WiSE Welcome

She said.

Yes.

He.

Thanks.

Hey dad.

I might come over and steal a sheet of plywood I don't know that I have that much left.

You got their sheets of plywood in your garage nails up against the wall yeah I'm going to take one.

Gotta bring hammer I think that you did.

You screwed him.

Again so all OK I might have to borrow yeah that's OK what time you coming over.

OK bye.

I could see anything.

Hello.

Hi there.

How are you?

Great doing OK, how are you?

I'm alright.

So it.

Hanging in there.

Yes, hang in there.

Did did you change rooms?

I did, I'm in this study now.

Oh fancy.

I'm gonna turn off my um.

Yes.

Email because it Dings and I want to do is Ding.

And, uh.

But my phone in silent too.

Yeah, mine is on silent.

Where are you again? Alright? So basically will stay here right then I just introduce myself and then just I'm going to pop off and wanted to the chat and I'll be back at the end for questions.

Correct and I kind of outline that to students when I go through the agenda.

OK, I what I have to to hide.

Not sure how I position myself.

It looks good. It looks like a classy study.

OK Alright I'm not sure what.

OK, it's alright. Leave it like that, what the hell?

Good natural light though.

Yeah, no, it's true. That's very true, OK?

OK, no it's funny I I think I probably wait, wait, you want there? When I was just saying I keep looking at peoples backgrounds on CNN just because now it's something that I'm interested in in terms of web people is sitting and unsigned. There is watching I watch Faried Zakaria, the GPS 'cause I like his pieces and he had an economist. A very well known. I think he used to work for the well thank or maybe the IMF. I'm not sure. Anyway he was in his bedroom.

There is sitting there with a double bed behind them in the pillows and she was like really you couldn't find anywhere better.

I guess it really gets in in the flow of your own personal style.

Yeah, I guess so.

There there are no rules anymore.

What's behind you is 'cause That's very pretty.

It's some it's a piece of artwork. It's nine different pieces of plywood and they have art printed on them.

That you printed.

No, I I didn't. I ordered it from an artist, but each one is separate.

It's very pretty.

Yes, thank you. I wanted something really big, but um, it's hard to find big artwork that's not really expensive, so.

Yeah, you're right there. I still say you know, constantly buy something for my sister, But.

Open in Sierra.

Hi Shannon

Hello.

Shannon, are you staying or you just kind of popping in and leaving?

OK.

So Shannon was saying how yesterday and I see the Laura's power and Internet went out just before they were about to start.

I heard that's awful.

Can you imagine worst timing?

Yeah, yeah.

No, no. Well, they must. I was, I was.

Not disappointed, I guess, but it really wasn't as windy as I thought it was going to be.

Right?

No, no, no. I mean, I think if you're near the water, like if you're in Hamburg thing, it was probably pretty intense, but.

Nothing here really.

No, it wasn't, so maybe it was a little different.

I'm so sorry.

Yeah.

Do you know what's the? How many people signed up and it was 80 something yesterday.

Make 102

Wow.

Yeah.

Oh wow.

That's amazing, we only we had 75 signed up for civil yesterday and 61 showed up so I guess it was about the typical.

Show rate.

I might move set up here so I can.

See a little differently.

You want to see me differently?

No, it's because I'm trying to take my cameras on my laptop and my laptop so small so the slides showing are so tiny.

Oh OK, you can do full screen.

Oh really, oh, I see.

And you've got control slides on, right?

He

Not yet, but I.

Yeah, just do it then you won't forget.

OK, good idea.

So this piece right here will probably be included on the recording, Christine.

Oh

As **** chatting, unless we both exit and go back in.

Should we do that? I don't know. So Gemini were chatting for like half an hour yesterday. Shannon, can you fix this?

Spell, Kevin

That would be awful, so it doesn't just start when the UM, when the official.

Web and our thoughts.

I don't think so because our little tests from yesterday are both archives recordings.

What was I doing?

I just kinda like typing. Hi Sharon.

Hi how are you?

Oh good, you're good.

You didn't tell me that everything got recorded. Shannon Phillips.

So everything went OK. What are we talking about?

Yeah.

So yesterday Christine and I both went into this session to just test out our technology and now will have recordings.

I've been going kinda like this.

And I was definitely smiling and the screen.

I'm sorry, scratch in my hand.

Like myself.

Um?

Oh good.

So the recording that will go live to the students with you know, hopefully it works, is, uhm, you access it through a different place an it's not all of that pregame show, so there's pregame. Show me doing stupid things that I wish I had a delete button for as well.

OK.

OK, so it it still living there, it's just not distributed anywhere.

Yeah, so when you go into the event, you're gonna. If you were to pull the URL of the recording it would go through access first. There's an access button.

OK.

OK, that sounds that sounds good because that was kind of worrying.

Yeah yeah, yeah.

Pretty funny though.

Well that I'm the first time Shannon when I forgot to turn off my broadcast videos. I doing anything weird. It was I just typing.

OK.

