Starting April 2023, Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts will offer first-year students multiple events a month dedicated to supporting their adjustment to college, community building, and social and academic lives. The first in this series is the First Year Town Hall, taking place this Monday, April 3. The Town Hall will be a space for students to discuss issues and topics they care about at the University with each other and Evan Litwack, Lang’s first ever Director of First Year Experience and Retention as of this spring.
Litwack is tasked with organizing and leading all of the new first-year programming. He stated that the events will include “workshops, trainings, and programming on a wide variety of topics with community building projects and learning initiatives that are all about empowering first-year students to make a successful transition to college.”
The inaugural First Year Town Hall will run from 4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. in room I-203 of Arnold Hall (55 W. 13th St.) and will be led by Litwack. Snacks and coffee will be provided. The event is designed for first-year students to discuss issues and topics that concern or matter to them at Lang and The New School as a whole.
“The Town Hall will ideally offer a space outside of the classroom for members of the community to build trust and network together,” Litwack said. He believes that it “can be a space where first-year students can come together to make decisions about what they want for their collective future,” at Lang.
Other First Year Programming Events this spring are as follows:
April Events
1. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About College Reading (But Were Afraid to Ask)
A workshop on critical and efficient reading strategies – Tuesday, April 11, 4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. in Arnhold Hall, Room I-203.
2. Stopping the Cycle: Perfectionism, Procrastination, and Distress
A workshop on mindset and academic success – Wednesday, April 19, 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m. in 66 W. 12th St., Room A-511.
May Events
(Dates, times, and locations to be announced later in April)
1. Community, Clubs, and Collaboration
A workshop on campus organizations, student groups, and social life at Lang.
2. Activism and the Academy
A workshop on understanding and unpacking the relationship(s) between the liberal arts and social justice.
3. Minding the Clock
A workshop on finals and time management.
Starting next semester, Litwack plans to begin holding biweekly first-year programming indefinitely. His intent is for these events to “become a normative part of the fabric of Lang [and University] culture,” he said.
One of his goals for the program “is to foster a culture at large, where asking questions, asking for help, being vulnerable are not perceived as signs of weakness, but are rather interpreted as what successful students do.” He said he hopes that by doing so, the “stigma around asking for academic support” will decrease.
First-year students with questions about the Town Hall or other first-year experience programming can reach out to Litwack by email at evanlitwack@newschool.edu.