, using generative AI is prohibited in courses unless your professor explicitly allows it for particular purposes. Focus on sharing content in your letter that is unique to you, rather than trying to produce a perfectly polished text; please do not use editing tools beyond standard spelling and grammar check.
Submitting the Assignment
You can submit your letter through the online submission form. We recommend that you write your letter in a separate program and then copy and paste it into the form. If you have trouble accessing the form, please contact ITS (itshelp@colgate.edu; 315-228-7111). If you have other logistical questions, please contact Laura Billings, academic department coordinator for the FSEM program and the Division of University Studies (lcbillings@colgate.edu; 315-228-7807).
The deadline for completing this assignment is Wednesday, August 5.
Once you have submitted your letter, it will be forwarded to your FSEM instructor and your dean. You should also keep a copy of your letter, as you may wish to refer back to it in the future.
You and your classmates are the foundation of the inclusive community — rooted in the understanding, appreciation, and acceptance of differences — that Colgate aspires to be. We thank you for taking on this challenge and warmly welcome you to our intellectual community.
If you have any questions, please contact newstudents@colgate.edu.
Sincerely,
Peter Klepeis
Professor of Geography
University Professor, First-Year Seminar Program
Jennifer Lutman
Director of University Writing
University Professor, The Living and Learning Workshop
Kimberly Taylor
Dean for Administrative Advising and Student Conduct