No, you were reading emails. Luckily it didn't look like anything too controversial.

Yeah.

OK, good, I didn't think I was. But you know, sometimes you just don't remember.

Oh, I know, I know.

I was definitely talking to my cell phone.

What?

You know, I'm I got into the UM, I I see session yesterday I hit broadcast video while I was still on the phone with Chelsea talking about admissions.

Hello.

Yeah.

I say this.

How are you?

Oh boy.

So.

So is there any flooding for you? Are Shannon or you're not that in an area where that it could flood?

OK.

Oh no, so the Lake is across the street and it's like 150 feet down. There's appears down to the Lake here, it's not.

OK, it's not. You're not right on the beach.

Yeah yeah, so no fly.

Was it windy though for you?

Holy Smokes, Yeah.

There was nothing up here.

Oh my gosh, I try to record like I'm on a porch right now and I try to record out here because it's quieter. And yesterday I was afraid the windows were going to blow in so I had to go inside.

Yeah.

Oh my God is is Laura in the southtowns too?

You know, I don't know.

I think she is. I think he's around Orchard Park. I know why I think that, but I think she is.

Makes sense 'cause it was really bad out here. Yeah, and she lost power and Internet.

Did she ever get back at all or no? That was it. She was gone.

You know there have been some group messages today that she has not chimed in on, so I suspect that she still got some challenges.

So did Dan Mangan, then kind of like carry it through? Or who actually ended up?

OK.

Uh-huh

So I invited an to the session in an informed me that Meredith Volker was taking over for recruitment, so this was the first time that I met Meredith and she know L Matthews and then Esther from our office. You know our students to Nestor, they stepped in at the last minute and they did a great job like soap or Meredith. As far as I know this is the first recruitment event.

OK.

That I've collaborated with her on for this to happen, like ludicrous.

Well, the good thing is that Noel used to work and I see and she used to do kind of some of the presentations for the engineering tours so she knows it pretty well.

And then asked is pretty pretty good.

Um?

Yeah, we relied on that yesterday. Thank goodness it work that way.

Yeah, she's pretty fabulous, yeah?

Um, so how do you want me? As I see questions coming through, um, do you want me to batch them and try to give you an idea of questions at the end? Do you want me to come in at the end and say, you know, I see some questions have come in about this or that? An field them to you.

I'm.

I think they had out. There will be great on what I had in mind is Christine and you. If you are able to answer questions throughout the section and then if you see anything that's you know unanswered, or if you see any themes like you said, um.

We can address those at the end.

Yes, I will try and address some questions as Chelsea goes along. But again I don't know how much does it really depends on the focus of the questions. But yeah, I'll look for themes as well.

Right?

So Christine 1 one thing I looked through the student registrations and they're able to pre ask questions most frequently asked ones pertain to. Do you have any Co op internship opportunities? So I don't know if that's coming from a place of just not quite understanding Watt.

It is or? I mean I can. I can talk about that to some extent, but it's gonna.

Talk about working with career services and having presentations, but you know, as a you know, preparing students to be successful at the career fairs and etc etc. But as a University, this is what we offer.

Um?

And the opportunities are going to differ from major to major.

Right absolutely.

Great.

****.

OK.

I'm so I'm gonna I'll click broadcast video to take myself off of this screen so that my window doesn't block the slides or anything. You know if if I.

Yeah, and I'm gonna do that to Shannon so I'm not gonna stay here through this.

OK.

So that I'm not just sitting there like this.

Yeah, uncomfortably.

Yes.

This is my pleasant face.

I'm very happy.

Yeah, yeah.

If I smile, morial, thank you be is friendlier.

It's true, so when it hits two o'clock, does it just start?

OK.

Look at you.

Yeah, you start seeing people come in, so wait about a minute or so and just tell him you're waiting and then when it looks like it gets a little state they usually come in pretty quick or they did yesterday.

OK.

They don't have to wait too long.

OK.

Yeah yeah, check out your participants tab. Chelsea when that number starts to to grow, you'll know that they're all logging in at the same time, and yeah.

And I want.

I'm actually gonna refresh my screen real quick because I can't click participants. Um, I'll be right back.

No.

You can see the number there, right? Can you see the little number like you see a 3?

So that.

I can, I wonder if it's 'cause I have to. Yeah, like I can't click of- of any of these settings.

OK.

Good.

I wouldn't worry as long as you can see the number rise, you don't really need to know the names, so did the number will start exploding?

OK.

OK.

And I'm gonna export this chat afterwards and put it into a Word document and email it to you and it'll be similar. Chelsea to that other thing that I sent you after Kemper session. Remember, um, so that's it. It looks a little bit like that, but I'll export the entire thing and then you can go through and make sure that everything that I offered was correct. Or if there's anybody you want to follow up with.

OK, perfect.

Yeah, or the same with me when I made me say something completely wrong.

Yeah.

Impossible, OK, I'm heading up.

It's 2:00 o'clock. I can see folks rolling in.

Uh, well, just wait.

