Tag Archives: Liberal Arts

A Letter to the Siena College Class of 2021- Welcome Home!

 

 

Hi everyone!

First of all, I want to say congratulations! You have worked so hard to get here and every single one of you should be very proud of yourselves. Second, you should know that the decision to come HERE, to Siena College, will be one of the best decisions you will ever make in your lifetime.  As a second semester senior, I am writing this letter with mere weeks until graduation and I can’t help thinking back to when I was in your shoes. It really is ok to be nervous, but it’s ok to be excited to! College is going to be a time to figure out who you are and what your dreams and aspirations are going to be for the future. You’re going to meet amazing people and learn so much that it may even feel a tiny bit overwhelming at first! I want to share with you guys some of the tips that my friends and I have learned over the years to have the absolute best college experience, tips that have truly made Siena my own home away home.

  1. Be friends with everyone: You’re ALL going to be in the same position of moving away from home and that can be wicked nerve-wracking, especially if you live a little bit further away! I’m originally from Boston, Massachusetts which is three hours away from Siena, and it definitely was a little strange to be moving to a state where I didn’t really know anyone.  However, the friends I have made over the past four years have literally become like my second family! When you move in for orientation weekend in the fall, make sure you are friendly and say hi to everyone! Strike up a conversation with your hall mate or with the person sitting next to you in your 8am and find out who they are.  I actually met my best friend in the third floor communal bathroom of Ryan Hall and we ended up living together during our junior and senior years!
  2. GET INVOLVED: People have probably been telling you this left and right, but it’s true! Joining teams or clubs or organizations here at Siena is soooooo important because it not only gives you fun things to do each week, but it also gets you involved with the rest of the community.  We have an enormous list of things to join and at the beginning of the fall, you’ll have the chance to attend the Club Fair to sign up for various organizations.  Over the past four years, I’ve been involved with the Siena College Mentoring Program, Her Campus Siena, the Siena College Irish Step Dance team and the Siena College English Society and I’ve been able to attend events held by other clubs that my friends are in! There truly is something here at Siena for everyone and you’ll be able to form relationships with other students AND faculty that will last a lifetime.
  3. Be willing to learn: Your professors and classes are going to be some of the most influential things in your life during the next four years and as you choose and declare your major (if you haven’t already), you’re going to be able to take classes that will make you excited for future endeavors to come! You’re also going to be required to take a series of CORE classes, which will open your mind to other areas of study, such as art, science, religion and math.  Be open to what these classes and professors are teaching you and don’t be afraid to be curious and to ask questions! Some of the best classes I’ve taken here at Siena have been part of the CORE list and I really have been able to take some of the skills learned in these classes to more professional settings.
  4. Step out of your comfort zone: I know how scary this can be, but it’s also incredibly important! You may find that you love something that you would have never tried before in high school or that you love a place you’ve never been to.  Before coming to Siena, I was a little bit more on the quiet side and had done sports my entire life.  Although I still have a love for fitness and being healthy, I have joined so many different clubs, which have allowed me to become so much more outgoing! The relationships I have formed here at Siena are some of the most special I have ever had and some of them have formed just from us stepping outside of our comfort zones!

Check out our social media pages for updates and information about what’s going on around campus!

Facebook: Siena College School of Liberal Arts

Twitter: @siena_lib_arts

Instagram: @sienalibarts

You all are going to do amazing here at Siena, and I’m not just saying that! You’ve worked so hard to get here and it also doesn’t hurt that you’re about to come to the BEST school in the world. 🙂 Be excited, be adventurous and most importantly, be a SAINT.

Julia Lowney, Communications/Social Media Intern at the School of Liberal Arts

English major; Marketing and Writing Communications Minors; VERY proud member of the Siena College Class of 2017

 

Siena School of Liberal Arts Offers New Health Studies Major

 

 

Hi everyone!

Siena has just been given the approval to begin promoting a new major that will be offered in the fall and I’m wicked excited to announce that freshman and returning students will be able to declare a Health Studies major! The course of study will allow students to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Degree and will feature three tracks of study: health administration, health sciences and health policy.  This is the FIRST major here at Siena that will truly be considered interdisciplinary, as health administration will be offered through the School of Business, health sciences through the School of Science and health policy through the School of Liberal Arts.  Through my own job search over the past few months, I have come across a TON of businesses that are offering a multitude of careers through these courses of study, so if you are even the slightest bit interested in the field of health studies, consider taking advantage of this fantastic opportunity!

The Health Studies major will not only feature a set of core and elective requirements, but will also contain lessons that are based in Siena’s Franciscan values.  Dr. Matcha, one of Siena’s Sociology professors and the new director of the Health Studies program says, “The idea of serving others is at the core of the Franciscan tradition. We want our students to learn about the scientific and business aspects of health care, but at the basis of this needs to be a sense of compassion and responsibility.” The American health care system, as well as international health care systems will be studied in order to ensure full understanding of how to properly work with patients around the world.

