COMMUNITY

Beat the Flu The health center is offering two flu immunization clinics for students, faculty, and staff Friday, December 1, and Friday, December 8. Immunizations are given by appointment only on a first-come, first-served basis. You can schedule an appointment by calling the health center at x2121 (use option 2) during regular clinic hours. The charge for the immunization is $10. You will be billed through the College.

STUDENTS

Student Researchers Need Apply The College recently received funding that will support fourteen student researchers from biological sciences, biochemistry, chemistry, earth and environment, neuroscience and behavior, and physics during the summers of 2001, 2002, and 2003. Financial support will be offered for seven students who have completed their junior year of study and are engaged in directed research with faculty members in the laboratory sciences and for seven students who have completed their first year of study, who will begin research under the joint guidance of the faculty members and the rising seniors. These students will work on a directed research project under the guidance of a member of the science faculty.

Interested juniors should immediately discuss potential projects with faculty and must register for independent research next semester. Juniors will apply to the program by submitting two letters of recommendation from teachers and a short statement outlining the project, the faculty member with whom the project will be done, and their motivation for participating. A committee of participating faculty will select seven juniors (and their designated faculty advisers) to participate in the program. Next semester, as an independent study, each participating junior will do preliminary work on the research project under the supervision of her faculty adviser. The juniors will also attend a training workshop designed to introduce basic mentoring skills, presented by both faculty and student mentors under the auspices of the Harriet L. and Paul M. Weissman Center for Leadership.

In the spring semester, information about the program will be sent to first-year students, and an informational meeting will be held. First-years will apply to the program by submitting an application form, their first-semester transcript, a letter of recommendation from a teacher, and a short statement describing their motivation for participating and indicating several choices of projects and mentors from the list provided. A panel of faculty members and juniors will review the applications, select seven first-years, and assign each to a junior mentor and faculty adviser. Once the first-year has been assigned to a project team, the two students will meet regularly to discuss the project, though the first-year student will not begin formal training until the summer.

The summer research program will begin shortly after the end of the spring semester. Initially, the rising sophomore will assist the rising senior with basic tasks in the laboratory or in the field. The faculty adviser will work with the rising senior to ensure both that the research project is progressing satisfactorily and that the rising sophomore is being mentored effectively. It is expected that the younger student will gain confidence in the lab and will be able to take on a small, but meaningful, portion of the research as her own project by the end of the summer. After eight weeks of work, each pair of students will give a presentation about their project(s) at Mount Holyoke’s annual Summer Student Science Symposium.

Notice to Students Planning to Apply to the Teacher Preparation Program for 2001–2002
Juniors interested in the teacher preparation program for 2001–2002 who have not met with one of the two teacher-preparation program directors, should make an appointment to see Anita Page before December 15.