A couple of minutes or so and let participants figure out any technical issues get settled, so we'll get started in just a moment.

If you're just tuning in, we're gonna wait another minute or so and and give folks time to join us. Still get comfortable.

OK wonderful, it looks like most people that registered are here at this point, so we will get started. Thank you so much for joining us today for our women in science and engineering. Welcome web and R.

Just to give you a little idea of what we're going to be covering today.

OK, very good.

Can everyone see and hear me, Christine, can you?

Here and see.

To the next.

OK, so.

In today's webinar, just to give you an idea of what we're going to cover, I will do some quick introductions myself and my colleague, Doctor Christine Human. I'll share with you some information about the Wise program, what we do, what to programs we offer, and why we do it. I will share with you how you can join Wise if you are interested in what you hear today and we will end with a question and answer session. So throughout this session, if you have any.

Christians are anything that comes to mind. Don't hesitate to type into the chat box on the left hand side an at the end of a formal presentation. If there is any questions that are unanswered or if we see any themes and the questions we are happy to address those.

OK.

There's one student I just noticing Ebony, who said You're not coming in clearly Ebony. You might want to refresh your screen sometimes that could help. So students are having difficulty. I'm just trying refresh.

And also if you are not using Google Chrome, Google Chrome is the preferred browser for this webinar platform, so you may want to switch if you're having technical issues.

OK, so just a quick introduction. My name is Chelsea Montrae Siam, the program coordinator for women in science and engineering. I'm also assistant director for student affairs for the school of engineering and Applied Sciences. I at one point was a student at you be that will not, in a stem major. I earn my bachelors in Spanish language and teacher education from you be with the intent of becoming a high school teacher, but my experience in college got me really interested in that college environment. So I earn my Masters degree from Buffalo State College and others. Many school in the area.

In higher education and Student Affairs administration, I'm also in the last semester of a second Masters degree from Suni Polytechnic Institute. I am from the Buffalo area, born and raised, and I absolutely love my hometown here. So for those of you who are from the Buffalo area, I hope that your involvement as a student at you be renews and opens up lots of opportunities in the area. And for those of you who are not from Western New York, I so look forward to sharing on.

This beloved place with you if you ever need a restaurant recommendation or on some ideas for cultural hotspots or nature spots. Myself and many other staff and faculty members here are more than happy to share those experiences with you. I am a full time professional staff member here at you beat, so my job is to run the Wise program and I'm here to help you so I hope it through today's webinar you will get a better understanding of the ways that the Wise program can work for you and some of the ways that I can help you along your.

Educational journey so next my colleague, Doctor Christine Human. I'll give a short introduction.

Hello everybody, yes so uh, my name is Christine Human an I'm the associate Dean for accreditation and student affairs, so the student affairs part means that I get to work with the student club leaders a lot. I get to organize events such as commencement, working on managing the scholarships at the school level. So a lot of fun student focused activities. I am a civil engineer so I'm also the director of undergraduate studies for the Civil Engineering program.

I have my bachelors in civil engineering from the University of Manchester, so I'm not from the US. My accent. I know it's faded a lot, but I'm originally from the UK, but I came to the US in 1985 which kind of dates me a man. I did my masters and PhD at the University of California, Berkeley.

I have been involved in wise since its inception that you be as a faculty committee member, so there's a faculty committee that supports all the programming that Chelsea does.

What else can I tell you? I don't have the traditional path into academic, so a lot of faculty members will have graduated with their PHP and then gone straight into academics. I actually worked professionally as an engineer both in England, here in the USA and also in Lebanon for a couple of years, and so coming to UB in 2003. So obviously I'm not from the Buffalo area, but I just want to echo at Chelsea's enthusiasm for the Buffalo area. I absolutely love it.

I probably can't imagine myself going anywhere else, so this is now my hometown. I probably been here longer than any other place I've lived.

So with that as my background, I'm going to pop off now. I leave this to Chelsea and I will try and answer some of the chat questions and I'll come back later during the question and answer.

So I will start with I'm just the general mission statement of the wise program why is at you be provides support and extracurricular opportunities for female students in STEM fields with the goal of increasing the recruitment retention and successive women in the Sciences math and engineering I've so in short we want to encourage more women to pursue STEM fields and we want to support you in any way possible while you are here so that you are successful in.

Earning your degree and going on to become a professional in a stem field.

And so a little more about the wise program it is a staffed University program which makes it a little bit different than a student club or a student organization that is largely run by students for students why is provide social professional development academic success community outreach and mentorship opportunities so throughout today's webinar I'll give you some more concrete examples of what that really means.

I Lastly membership and participation in wise is very flexible and that's 1 of the things that a lot of students appreciate about the wise program as a stem student you will have very rigorous academics so you may find yourself with lots of homework and projects and studying an course work related things plus you we encourage you to participate in undergraduate research or internships an also getting involved in things on campus.

