Engagements Experience
The “Engagements Experience” is a link between your first-year Engagements courses and your college life beyond the classroom. The Engagements Experience accounts for 10% of your final grade in each Engagements course. There are three parts to complete each quarter (see below). Note that you will need a “commonplace book” to record your completion of each activity. If you do not receive one from me (they will be distributed on August 29, 2024) please email me.
#1 Engaging Grounds
We want you to get to know your new home! Each quarter you will visit a location somewhere on Grounds outside of our regular class time. For our course this first quarter, you will visit UVA’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers before September 10, 2024. Then, in the back of your Commonplace Book, write down the date and place you visited.
#2 Engaging the Curriculum
We want you to understand the College of Arts and Science’s academic requirements – both what they are and why they exist. Each quarter, you will meet with your academic advisor (either in a group or individually) and will do one activity designed to help you navigate your own path toward declaring a major and completing your degree. Keep an eye out for an email from your academic advisor! Your advisor will tell you how to complete each quarter’s Advising Activity. Then, in the back of your Commonplace Book in the section, write down the name of your advisor, the date you met, and the Advising Activity you completed.
#3 Engaging the Life of the Mind
We want you to take full advantage of all the cultural and intellectual experiences that a research university like UVa offers to its community. Each quarter, you will choose one event to attend from the calendar maintained by the Engagements program, here. You could choose a concert, a play, a presentation of research, a debate, an event at UVa’s art museum – there are dozens of possibilities. Check out the calendar early in the quarter to find events that suit your schedule. If you wait until the last minute, options will be more limited. Then, in the back of your Commonplace Book in the section, write down the name and date of the event you attended.
Getting Credit for the Engagements Experience
By October 10, 2024, upload a photo of the page where you wrote down the names and dates of each of your EE activities/events/advisor meetings to the Engagements Experience assignment on our course’s Canvas site to affirm that you’ve completed all three of the parts listed above.
