LAS Lineup student newsletter
LAS Lineup provides information about events, opportunities, and deadlines to help you plan your week. It's published by the college's Student Academic Affairs Office each Monday morning during the fall and spring semester. It's sent to all LAS undergraduates.
It includes:
- What's happening in LAS
- What's happening across campus
- Important dates and deadlines
Spring 2022 tips
Every week, you'll find in LAS Lineup a collection of tips on academics, wellness, career readiness, and more. View this semester's tips by expanding the categories below.
- Expand your network. Identify your support team in class and find a crew outside of your coursework who wants to see you succeed. The Mayo Clinic, the American Psychological Association, and others tell us that a healthy social support network reduces stress and makes us more resilient.
- Empathy – for yourself and for others – is a crucial life and leadership skill. Check out the resources at the Illinois Leaderships Center's webpage to improve this important emotional intelligence skill.
- Being a student in another country can be stressful. Gaining a better understanding of the unique challenges and stressors involved in acclimating to a new culture can help you plan for success.
- Celebrate Valentine's Day by learning to treat the one who will be with you forever compassionately - yourself! Here are four strategies for practicing self-compassion.
- Curiosity is essential to wellbeing. Practicing curiosity - including self curiosity - can help you experience the world with courage rather than fear and compassion instead of judgement.
- Celebrating can promote personal and social well-being. Looking for a good reason to celebrate? Check out the Diversity Calendar 2022 for inspiration.
- There is a difference between rest and restoration meaning you can still feel exhausted even if you are practicing regular self-care. Over the coming break try some of these tips from a neuroscientist to truly restore and come back fresh to tackle the second half of the semester.
- Feeling in control of your finances can help relieve stress and allow you to plan for mid- to long-term goals like participating in study abroad or taking on an internship. Check out these resources to make financial wellness a priority. Dollars & Sense: A crash-course in Personal Finance is an eText@Illinois based, free-standing module that will introduce you to the basics of personal finance.
- Taking the time to build your social support network is a wise investment in your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Learn how to create and cultivate that network today.
- Making new connections – we all need to do it. But it can be so awkward - right? Check out these four mindset changes to make networking feel way less fake and uncomfortable.
- Did you know that Illinois offers a Financial Wellness Program? Services are personal, confidential, and FREE to students!
- Empathy is key to emotional wellness. Develop empathy by listening deeply to the stories of others. The Lunch on Us series offered by the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations is a great place to start.
- Commit now. Show up prepared for class. Every. single. class. This week, make time to carefully read your syllabus and add important dates to your calendar. Let your instructor know now of any conflicts or questions you have about course requirements.
- Studying your course syllabi may be the single most important step you can take to succeed academically this semester. Prepare today by gathering all of your critical deadlines, assignments, and exams from each course and add them into your personal calendar.
- An international experience as an undergrad requires advanced planning. Contact your advisor early and make an appointment to see a study abroad advisor to help make that planning successful.
- There are many solid reasons to study what you love! Will you love every step of that academic journey? Possibly not, but today is a good time to reflect on what you love learning about and ensure you’re pursuing it.
- Are you curious about expanding your knowledge and perspective by adding a major or a minor or exploring a certificate program? You can find some great resources here and then follow up by making an appointment with an advisor to discuss the options.
- Thinking of changing your major? Be sure to talk through your plans with your advisor to ensure you have all the information you need. The curriculum change window is open now until Friday, March 25.
- Second 8-week courses begin Monday, March 21. These POT B courses offer valuable learning experiences at a time when you may need to change your schedule, but they also move at twice the pace of full semester courses, so please check with an advisor to make sure adding one is your best option.
- If you want to change from one LAS major to another (excluding CS+ options) you have until Friday, March 25 to do so via this form. Find your new advisor's contact information here. When in doubt, the LAS Student Academic Affairs Office is always ready to help!
- Take full advantage of your academic support team this registration season: Departmental advisors help you select courses and make degree plans, college advisors help you navigate rules and requirements, and trained peers in 2002 Lincoln Hall can help you register at your assigned time.
- It's time to register for next term classes! To ensure a productive, balanced, and manageable schedule, meet with a departmental advisor and/or a college advisor before your assigned registration time.
- Regular, meaningful breaks are great wellness investments. Take full day breaks when you can and improve your daily study routines by shifting focus every 60-90 minutes. Shifting gears allows you to come back fresh.
- Study abroad to become more understanding, flexible and resilient, all valuable lifelong skills for success. When you study abroad, take classes in subjects not offered here, and expand your mental flexibility by studying where the language of instruction isn’t your native one.
- One way to advance career readiness while also setting yourself up well for academic success in this first week of classes is to see how best practices in project management can be applied to understand and plan your academic experience within your courses.
- An LAS internship can help you advance your career readiness in multiple ways. There are opportunities both inside and outside the classroom that can advance your leadership, communication, and technology skills in ways that future employers will easily recognize.
- The research is out! International experience used to be a "nice-to have" criterion in a resume, but today it's become a key component. Employers value international experience and the productivity, resilience, and curiosity that students gained from having those experiences in college.
- Pursuing a career path that engages and satisfies you requires knowing a bit about yourself, like the keys that your goals, future plans, and personality hold. If you need some help, drop by 2002 Lincoln Hall and meet with a Life + Career Design intern who can help you find resources to understand your goals and set a direction.
- There are “secrets” to designing a curiosity-driven career. Learning the difference between a curious mindset and a reactive mindset might be just the thing you need to jump start your future career readiness.
- You may want to explore an employer's commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion during an interview. Here's a set of sample questions that can help.
- Slowing down, doing less, and taking time to rest can actually result in higher productivity and a more sustainable work lifestyle. Discover how here.
- If you haven't already figured out your summer plans, check out The Career Center's site on Jobs and Internships to find an opportunity to advance your career readiness. And remember our Life + Career Design Scholarship can help!
- Cultivate relationships by being curious and asking questions to learn about topics outside of your areas of experience. Practice at next week's Virtual Career Fair. Prepare for networking at the virtual career fair here.
- Nervous about getting the big question at the career fair - "Why should we hire you?" Check out these tips.
- You are not obligated to take the first offer provided by an employer. Before your job search, be sure to research the possibilities, including a variety of financial and non-monetary benefits.
- Did you know that studying abroad will advance your career readiness? Check out research that shows how study abroad increases job prospects, confidence, options, and competitiveness in the job market.
Information for faculty and staff
To learn about what we include in LAS Lineup or to submit an event, please click here.
Faculty and staff can subscribe here.