Outside of stem are related to your personal interests so ultimately we understand that you may have a very busy schedule an we want the wise program to work for you so essentially how it works is we put out all sorts of opportunities throughout the year and you pick those that are of interest to you and that work with your schedule an you can engage in them that way we have some students who may participate in one or 2 things per year and then there's other students that sign up for just about everything.

In either option is OK similarly we have some students who may be really involved there first and second year and then their third year they have an off campus internship or their schedule might not permit a lot of involvement and then they come back their senior year so again we want this program to work for you we don't want it to feel like a burden and another large responsibility on Top of your already very busy lives but we want you to get the most out of it in a way that works for you.

I'm so a question that we hear a lot as wide as the program exist, so I think that this bar chart gives a pretty good overview of what the current situation is for women in stem. In the United States. So the bar on the left represents all of the jobs available to people in the US. An women comprise about 47% of the workforce, which makes sense, right? Women are about half of the population, but if we look at the bar on the right hand side, specific to stem jobs.

Women comprise only about 1/4 of the stem workforce, so about only one out of every four women. And researchers have identified many reasons why women are underrepresented in STEM fields and it's important to note that many of them are cultural. So this is this large imbalance is pretty unique to the United States. An we need to remember that people people are influenced in their goals and interests as early as childhood. So the good news is that you, having tuned into this web and R have.

Already overcome one of the biggest factors that leads to this imbalance. You've decided to pursue a stem degree so the Wise program is here to ensure that you are very successful in doing so. So our objective is really to help you fill your toolbox with skills, perspectives, networking, Contacts, mentors, an experience that will help you earn your degree with success and go on to be a successful professional in a stem field.

Who can participate in wise the wise program is a collaboration between the school of engineering and applied Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences. So engineering and Applied Sciences refers to computer science. All of the different engineering disciplines, and then some smaller programs like engineering, physics for example, the College of Arts and Sciences, on the other hand refers to what we often call the hard Sciences. So chemistry, physics, math, biology, geology.

And similarly, there's some other smaller programs within the College of Arts and Sciences, like medicinal chemistry for example. So That being said, those are kind of are two target populations, but students of all majors an genders are welcome to participate and wise so as a stem student. If there's one thing that you'll learn along the way, it's that stem is very cross disciplinary. Some of the most remarkable breakthroughs in stem occur because.

Teams are made up of people from all different academic and professional backgrounds, so you will in in wise meet students who might be from the School of Management or the School of Nursing for example. And similarly students of all genders are welcome. You don't have to be a woman to participate if we are to somehow move this needle on the gender imbalances stem, we can't do it on our own. We need allies and people of all identities to really support the cause so.

Anybody that's interested in participating in Wise is welcome to do so.

I'll just give a little shout out to our sponsors. Wise programming is made possible by these three very generous companies on these are organizations that are really committed to the success of women in stem and they show it by supporting the Wise program very generously. So most of you here are probably incoming first year students, so you might not quite be thinking about jobs and internships yet. But keep these companies in the back of your mind these.

Again, these are companies that are committed to the success of women in stem and they really want to hire wise students for internships and full-time jobs after graduating.

So next, I'll give you an overview of some of the different types of programs that we offer in wise, perhaps of the most interest to you at this point is our early move in program, so the early move in program allows incoming first year students to move into their residence halls two days early. And of course the benefit of doing so is that you beat the rush if you move in on the same day as every other first year student.

I can feel a little bit chaotic or or stressful, so this really allows you the space to focus on the task at hand. Relax, savor the memory with your friends and family. Whoever is helping you move in after students are moved into their residence halls, we carry out a two day program that is led by upper class mentors. So these are sophomores, juniors and seniors in stem majors, and most of them have participated in the early move in program as first year students.

And they're here to welcome you to campus, get you, set up for success, and get you really comfortable here at UB. The activities that we do throughout that two day period. Lots of team building, which refers to Ice Breakers, friendly competitions, and some fine silly activities as well. We do lab tours and departmental activities, so these are activities related to your specific major of interest. We do a networking lunch with female faculty. These are.

Faculty members in stem who are so excited to welcome you to campus and share with you the many opportunities to get involved. We do a scavenger hunt so that you can get comfortable with the UV campus. To many students, that's their first reaction is the campus is so large and a little overwhelming, but once you familiarize yourself with with the campus it becomes a lot less daunting, so it gives you a little bit of a head start.

Commuter students are welcome to join us, so if you are not living on campus your first year, you can still register for the early move in program you would a sensually join the group at the formal welcome kick-off, so after everybody has moved into their residence halls, we convene as a group and get the activity started so you can participate. Registration for early move in will open in early June. The deposit deadline has been pushed back from May 1st to June 1st, so.

As a result, we are also pushing back a registration for early early move into June after students have made decisions about housing.

So of course the benefit of participating in early move in is you beat the rush an also your meeting. A slew of friends before classes even start, so I'm not very first day of classes when you're in your very first course, chances are you're going to know somebody that you've met through early movement, so it's a great opportunity to get comfortable with the campus, make some friends, and really have a strong start to your first semester. Here is just some photos from last year's early move in.

