April
23 ,
2004
New
Online Handbook Keeps MHC Parents in the Loop
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College students
can be notoriously uncommunicative about what's happening at
school. News that their English professor just won a Guggenheim
Fellowship might not register on their radar screen; nonetheless,
it's something their parents will be interested in knowing.
With the launching of the new online Handbook
for Parents,
Mount Holyoke parents no longer need to feel out of the loop
when it comes to campus news, events, and other important information.
Working with a campus-wide team, the Parent Relations Committee
created the handbook, which answers common questions such as "Where
do I get a campus map?" as well as inquiries about topics
ranging from health services and airport transportation to
the life of College founder Mary Lyon.
Patricia VandenBerg, executive director of communications and
strategic initiatives, and Madeline Carnevale, process designer
for finance
and administration, headed up the project with input from many
sources, including LITS, student services, development, and the
admission office. According to VandenBerg, there was a perceived
need to make it easier for parents to find out about the school
and to feel more a part of their daughters' educational experience. "A
college education is a major investment, and it's important for
parents be connected and well informed," VandenBerg said. "They
want to be able to find out who's teaching their daughter's chemistry
class, what team sports are offered in the spring semester. Hopefully
it will alleviate some of the normal anxiety parents feel as
their daughters become independent. This, in turn, could make
the transition easier for our students." Judging from preliminary
Web statistics, the handbook is already popular with parents. "We
are getting hundreds of hits from off campus," VandenBerg
said.
VandenBerg believes that the handbook will benefit the entire Mount
Holyoke community. "It will make it easier for faculty and staff to
handle parents' questions, either by directing parents to the Web site, or by
accessing the information quickly themselves and passing it along." She
sees the handbook as "a large step in the right direction" but also
pointed out that the work of the Parent Relations Committee is ongoing. "We
will continue to look for ways to better serve the needs of Mount Holyoke parents," VandenBerg
said.
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