This new major could be the very foundation of so many careers in the world of medicine.This major has been a work in progress for the past two years and has brought together a huge team of people from all departments around campus, including our very own Donna Tytko, Assistant Dean of Liberal Arts.  If you’re interested or have any additional questions, PLEASE contact Dr. Duane Matcha at dmatcha@siena.edu

What do you think about the new Health Studies Major? Let me know in the comments below!

Julia (Student Intern)

Networking Opportunities? Yes, please!

 

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re staying warm on this strangely freezing March morning, I hope spring gets here soon! To all my fellow seniors out there who are currently applying for jobs and grad school, the process is incredibly STRESSFUL. The applications, the interviews, the desperation to make yourself stand out among others can be very overwhelming, but I have learned through my own job searching and affiliation with the CEPD office that networking is the KEY to helping this process be successful! This past Tuesday, I was able to attend Siena’s 14th Annual Career, Internship and Grad School Fair and I was SO glad that I did! Over 120 businesses set up tables in the MAC on Tuesday afternoon and a huge amount of students from all majors attended, handing out resumes and business cards and having conversations with employers about possible opportunities. This was the biggest networking event I have been to thus far and I have to admit, it was a bit nerve-wracking at first! Talking about yourself can definitely feel a little strange at first, but events such as these are a huge opportunity to talk about the skills and assets you can bring to a school or a team.  I talked to about five or six different employers (even the Boston University Grad School) and they were all incredibly nice and interested in what I had to say. I was even able to speak with the team from Habitat for Humanity International about future volunteer opportunities, who told me my course of study (English and Marketing) would be perfect for their team!

Although I’m from out of state and was not able to find any immediate job openings in the Boston area that were offered at the career fair, I am so glad that I was able to attend.  I met some fantastic people, particularly from Linium Recruiting, who have offered to see what they can do with my resume.  In addition, I received some advice about how to enter the Marketing and Public Relations field, which has helped me tremendously in continuing my job search.  Networking is about creating relationships with experienced professionals and about learning as much as possible about creating a strong future career; over the past four years as a Siena student, I have truly learned  how to network. Having a Liberal Arts education has not only provided us with hard earned degrees, but has also provided skills that we will take into the professional world and beyond.  If you come across large networking events such as this one, or even smaller meetings, go to them! They may be nerve-wracking and you may think, “Well, how is this going to help me?,” but I promise, it’ll be worth your while. Networking events are like informal interviews and they will give you the chance to practice presenting yourself to employers, something that one can never do often enough.  You’ll learn so much about the career field you’re pursuing. Even if you don’t find a job with that particular company, odds are they are going to know someone who will be able to help you!

Check out my article at http://www.hercampus.com/school/siena to see a list of tips on how to network the right way! Did you go to the career fair on Tuesday? Let me know in the comments!

Julia Lowney (Student Intern)

Greyfriar Living Literature Series Shines Light on Wonder of Creative Writing

Morning everyone!

I hope you’re all staying warm out there, hopefully the warm weather will return soon! Having just returned from spring break, there are several events through the School of Liberal Arts coming up within the next few weeks and I was so excited to have the opportunity to attend the English Department’s Greyfriar Living Literature Series reading yesterday, which featured novelist Pamela Erens.  Ms.Erens is a highly accomplished author, with several short stories under her belt and three published novels, all of which have become incredibly successful.  The Understory, The Virgins, and Eleven Hours have all won major awards and most recently, Eleven Hours has been placed onto the “Best Books of 2016.” During the reading, Ms. Erens read a large excerpt from Eleven Hours, which take place during one woman’s entire labor process and how she copes with the incredible, yet terrifying prospect of childbirth.  As someone with a passion for writing and literature, it was fascinating to have the chance to hear Ms. Erens read her own work out loud and to see what her thought process was behind the characters and the overall idea of childbirth.

pamela-erens

Source

The audience was able to engage in a Q&A session after the initial reading and I was curious about what her greatest challenge is as a writer and novelist. She said that to be a novelist requires a lot of risk taking and that the business can be very uncertain at times.  If someone is working on a piece of writing for a year and a half, but then is forced to abandon the project because the ideas stop coming, then it seems as though all that time was wasted. Eleven Hours took Ms. Erens three years to write and she began the novel a multitude of times, trying to figure out the best direction to set the characters and plot it.  This, however, is incredibly normal for anyone who has ever tried to write a longer creative writing piece.  Great ideas come with thought and they come with practice and they come with mistakes.  No one ever completed a novel perfectly on the first try and this is something that I have tried to keep in mind throughout my years of writing.  I am constantly watching different authors, whether they are my favorite authors or whether they be guest speakers in some of my classes because they have gone past these obstacles to become incredibly successful.

Ms. Erens is going to be on campus again today to give a craft talk and writing activity in the Boland Room (Father Benjamin Kuhn House) at 4:10pm. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend, you do NOT have to be studying English or Writing and just remember to bring a notebook and something to write with!

Julia Lowney (Student Intern)