We have lunch with wise faculty that takes place at the Crossroads Culinary Center, which is one of students favorite dining spots on campus. Last year we did a team boat building competition where participants essentially built a.

A boat out of trash and we tossed him in the Lake and it had some different contest categories. It was a really fun time late at night that first night we do a bonfire and smaller social and the last photo there. We did a spaghetti tower building competition last year, which is a lot harder than it looks and sounds.

Probably the bulk of wise programming, or the most frequent things that you will see our professional development type events. Often these sessions revolve around food in some way. We have wise and shine which is a breakfast meet up will do coffee and conversation which is, you know, a conversation led by faculty over coffee, hot chocolate and Donuts. We think food is the thing that brings everybody together and everybody could always use a bite to eat. So just some examples of the types of professional development programs that we carry out. These are again these are just.

Samples, not an exhaustive list, uh, we focus on finding undergraduate research opportunities, thinking about grad school, preparing for this team job, and internship fair. That's the big big company recruitment fair for stem students that takes place early in the fall semester. We do interview skill shops, the machine shop takeover invites why students to the engineering machine shop to get used to using hand tools and mechanical tools.

And students walk out without a customized copper key chain, so it's kind of a mix between a technical workshop and a craft session. If you will, navigating gender bias and stand, that's an important one. Career story sometimes will welcome women to share their specific career trajectory. Zan encourage students to pursue their interests and share how they overcame many obstacles that they encountered in their paths.

Scholarships and fellowships 101 get you acquainted with the opportunities for funding in the fall will do some site tours with our sponsor companies so you can learn about the opportunities there are for you at those companies and then will often welcome guest speakers to campus. That picture on the bottom right is Lieutenant governor Kathy Hochul who came to campus a couple years ago and had a really nice discussion with wise students.

Our professional development sessions are facilitated by a number of different voices, so sometimes there, led by faculty, alumni, professionals working in the field. Experts at you be like staff from career services for example, and also current students. Sometimes there are some pure leg programs.

Perhaps the most popular programs that wise does our our social programs. These are really wonderful opportunities to connect with other students both inside your major and outside of your major. They take the form of sometimes craft craft socials each semester. We do a welcome back kick-off and couple it with a craft night back by popular demand, students really enjoyed the Pat your own succulent event where they decorate a Terra cotta pot.

And select and plant a succulent and try to keep it alive through the duration of the semester. Our spring. Welcome back. Social welcomed. About 120 students so they're really well attended. We do movie nights during exam week, final exams, and midterms. We do just very casual chill out sessions where you can just drop in, socialize, grab a bite to eat. And same with Holidays will celebrate Holidays by having food and beverages and just.

General social socializing. A good opportunity to relax during the semester.

Um our mentorship and networking sessions also take a few different forms perhaps the most popular mentorship session would be our wise alumni student dinners we carry these out once per semester an we welcome back female alumni from all different stem disciplines these are individuals who have found themselves selves in all different types of careers all different levels of experience and they are so excited to come back to campus.

Connect with current wise students in stem to share their encouragement and share their words of wisdom lessons they've learned along the way. These can be alumni anywhere from recent graduates. Two individuals who are already retired with years and years of experience in the field. So students typically walk away with handfuls of business cards and really fantastic connections from these events.

Stem for everyone is a mentorship program where you be faculty and staff coach students through their presentation skills and it ends with a quick little 5 minute presentation in front of an audience. Really valuable if you're just getting involved in research in want to brush up on your public speaking skills.

Each year we we partner with the women in stem cooperative, which is another you be group to do a summit. It's like a mini conference on campus and that ends with a really nice networking reception where again students meet faculty and staff. Professionals working in the field alumni and this is a mini conference for women. So it's a really great opportunity to connect with other supporters.

And it's also worth noting that mentorship and networking, by default are built into most lies offerings. So if, for example, if you're going to a professional development session led by a faculty member, that faculty member is leading that session because they carry, they care deeply about the success of women in stem, and they're putting themselves out there as a resource for you to reach out to an use. If you have any questions, or if you run into any obstacles throughout your academic journey.

In terms of academic support, one of the main things that wise does is our study buddy Finder. So at the beginning of every semester, we encourage students to tack up a slip of paper on our public study Buddy Finder board for any courses they're looking for a study group for an. We match them all up behind the scenes and we send out Contacts for your study groups for your specific courses, whether their stem or non stem courses.

Last semester we had requests for over 70 different courses and were able to identify study groups for students to get in contact with.

Also, as a staff member for the Wise Program, I am able to offer tutoring, resource and peer support referral. So there are lots and lots of ways that you can get academic support on campus. So rather than trying to reproduce that through the Wise program, we can provide some personal advise meant to connect you with those resources, and similarly if there's a course that you find yourself struggling in an you want to connect with somebody who's already been successful in that course, we can.

Um, certainly make connections with upper class students who have been there have been in your shoes.

