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First-Year Program

Looking forward to welcoming the Class of 2012!

Urban Scapes

This city is what it is because our citizens are what they are...Plato

The First-Year Program coordinates academic and co-curricular programs and services for first-year students, including First-Year Seminar courses, academic advising, academic and adjustment counseling, and the summer orientation programs, among others. The office maintains a close and collaborative relationship with the Academic Support & Enrichment Center and faculty advisors of first-year students. During the year the Dean of First-Year Students is available to meet with students on a wide range of issues, including academic performance, housing issues, personal adjustment problems, and other matters of concern.

U R B A N S C A P E S
Call for Contributions

June 2008
Dear Member of the Class of 2012:
Each year, we invite new students during the summer to do creative work in response to a theme. Your work is then collected in an exhibition, which serves as the first in a series of campus-wide events—speakers, films, reading groups and community service activities—that investigate the theme. This year-long program, called the McGregor Connections Initiative, is designed to uncover the interesting connections that emerge when artists, scientists, social observers and writers of prose and poetry think together for a moment, and along the way, to draw you into the community of thinkers that Denison comprises.


This year’s theme is “Urbanscapes.” Our prompt invites you to creatively explore the many types of interactions between people and the built environment. Some elements to consider include: the relationship between personal identity and community; how we organize our communities around social change; how we can create environmentally sustainable cities; and how globalization affects us. The prompt is printed on the reverse of this page.


We hope you’ll read, imagine, ponder, and then produce something uniquely yours. Another reason to participate in this project is that if you contribute, you will receive an invitation to a VIP reception only open to those who submit creative work. Not even the College President can attend without making a contribution!


This reception and gallery opening will be part of our campus-wide Opening Convocation, one of the ways the college welcomes its newest peers. On the evening of September 11, 2008, Denison will welcome Dr. bell hooks (not a typo – she uses all lowercase for reasons you’ll learn about later). Dr. hooks is one of the world’s leading scholars, activists, and writers. She represents the true spirit of a liberal arts education. She’s published best-selling poetry and children’s books; made ground-breaking contributions to scholarship on race, gender, and class; and has pushed us to be better human beings through her tireless devotion to education in both the classroom and the community. She is a generous and brilliant person, and is very much looking forward to inaugurating the academic year at Denison. In fact, she has already blocked out time during which she’ll be available for informal, drop-in conversations.Moreover, we’ll send Dr. hooks a copy of the anthology of your creative work before her arrival. Yet another reason for you to be a part of this experience!


What we find most rewarding, though, is the way we can welcome you when we already know you through the creativity and spirit of engagement you have shown with your contribution. This is a way for you, individually and as a class, to mark your arrival at Denison. I hope you’ll join with other members of your new class and the community of faculty and Denison staff you’ll soon enter, in making a creative contribution. If you have any questions about this event, please contact us at 740-587-6668 or e-mail me, Marlaine Browning, at browningm@denison.edu. Have a fine and creative summer. We look forward to seeing you in August.

Marlaine Browning - McGregor Connections Initiative Coordinator

Matt Kretchmar - Dean of First-Year Students


u r b a n s c a p e s
Call for Contributions
McGregor Connections Initiative, 2008-09
Plato once said about ancient Athens, “This city is what it is because our citizens are what they are.”
Over two thousand years later, we’re still intrigued by cities and how they affect us. Whether we live in a city or a small town, our communities shape who we are and how we approach the world.
Likewise, we shape our communities by bringing our experiences and talents to bear on the environments in which we live and work.


Denison University is in many ways a microcosm of a global city. We deal with issues that face communities of all sizes – diversity, acceptance, environmental sustainability, globalization. With this in mind, we want to know your thoughts about the relationship between people and place as well as the issues facing contemporary cities.


Some questions to inspire you include: What is the role of gender, race, class, ethnicity, politics or religious affiliations, etc. in shaping the contours of the urban or suburban landscapes? How are your experiences of urban space – malls, schools, public parks, bike trails, abandoned buildings, or gated communities – shaped by architecture and city planning? How do we communicate ideas about race, class, and gender through planned spaces? How do we encourage social change in our communities? How can we encourage more environmentally-sustainable development? How are we affected by globalization?


Denison University and the Office of First-Year Programs invite you to join us as we begin our year-long investigation of the myriad relationships between people and the city. Your response can take virtually any form: a poem or short story, a report of research, a photograph or drawing, a piece of music or a short film.


You can be artistic or scholarly, philosophical or applied. The only requirements are that your work be entirely your own, and that it be your best. Submissions must be received in the Office of First Year Programs by August 2, 2008. Because works received will be displayed in an exhibition and selections published in an anthology, no late submissions can be accepted. Written submissions should be sent as an attachment in e-mail to the Office of First-Year Programs at: first-year@denison.edu. Artwork may also be submitted electronically, if appropriate. Please mail other contributions to: The Office of First-Year Programs, 119 Higley Hall, Granville, OH 43023.


In addition to your work being exhibited and considered for inclusion in the “Urbanscapes” Anthology, contributors will be invited to a special reception with our Opening Convocation presenter, Dr. bell hooks, on Thursday, September 11, 2008. Dr. hooks will receive a copy of the Anthology in advance of the event.