Ahead of our typical winter update focused on campus-wide construction through the spring and summer months, we would like to provide a critical update to the campus regarding upcoming construction that will impact traffic at upper College Lane from mid-Dec 2024 through November 2025. Please see the summary below and attached logistics plans for the extent of traffic impacts during this time period. Visit smithgeoenergy.info/project-overview for more information and to sign up for the weekly project update.

Smith College is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2025. College Relations encourages campus offices to use a special Smith150 logo during the 2025 calendar year on anything where you would normally add the general college wordmark or seal. This could include things like event posters, email headings, special publications, slide decks, and more. To access the drive of various logo formats or for questions, please email publications@smith.edu. General questions about Smith’s 150th anniversary can be sent to smith150@smith.edu. A website with stories, a historical timeline, a calendar of events, and more can be found at smith.edu/150.

Sponsored by the Committee on Educational Technology, this program supports faculty in exploring the impacts of AI tools on teaching and learning for one of their Spring 2025 courses. Participants in the Faculty AI Cohort will meet monthly during the spring semester, partner with the Learning Research & Technology team to design a digital project for one of their Spring 2025 courses, and will receive a $400 research grant at the completion of the program. Apply here: forms.gle/rcCfyJ8eaM9yAk5g8

Sherrerd mentors Liz Pryor and Kate Queeney are available to faculty and staff to talk about anything related to your teaching including assessment and student feedback or to help prepare for the spring semester with syllabus review and planning. To schedule a confidential meeting: forms.gle/u6x9hX1o39f49nHv6.

Have a question or idea regarding maps or spatial data? Contact the Spatial Analysis Lab (SAL) for support and collaboration on spring courses and research. The SAL manages two computer classrooms/labs and is available for data collection and analysis, co-developing lessons, mapmaking, place-based storytelling, and more. Please fill out this form (forms.gle/ZXpMg2rX5dstvj2g8) to start a conversation. We will review and respond to requests on a rolling basis, but requests submitted by January 10th would help us plan. Email sal@smith.edu with any questions.

January is an excellent time to press pause after the intensity of the fall semester and check in together as a team. This VIRTUAL ONLY session is an opportunity to bring your whole team or department and engage in some collective reflection, with exercises and tools you can use together both in and after the session. Open to all faculty and staff, individually or as a group. Sponsored by the Wurtele Center for Leadership and co-facilitated by Kelsey Parks Smith, Assistant Athletic Director for Equity, Inclusion and Student-Athlete Well-Being. RSVP for calendar invite and Zoom link: forms.gle/jdx8NH88T7viNXCo6

The final day to pick up your selected employee Appreciation Gift at Garrison Hall is Thursday, December 19th. After this date, Human Resources will reallocate the remaining items to support other engagement initiatives. For those who have already picked up their gift, we hope that you're enjoying it!

Throughout the spring semester, students share their perspectives and present their research work, community engagement, and artistic and creative endeavors: Smith in the World, Amplify Competition, Joypalooza, Smith Arts Day, and Celebrating Collaborations. As part of an initiative to collaborate and work together to plan these events, we are launching a new umbrella, the Smith Spring Showcases, to help the community to navigate the different events and encourage students, faculty and staff participation. We hope you will engage with these events as participants, audience members, and as faculty/staff mentors. Learn more: bit.ly/smith-spring-showcases

Mail Services will be closed from December 21, 2024, through January 4, 2025, during winter break. Starting Monday, January 6, 2025, please pick up all packages at the pick-up window. The package lockers are being replaced and should be operational by January 18, 2025.

Fusayfsa`, Smith College's Middle East Studies journal, is now accepting submissions for our fourth issue. It is open to all undergraduates regardless of their institution. We are looking for research papers, opinion pieces, book/movie reviews, poetry, visual artwork, or anything produced by students related to the MENA region! The deadline for submissions is January 1, 2025. Please submit here: forms.gle/jV7jRogb8Bxs9Kbi8 For updates follow us on Instagram: @fusayfsa

The Smith in the World conference: smith.edu/news-events/events/smith-in-the-world Collaborative Leadership, Design, & Innovation (CLDI) is an immersive internship experience for students who are looking for intensive opportunities to put collaborative leadership, design and entrepreneurial skills into practice. The program connects teams of students with embedded, fully-paid summer internships around the world where they have a chance to practice collaborative change-making in the context of a local organization and help lead the advancement of of socially, economically, and environmentally healthy communities. Join the Summer 2024 cohort to hear about their experiences in Barbados, Costa Rica, Kenya and Senegal. Register for Zoom link here: smith.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYqcOqhrjkpE9WXssdVjQNRLRH_-odsA54e