We also in the Wise Office have a study lounge that is available for your use. I will say it's nothing fancy, but we have lots of tables and chairs and it's a nice quiet place that you can carry out some independent study. Or if you need a place to meet for a group project for example, you are welcome to use that space.

In terms of our engagement with the community, we do a few different things throughout the academic year. We do high school shadow days where we welcome girls from local high schools to come to campus. Um, attend a class or two with current wise students sit in on a panel of students. They get a tour of the campus kind of. Get an idea of what it's like to be a woman in stem at you. Be for the day. We also do one of- activity days both at you be and.

At schools, mostly for elementary and middle school students. And then there's other events that are already going on on campus where why is really plugs into in terms of volunteer support and Tech Savvy? As is a good example of that. That's a really large scale event for middle and high school girls to explore their interest in stem and why students usually comprise the bulk of the student volunteers for that event.

As I mentioned before, I'm a full-time staff member. My job is to run the Wise program, organize opportunities for you, and to help you in terms of Advisement and support throughout your journey. Here at you be so if you ever feel like you need any guidance on either navigating your University experience, if there's something you're trying to figure out, and you don't know where to turn too, I'm happy to help with that. As a wise staff member when you first arrive to you, be you.

You know you you're not super familiar with your surroundings and there's so many resources available to you. Sometimes knowing exactly where to go to get to the bottom of whatever is presented to you can be a little bit challenging, so I'm here to help you in that capacity. And also if you need guidance exploring experiential learning opportunities. So, for example, undergraduate research or you don't know how to. I don't know where to start with finding an internship or an on campus job or anything like that.

I am available to provide advise meant in some guidance to you in that capacity.

So I do encourage you all to connect with our wise ambassadors, especially if you're still making a decision about college. An want to get some different perspectives are wise. Ambassadors are 17 sophomores and juniors from a wide variety of stem majors and they are standing by ready to answer your questions about their majors, the Wise program life at you be in general an other perspectives as well so.

If you visit our website whyisthatbuffalo.edu, each ambassador has a quick little profile on there that outline some of their personal interests. If they've done research or internships or things like that, and then some more personal experiences like what it's like to be a commuter student at you, be or what it's like to work a part time job while pursuing a stem degree. So I encourage you all to.

Get to know our wise ambassadors and if you have any questions for them. Each ambassador has an inquiry form an they will respond to you via email. It is worth noting that questions about transfer credits or curricular requirements or things like that should really go to an academic advisor who's really trained in that area and is equipped to give you quick an accurate information. Similarly, if you have questions about things like financial aid or scholarships.

A financial aid advisor would definitely be best equipped to answer those types of questions.

Another way that you can connect with the Wise program it is via social media. We use Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, so please don't hesitate to get connected if you have any questions you can contact us through these channels as well.

And you may be asking, I hope you may be asking How can I join wise? It literally could not be easier to join wise. All you have to do is go to our website and click join wise and sign up for our mailing list. That is it. If you sign up for our mailing list you are a member of wise so as we highlighted in the beginning, this is a really flexible program. So by receiving our weekly newsletter you'll have a good idea of the programs that we have coming up and if it's of interest to you and works with your schedule.

You can plan on joining us for those and through our weekly newsletter. We also share other you be opportunities so maybe not specific to Wise, but other opportunities on campus and resources and opportunities beyond campus as well. So it's a really great resource to get an idea of what the Wise program is all about. An as a perspective student you can Join Now. You don't have to wait until you start classes. I will say that it's worth mentioning that.

Especially given the COVID-19 situation, our newsletter doesn't look quite as robust an exciting as it normally does, as we had to cancel our in person programming for the remainder of the semester, but it can still start to give you a taste of what we have to offer through the Wise program.

I'm so that actually brings us to our question and answer segment. If Christine and Shannon want to pop back on.

Alright I'm here.

Here we go back.

Hi everyone.

So.

Else I have to tell you the most delightful question I saw was multiple students asking if there's merchandise or sweatshirts.

Right.

What I can tell you is that when you join us in the fall, either early, move in or we, we arrange something shortly after the start of classes you can access yourself a wonderful Wise T shirt this year.

We try to mix up the colors.

And this year we did purple so.

It's a beautiful purple.

Not so, so I I I laugh about this now, but I ordered hundreds hundreds of Purple Wise T shirts with the intent of giving them out this spring. But of course some students did not come back after after spring break due to COVID-19. So I have boxes purple T shirts that I would be thrilled to share with you all.

I think one question that came up was just maybe you can tell students a little bit more about how would they sign up for early move and how would that work if they've already selected their housing and things like that so just a little bit more about the details of early early movement.

Yeah for sure so. So the way that early move in works is we have our own wise registration form for early move in an we have an agreement with campus living that if you are participating in an early move in program, so for example.

Why is has one in um, there's other programs on campus that have them as well, like if you are a member of EOP or the honors college might even have one as well. Don't quote me on that, but if you sign up through the wise early, move in form, we communicate with campus living to ensure that you have access to your room 2 days early and that you're not charged for it. Most importantly, so having your early move in.

