Countdown to Campus
As you get ready for your first semester at the College of Liberal Arts, Countdown to Campus will share stories, information, and tips about the student experience at CLA — often through the words, pictures, and Instagram posts of our current students!
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CLA Internship Stories: Kristin, Intelletive Consulting (Software Engineering)
“You don’t end up ever just doing your discipline, you’re always doing a lot of different things within any work environment, and the liberal arts prepare you to do a lot of different things, whatever your job is.”
Kristin S.
For more on Kristin and her internship as a full stack software engineer with Intellitive Consulting here in the Twin Cities metro, check out our video below:
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Maroon & Gold on Super 8mm!
This fall, we gave a vintage Super 8mm camera to some of our students, eager to see what they would come up with. We’re biased, but we think Maroon & Gold looks pretty good on film!
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CLA and Career Readiness
In the College of Liberal Arts, we are committed to helping you prepare for the next challenge. From day one, our student support staff like Marlena Yang, CLA career counselor, will assist you in developing the Core Career Competencies that employers are looking for. Our goal is that before your first job or graduate school interview, you will have the knowledge and confidence to be able to articulate your readiness for the workplace and make the case that you are, in fact, the most desirable candidate available.
Take a look at our Career Readiness Guide. It will help you think about connections between the classes you will take and the careers you will build. You can then bring those thoughts to your academic advisors and CLA career counselors this spring, to get started and get ready.
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Faculty Voices: Teaching and Learning at CLA
At CLA, you get the best of both worlds.
At the College of Liberal Arts, we understand that teaching and advising are central to student success. Here at CLA, you will get to know your faculty, academic advisors, and career counselors, and they'll get to know you, too. They'll learn about your strengths and interests, and they'll help you figure out how to apply what you learn in the classroom to life after graduation.
At CLA, you get it both: the personal attention of a small liberal arts college with the prestige and research expertise of a major university.
Here's what our faculty have to say about teaching and learning at the college:
"Our department has awesome advisors who are committed to helping students reach their academic and career goals. In the classroom, students can expect to encounter faculty who are thoughtful and engaging teachers, and who know their stuff because they're also scholars in the areas they teach."
Prof. Kathy Klink, Department of Geography, Environment & Society
Faculty Coordinator for the Biology, Society & Environment major
"This is a major university that truly prides itself in making possible an excellent educational experience in an unforgettable style. I continue to enjoy teaching here because I am impressed by the dedication of many of my colleagues to the teaching aspect of their profession."
Prof. Theofanis Stavrou, Department of History
"Our department is full of incredibly dedicated professors teaching the subject they love. So many of our faculty have won college-wide or university-wide teaching awards. And our advising department is outstanding. They handle everything that students need, and they do it with kindness and understanding. It's a big department with a lot of majors, but if students reach out to faculty, they can get a lot of one-on-one interaction. (And hey, go to office hours! It's a great way to get to know a professor.)"
Prof. Traci Mann, Department of Psychology
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CLA Internship Stories: Sophia, South Dakota Ballet
This summer, dance major Sophia was able to intern with the South Dakota Ballet. She applied for and received an unpaid internship scholarship from CLA: “Receiving this unpaid internship scholarship from CLA meant the world to me, because this really pushed my decision in actually going to Sioux Falls and moving there for the summer for this internship.”
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Location, location, location!
Ask many of our students what makes CLA and the U of M so unique and they will tell you about our location in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. As the only Big 10 in a big city, we’re able to offer our students immediate access to state government, the Federal Reserve, more than a dozen Fortune 500s, and world-class art institutions such as the Guthrie Theatre and the Walker Art Museum.
"You can make it as far away or as close as you want. I was worried it would be too close to home, but I was able to build a lifestyle that was completely different from high school, make completely new friends, and be 'on my own.'"
- Mairi (Arden Hills, MN)
“One of my favorite things about the U of M campus is that it's really a part of the Twin Cities. So it makes it really easy to explore the cities and the surrounding area. Do everything you can to get off campus and explore the fantastic things that we have to offer.”
- Rachel (Buffalo, MN)
For more on how our student experience is shaped by “the Cities,” watch our “Biker’s Guide” below!
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Congratulations, and welcome to CLA!
Enjoy this video that our CLA students put together for you! They look back on what it was like to get their own acceptance letters and realize, through laughs, tears, and — yes — falls on the ice, that they would be joining the Gopher family.
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