The Smith in the World conference is held annually to celebrate students’ off-campus experiential learning, including internships, community service and research. In a series of panels, students reflect on how their experiences have impacted and enriched their academic and professional paths. Business, Finance, Consulting & Entrepreneurship Panel: Hear from students who will share their experiences in: Quantitative Asset Management; the Stock Exchange of Thailand; Economic Consulting with Cornerstone Research; the Girls Who Invest program and an investment analyst internship at the Oregon State Treasury. For more information, and to register for Zoom link, please visit: smith.edu/news-events/events/smith-in-the-world

The Smith in the World conference is held annually to celebrate students’ off-campus experiential learning, including internships, community service and research. In a series of panels, students reflect on how their experiences have impacted and enriched their academic and professional paths. STEM Panel: Hear from students who will share their experiences in: Research on how climate change affects coral reefs in the Western Indian Ocean; Metamorphic petrology in India; and Amazon Software Development internship, in Machine Learning for Kindle book covers. For more information, and to register for Zoom link, please visit: smith.edu/news-events/events/smith-in-the-world

The Smith in the World conference is held annually to celebrate students’ off-campus experiential learning, including internships, community service and research. In a series of panels, students reflect on how their experiences have impacted and enriched their academic and professional paths. Education Non-Profit, Social Impact panel: Hear from students who will share their experiences in: Advocacy for communities affected by natural disasters in Brazil; Advocacy for farmworkers in South Carolina; Educating women in Afghanistan under a Taliban regime; Education research for students in juvenile detention. For more information, and to register for Zoom link, please visit: smith.edu/news-events/events/smith-in-the-world

ITS offices, including the IT User Support Center and OneCard Office in Seelye Hall and the Smith College Computer Store in Stoddard Hall, will close from 2:00 to 4:00 on Wednesday, December 18 for a departmental function. Support requests can be submitted anytime by emailing ithelp@smith.edu. Limited support for time-sensitive matters will be available after 2:30.

The Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award celebrates an author whose work embodies the lyrically powerful and historically engaged nature of Dr. Alexander’s writing. We aim for this award to highlight different forms of knowledge production that emerge from the artistic, political, and cultural advocacy undertaken by women of color nationally, transnationally, and globally. The award is open to all genres, including: poetry, fiction, play scripts, and non-fiction. Works engaging with feminism, race, and transnationalism will be prioritized. For more information about the award, and how to submit, please visit sites.smith.edu/meridians/awards/elizabeth-alexander-creative-writing-award/

The Policy Playhouse is a new Pioneer Valley Arts nonprofit that seeks to bridge the gap between policymakers and the people they serve. The organization is currently seeking playwrights and interdisciplinary artists to submit their play scripts or creative projects for consideration by January 20, 2025. Click the link for more information and to submit: docs.google.com/document/d/1nbn2dWB808eJqQ86jV35MMhivkLH0flwEC_VLz3yHWQ/edit?usp=sharing

Covid-19’s terrifying arrival in Italy coincided with the emergence of Spring. Locked-down at home, I drew my garden plants and the views from my terrace. With my obsession with wisteria, I continue to learn—through drawing—about its astonishing complexity and strength: bare vines, budding, blossoming, purple racemes reaching over a meter in length, petals falling, leafing-out, seed pods forming, and summer’s shadow-y green cave. I capture birdsong, bells, cries of boatmen, and the splash of traffic on the water. Gallery Hours: Mondays-Fridays, 9am-4pm. Exhibition Closed: weekends & holidays (Nov. 28-29 & winter break: Dec. 23-Jan. 5).

Join us for an evening of art, making, and community fun at the January 10 Second Friday! SCMA is free and open to all! Participate in hands-on art making for all ages. How many ways can you make a snowflake? Inspired by the repetitions of forms in the art of Younes Rahmoun, create one-of-a-kind snowflakes in all different shapes and textures by cutting, folding, tracing, and painting. Light refreshments will be served. From 4–8 p.m., explore and enjoy four floors of art! Plan your visit here: scma.smith.edu/visit

CRSL will hold Reading Week Hospitality in Bodman Lounge at the end of classes, from December 11 to December 18 during Chapel open hours. We will be offering coffee, tea, snacks, and treats. We also encourage students to use the Chapel Sanctuary, Blue Room, Wright Hall Prayer Space, and Neilson Reflection Room for meditation, reflection, and contemplation. Join us!

The Schacht Center will be closed for winter recess from Thursday, Dec. 19, at 4:30 p.m. until Monday, Jan. 6, at 9 a.m. If you need refills or have other pressing health needs, please call 413-585-2800 as soon as possible. Appointments are limited for the rest of the semester. Questions? Email healthservices@smith.edu or message through the portal. Here are some medical and mental health resources that are available to students while the Schacht Center is closed: smith.edu/your-campus/health-wellness/break

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