Fees and access taken care of is dependent on your participation in the remainder of the early movement program. So, for example, if you sign up for the program, move in early, and then hit the road and don't join us for the rest of the program, that will be communicated back to campus living. So as long as you sign up and participate throughout the program, you're in good shape, campus living, and it doesn't matter where you're living, it's fine for any any residence Hall.

And with that Phone be on the website just to sign up for early movement.

Yeah, so we we will update it on the website at the beginning of June. After that deposit deadline when we have a good idea of who's actually joining us on campus in the fall. We also do some targeted email marketing. So if you are in the engineering and Applied Sciences, an College of Arts and Sciences majors that we we highlighted back at the beginning of the.

Presentation you will get in an email, so you'll be notified about it.

We do also put that on social media as well. When run, the registration opens, but you'll know.

Now say any other questions.

Chelsea, isn't it?

Yeah I didn't see a lot of questions here.

Oh, it's how it's two days early for early moving, is that right?

Right, so classes start on a Monday, so essentially you would be moving in on a Thursday so that prior Thursday and then from Thursday evening through the day on Friday we do our bit wise early moving activities and then the rest of that weekend is welcome weekend at the University organizes so there's all sorts of awesome fun opportunities for you to engage in that weekend.

So the intent is not for the Wise program to take away your opportunity to participate in that University wide stuff. We're just kind of kicking it of- so you can get comfortable on campus even before that. Those types of programs come into play.

Rate, and so for the students. Uhm, this is a question that just came through. Is there a specific date for wise members to meet and what I think that might mean is beyond early move in a man. The students who participate in that at the start of the semester. Do you have a kick-off event during the semester?

Yeah, we we usually do a big social that very first week of classes. Usually it's a weekday, evening, um, and we communicate those opportunities via social media via the weekly news library. Put it on our calendar on the website so you will certainly go about that ahead of time. But that is a good opportunity. The kick-off socials to connect with students that very first week of class.

Great great.

There is also a question from a transfer student so early move in I believe is.

For just for incoming freshmen but wise programming is for all students is that correct or am I misunderstanding.

So so early move in. I will say historically we have not had any transfer students participate, but I honestly don't see any reason why you couldn't come. I think it's important the program early moving program is for undergraduate students specifically.

It's not an invitation to graduate students, and most of the participants in the past have been first year new students, but I don't see any reason why a transfer student couldn't participate, and in fact that might be a really good opportunity to start your involvement. And why is because those upper class mentors might kind of be at the same spot where you're starting off and will be really great resources to get you acquainted with the campus and opportunities available.

Sounds good.

Other questions just sort of asking about support that wise might give for undergraduate research or finding internships.

And notice that one earlier which I forgot about which was somebody was asking about the so the relationship between the companies that sponsor wise and potential internships.

I'm sure so, um, the companies that sponsor wise I know for sure. Two out of three of them have very formal internship programs, and they actively are recruiting you be students, an specifically wise students as well for those opportunities. So they have these formalized internship programs where there really well equipped to take on an intern an ensure that.

Really positive experience. Generally speaking, if regarding the inquiry about internships, uhm.

Internships are organized by individual companies, so we often get the questions like do you. Does UB offer internships, know you beat does not offer internships, but companies that you be has a good relationship with. Offer internships so we are here to help you kind of bridge the gap and identify opportunities for internships. An sort of develop those career development. Um, mechanics will call them like interview skills and.

Resume writing skills and things like that so that you have the tools and resources to pursue those internships. But they are plentiful. Internships are very plentiful and they will differ depending on what your major is, so it really is a major specific and of course specific to your interest. So we're here to guide you along the way, but the simple answer is that wise doesn't give give out internships. We help you to apply to companies.

Can be a good candidate for internships if that makes sense.

Christine.

I don't know.

I should add that that's only makes sense that you be has a really good career services office so a lot of the programming that is offered through wise in terms of preparation for the career fairs or interviewing skills are developed in conjunction with our career services and it's Chris so is it put on the really big schoolwide.

I love it.

Recruitment fairs so uh lots of opportunities to you know meet companies and network can find internships and full-time positions I saw one really cute comment somebody said great suggestion for a social which is an ice cream social of.

Yes.

Five or six people.

Really why is it done an ice cream social before but our our alumni Association has an ice cream social every spring where they invite all of school of engineering students are not sort of stem wide but it's for school of engineering students there is an ice cream social but that's a great wise event.

Along with that wonderful suggestion I also want to put this out here for you if there is a program that you don't see and you want to see it or if you want to support a program by helping to organize it these are really great opportunities to get some leadership experience.

On your resume, so just because wise has not offered something before doesn't mean that we can't, or we won't. Uhm, and what makes wide so great is the contributions of ideas and sometimes leadership by students to make the program better. So there's lots of opportunity for you to dig in and get really involved on a personal level. An help sort of shape and guide the program so that we can expand programming for all students.

