Welcome to the new academic year: A message from vice provosts Susie Brubaker-Cole, Sarah Church

Hello Stanford families,

We are thrilled to welcome you to the new academic year! Some students are here with us now for residential student staff training, September Studies, athletics, and more, and many more will be joining us in a few short weeks. We’re excited about fall quarter, and we hope you are, too. As your student embarks on this year’s academic journey, there are lots of informative and fun activities on the horizon, from New Student Orientation to social events for all class years, including outdoor food and music festivals, movies under the stars, and more. Please be assured we’ll continue to take health precautions while offering students all kinds of opportunities to have fun and connect with each other.

In addition to house programs, each neighborhood will host get-togethers as well so students can become acquainted or re-acquainted with their home community for four years. Encourage your student to get involved! Help is needed on neighborhood community councils. This is a great opportunity for them to meet fellow neighborhood residents, get to know professional staff, and plan events that will help everyone make memories for a lifetime. More excellent opportunities to meet friends include the Neighborhood Welcome Barbecues the week of Sept. 26 (co-hosted with our colleagues in Residential & Dining Enterprises) and FestiFall on Oct. 6, when hundreds of student organizations fill White Plaza seeking new members at our biggest outreach event of the year.

Of course our faculty and academic advising team are looking forward to seeing and meeting with students soon. We know you’re thinking about how best to support your students through the ups and downs of college life, and we’re pleased to announce Stanford will be supplementing our health and well-being resources with enhanced attention to helping students manage academic stress. The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education is also collaborating with partners across campus to develop academic initiatives to help support every undergraduate’s intellectual and personal well-being.

In closing, we’d like to share a few websites that may be helpful to families preparing for fall quarter. Here’s our academic calendar and a quick overview of many relevant student resources. You can also find lots of information and guidance on the Academic Advising website. Additionally, the university will continue to email this newsletter on a regular basis so you can stay updated while making the shift to mentor and coach. For parents of first years in particular, we know this can be a very difficult transition! Please rest assured that your student is ready, and we’re here to help. If you have questions particular to your student, feel free to reach out to us throughout the year at mykidis@stanford.edu.

Sincerely,

Susie Brubaker-Cole
Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Sarah Church
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education