'Freshmen' faculty members welcomed to campus

While it might be daunting for many freshmen to come to a university they have never known before, the same can be said for many professors who have just arrived at IU. They too have to learn the campus and services the University has to offer and meet new people.\nIn order to help ease in the more than 100 new faculty members to IU, an orientation was held Sunday to introduce the new arrivals to the campus at an event at the DeVault Alumni Center.\nThe orientation, sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the dean of the faculties, was catered to the new faculty members who represent each school on campus, said Dean of Faculties Jeanne Sept.\n"It's an opportunity for us to welcome new faculty and their families to the Bloomington community because we're an academic community but we're also much more than that," Sept said. "This helps them make friends and settle into the community."\nThe orientation lasted for about three hours and featured speeches from Sept and Interim Provost Michael McRobbie as they welcomed the new faculty to the school. The professors also had time to introduce themselves to one another, meet returning faculty and attend a picnic.\n"I'm delighted to be able to work with so many new faculty," McRobbie said. "They come from all around so clearly we're attracting a lot of intellectual talent, which says how attractive we are as an institution."\nSandra Kübler, who is a new linguistics professor at the College of Arts and Sciences, said that she enjoyed the event because she is from Germany and is not very familiar with the campus.\n"For me, it's very good because I can orient myself and meet a lot of new people," Kubler said.\nNew political science professor Brian Rathbun said he also enjoyed the orientation.\n"It's really nice because I taught at a university before here and they didn't really do an orientation like this, so you didn't really know what the services were," he said.\nSunday's event was only one part of a series of events that new faculty can go through to help ease their transition to IU.\n"They're opportunities for the new faculty to socialize, to visit the Kinsey Institute and learn about the history of IU," Sept said. "It's a series of events to help get to know each other a little bit."\nSept said what makes the University so great is the sense of camaraderie and also said she feels lucky to have more than 100 new faculty join the campus this semester.\n"Herman Wells always used to say that the faculty is the heart and soul of the University," Sept said. "So the happier we can make them and the more quickly they can get settled, the better off we all are."\nFor information on other events planned for new faculty, visit the dean of the faculties Web site at www.indiana.edu/~deanfac/newfac.html.