Chelsea, I have to ask you I wanna put into the chat quickly. Does wise have an Instagram?

OK, what is it I'll talk about?

We do.

I I'm looking it up on my phone, right?

The.

I think you're not.

I'm so the handle is.

At you be wise.

It's nice to see in the chat and everybody is getting connected that's really great feature of the web and R.

I wanted to make sure that you were in the group Chelsea.

I'm.

Any other questions?

I have I think we've had the most it I have notice tonight Shannon.

Yeah, so there is one about. There's actually a couple along this thread in the thread is like how regularly scheduled are the meetings so it isn't like a traditional club like every Tuesday and then, um, in tandem with that question, is another student who's asking, is it mandatory to participate in all the events? So if you could just.

Talk about pace and things like.

Yeah yeah absolutely so just to focus on that flexibility piece a little bit more wise it's not a it's not a club or a student organization so there is no general body meetings that you have to come to and there's no level of involvement that you have to commit to to.

Consider yourself a member of wise so it really is possible I'm so there are not general meetings every opportunity that why is puts out is a specific program so it may be a professional development program or a social or a volunteer opportunity there's no just general meetings and the second part of that question was you have to participate in anything not at all as I highlighted earlier in the session.

Map.

We have some students to come to one or two things all academic year, and then there's other students who do comments about everything, and both options are OK. We we aspire to be a program that works with your schedule and works alongside your interests an we aren't trying to keep you committed to this really time consuming thing that prevents you from participating in other opportunities on campus and beyond. So very flexible.

Hum.

And I think she tries to sort of organize the programming at different times so depending on your schedule you how will have opportunities to participate in some of the events.

Yeah it is. As far as the frequency of wise programs.

There there are some weeks where there will be multiple opportunities to get involved there are other weeks where there might be one on there some weeks where I elect not to organize anything so for example like the week before students go home for for spring break usually that's a really busy week for students so if anything will do a casual drop-in social or relaxation event or something like that so it really does differ throughout the throughout the semester.

But you can usually expect to see at least one opportunity to plug into a wise event each week.

And then I am. Some students were talking about, uh, the Honors College and the possibility that the honors college might offer early move in an what to do if there's a conflict. and I consulted our colleague Noel Matthews as an academic advisor and she tells me the honors college does not offer an early move in. Which means for these participants jump on the wise early move in.

Yeah.

So there's no conflict.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for it yeah thanks for clarifying that Shannon I'm So what I do recall from last year's uh why is early move in is there were some students that were involved in the honors college that had their honors orientation session they sort of overlapped the very end of the wise program so they had to dip out a little bit early but those types of things we can certainly coordinate ahead of time it's it's not like you know you can't participate because you have to leave an hour early.

For your honors college orientation so we can work those types of things out for sure.

Excellent, excellent.

Earlier.

There were quite a few questions earlier just about fees and whether there were any fees to join wise or the early movement and I said no but you may just want to kind of reiterate that.

Yeah for sure so I'm wise is I'm I mentioned 3 companies are wise sponsors earlier in the presentation because of their generosity always programming is paid for UM without you having to dip into your pocket so um you can participate in whatever.

However much or however little you would like to and you do not have to pay for that so that's it's kind of a value added experience as a student at you be that you get this whole menu of opportunities to be engaged in without having to pay extra so we're quite happy about that.

I'm I just want to let the students participating in chat right now, which is so very vibrant. I want them to know that will leave the chat open until about 3:30. So if Chelsea signs of- uhm and closes her video feed and Christine does, you don't have anything to worry about. You can continue connecting.

OK.

And here here on the screen is contact information for myself and doctor human as well if you have any questions about the wise program about you be in general just a reminder you are welcome to reach out to our wise ambassadors who are really phenomenal peer resource and you can contact them by visiting our website wide.

Not Buffalo dot Edu and then here is my nan and doctor humans contact information you can reach out to us as well we are happy to answer any questions if we don't have the answer we can redirect or or get an answer for you.

Right any other last-minute inquiries.

I mean there was just one here about conflict with marching band early moving but I don't think we have the answer but we can probably Kelly get back to you with an answer after the web and R.

Yes absolutely.

No.

So I don't see any others.

II think because there's so many questions about the early movement program I will just add this sub note.

At this time the University is fully expecting to reconvene in person for the fall semester so it's as far as I know as far as my colleagues know anything that we're planning for the fall semester is ago but That being said every day we're getting new information from the University from over from the federal government so if there are any changes to our intent to carry out the early moving program we would communicate that VR website.

Anybody that is you know if this occurs after registration opens we would communicate this to the individuals that are registered as well fingers crossed that things are good for the fall semester I really look forward to meeting so many of you and I hope you'll participate in really move in to really great program and if you are not able to join us for that I look forward to meeting menu of you at otherwise programs as well.

That sounds great well thank you everybody for joining a as Chelsea said really excited to meet you um and wish you well for the rest of your semester um have a relaxing summer and looking forward to the fall.

OK bye everyone.

Bye.