Dear Students (both new-comers and returners):
Welcome to Hinman College! In Hinman we understand that everyone and everything around you is your teacher, and a large part of your growth as a college student happens outside the classroom. As Faculty Master, my job is to foster experiential learning right where you live, and to help connect you to the academic side of the campus.
In Hinman, we believe that Community Service and Leadership is a cornerstone on which all students can build their collegiate experience. This theme is woven into the fabric of the Hinman experience—not as an obligation or requirement, but as a challenge and an opportunity. Here are some of the ways we will do that in Fall 2009:
Courses with a Community Service & Leadership Component (you can register for these Hinman-based courses when you come for Orientation in July). 
· A special section (section 01) of WRIT 111, subtitled “Literacies of Power,” within which service learning in a loc al school is one component. This course is open only to freshmen living in Hinman. It’s taught by me, your Faculty Master, and serves not only as your “freshman English” course (GenEd “J”), but also as your introduction to Hinman, with an emphasis on how to get the most out of your college experience.
· A one-credit mini-course (HDEV 106), Practicum in Leadership and Community Service. It’s designed to serve as a portal to a wide range of service and leadership projects both on and off campus. You can take this in addition to your four regular courses. It too is open only to freshmen living in Hinman, and it too is taught by me. Just a few examples of service activities within this course: building houses for Habitat for Humanity; walking in the annual fundraiser for CHOW, the local food pantry; working with children in the Discovery Center, Binghamton creative-play center for preschoolers; tutoring at-risk students in the after-school program at the local Boys and Girls Club; river-bank clean-up; hosting Girl Scouts on a Saturday afternoon introduction to the BU campus; and much more!
RA programs on Community Service and Leadership Hinman is the only residential community to make Service and Leadership a distinctive feature of its residential programs. Each Hinman RA will offer one program per semester involving in some way the theme of leadership and/or service. Hinman is a community emphasizing involvement, and a place where leaders are nurtured and encouraged. We are always looking for motivated students (“Yes, we can!”) to come together in hopes of making the world a better place.
Other Hinman Based Courses
There are a number of other courses open only to students living in Hinman. Students in these courses get to know each other well, eat in the same dining hall, participate in the same community events, etc. The classrooms are generally in the Hinman community center. In some cases the instructor of your discussion section will hold office hours in Hinman. For Fall 2009 these area-based courses, open to any Hinman student, are:
1) Philosophy 146, Law and Justice (Gen Ed “H”)
(TR 10:05 to 11:30, & F 8:30 to 9:30 [section 01])
2) Philosophy 148A, Medical Ethics (Gen Ed “H”)
(MW 8:30 to 9:30, & F 12:00 to 1:00 [section 05])
3) Sociology 100A, Social Change (Gen Ed “G” or “N”)
(MW 12:00 to 1:00, & F 1:10 to 2:10 [section 04])
4) Writ 111, Coming to Voice, section 02 (Gen Ed “J”)
(MWF 9:40 to 10:40)
5) Writ 111, Coming to Voice, section 03 (Gen ED “J)
(MWF 10:50 to 11:50)
You can also register for these Hinman-based courses when you come for Orientation in July.
Science Support
For those of you taking the large, introductory science courses CHEM 107, BIOL 117 or BIOL 118, we have arranged weekly, free tutoring sessions to be held the day before recitation section meetings, when quizzes are given and homework assignments are due. These tutoring sessions will be open to students living in Hinman who are registered for any of these courses. In addition to getting help on course content and assignments, these sessions offer an excellent opportunity to meet others in the course and to set up study groups. This is one important way to make those large classes feel smaller.
Hinman Fellows
An important aspect of our Hinman learning community is our Fellows program. In Hinman we have not only Faculty and Staff Fellows, some of whom are Hinman alumni, but also Student Fellows—typically juniors and seniors who have moved off campus but who want to stay connected to Hinman. Hinman has a long tradition of Fellows lunch every Friday noon in the Hinman dining hall, when students, staff, and faculty interact and eat together. Throughout the year there are a number of other opportunities for Hinman students to get to know their professors in an informal setting, most notably our Student-Faculty Connect dinner in the Fall semester, a much-loved potluck dinner to which students invite their favorite faculty members.
These are just some of the things that make Hinman a vibrant and dynamic community, one with rich traditions and a strong sense of loyalty and community spirit. Especially to prospective students I want to extend a warm welcome! My office is in the Hinman hub (community center), and I’m there every afternoon, with the door open!
Your Faculty Master,
