What a beautiful weekend! I savor these last days of summer and the early days of fall as well.
At the same time, I am very mindful that we have many students from Florida and a couple from the Caribbean Islands. As I write this on Sunday, Florida is being battered. I’m thinking of all our Florida Trumbullians and Caribbean students, watching the news and hoping for the very best for all of them. Do write, call or come see me if you or your family is facing issues due to Hurricane Irma. This applies to our students from Houston and the surrounding areas as well as challenges continue there and we have students whose homes were flooded. The attention is off Texas right now on the news but it takes a long, long time for recovery from these events.
Trum-World Fellow. Trumbull has a fabulous new World Fellow: Bayartsetseg Jigmiddash
She is from Mongolia and her family including her husband, two children and mother are here with her. She is a lawyer with concerns about human rights and has been at the forefront of Mongolia’s reform initiations. From 2012 until 2016 she served as Secretary of State of the Ministry of Justice of Mongolia. She has helped set legal policy on gender-based violence and has made a difference in that regard. There will be a Trumbull Tea featuring Bayart and her work and, we hope, a special Mongolia meal afterwards. Watch for that announcement. In the meantime, come meet Bayart on our sailing trip. (She noted that, because Mongolia, is a land locked nation, she hasn’t had prior experience with boats and expects to enjoy the trip!
Mindfulness Mediation: The Silliman-Trumbull Mindfulness mediation class will start on Wednesday of this week in the Silliman dance studio (then switch to the Trumbull dance studio for the spring 2018 semester. Sign up in the main office before the end of the day today. (There is no charge. You just bring a cushion.)
Trumbull IMs start this week. Watch your emails. This is a fun way to get exercise (it’s good for you!), meet Trumbullians from all classes, and get some new Trum-Gear in the process. If you’re terrific at the sport in question, that’s great. But you really don’t have to be – believe me, I know from my own participation. The idea really is to build community, have a short break and enjoy yourselves.
Dining News: You may have noticed a couple of changes in Trum-Dining.
First, we welcome our new head of Trumbull Dining, Christopher Molyneux, who joins Bernadette Janis. He’s already met many of you but in case you haven’t met him introduce yourselves. Also, we have extended lunches now (due to Commons closing and hospitality wanting to make sure everyone can eat). Specifically, we’ll now be open for lunch Monday
through Friday until 3 p.m.
Our dining team does have a couple of requests for everyone. First, especially with the extended hours, they must scramble after the end of each meal session to clean and prepare for the opening of the next. Thus, for those who dine toward the end of a meal session, although they love each and every one of you (of course – they did say that to me!), they would appreciate you not lingering in the dining hall after closing time. The reason is simple: They must clean and prepare the dining room for the next meal. Second, when you swipe in, make sure the card reader is showing a green light. In other words, don’t swipe really quickly after the person ahead of you or they won’t be able to get a correct count of people and get credit (and food!) for the right number of people.
Wednesday, Sept. 13. If you are thinking about Trumbull’s Mellon Forum this year, be sure to come to the introductory meeting of the Forum, led by Professor John Williams,
on Wednesday evening in the Trumbull Fellows Lounge at 9:30 P.M. There will be coffee and refreshments after which we’ll describe the Forum. Professor Williams leads the Forum, I always attend and our Dean comes whenever she can. You may invite your academic advisor to attend as well. We host a catered dinner (about once a month) followed by seniors giving 10 minute presentations on their research, music or art and a brief question and answer session. This is one of my favorite activities in Trumbull.
Saturday, Sept. 16. Trumbull sails from Mystic. I have my fingers crossed for a day as beautiful as we had this past Saturday and Sunday. Our new Trumbull World Fellow from Mongolia will be joining us on this trip with her family as did our World Fellow last year. We’ll have lunch and relax. Do bring your cameras. It’s pretty.