Postscript: Professor Botterill



Welcome to CalSO Postscript This newsletter features stories for and by Berkeley undergraduates. If you've attended CalSO, you've already learned a bit about the campus. Postscript hopes to expand your knowledge about some of the opportunities and advantages available to you. Postscript Fall 2006 Stories Welcome to Cal! \| Peer Education: GenEq Resource Center \| I "heart" consent \| Writer's block: a Berkeley tutor's experience \| Campus Politics: the ASUC and me \| Community Service: Hurricane Katrina Postscript Fall 2005 Stories Dear incoming freshmen \| Diversity in Berkeley \| Drinking 101 \| Research: Expand your undergraduate experience \| Paris, France: Fall 2003

Professor Botterill speaking to new students during a CalSO welcome address. Photo by Jenne Mowry.				Welcome to Cal! In a few short weeks you will be joining one of the liveliest communities on Planet Earth, and all of us here are looking forward to your arrival. Each new class brings its own potential for extending the great traditions of this University in directions no one has thought of before; now it's your turn. Berkeley will offer you every possible opportunity to learn and to grow. You will have access to unparalleled resources for exploring the ideas that interest you and discovering ideas that you never even knew were interesting; you will be surrounded by smart people like yourself, who love to read and think and discuss and argue and puzzle things out. And you will each bring to this vibrant community your own set of gifts and your own unique personality; every one of you will find the place that's right for you in this wonderful ongoing conversation that we call Berkeley. Your years here will be exciting in ways that now you probably can't even imagine; and if you make the most of them, if you draw to the full on the rich intellectual banquet that Berkeley puts before you, you will leave here not only with a degree, but with something much more important: an education. But Berkeley is more than just a great place to study, and studying is far from the only thing you can do here. (Though if you don't study at all, you may not find yourself staying around as long as you might like!) Life in Berkeley is full of opportunities outside the classroom as well: whatever your interest, whether sports, the arts, politics, volunteer activities, music, or just relaxing on a sunny day and enjoying the outstanding natural beauty of the San Francisco Bay Area, it's here for you to explore. You may well find that there don't seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything that you want! So if I had to give you one piece of advice on coping with the challenges that await you here at Berkeley, it would be this: slow down, and look around. Now is the best chance you will ever have to take your time to think about who you are, who you want to be, and how to become that person; now is the best chance you will ever have to try something new, to take a course in an area you've never studied before, to meet people whose interests and backgrounds are different from yours, to begin to taste the best of what the world has to offer. Don't get so caught up in the flurry of coursework and social life that you have no time to stop and think about the meaning of what you're doing; don't get so deeply involved in any one thing that you can no longer find the right balance between all the different things you have to do. And if you do find yourself needing advice, or guidance, don't hesitate to ask for it. Berkeley is full of people whose job is to help students who have questions --and yes, that includes faculty! Once again, welcome to Cal. We can't wait to have you join us. May your time here be everything you hope for or dream of-and more. --Steven Botterill Associate Professor & Undergraduate Adviser, Department of Italian Studies Associate Dean Undergraduate Division College of Letters & Science Editor-in-chief "Dante Studies"


Postscript Fall 2006 Stories Welcome to Cal! \| Peer Education: GenEq Resource Center \| I "heart" consent \| Writer's block: a Berkeley tutor's experience \| Campus Politics: the ASUC and me \| Community Service: Hurricane Katrina Postscript Fall 2005 Stories Dear incoming freshmen \| Diversity in Berkeley \| Drinking 101 \| Research: Expand your undergraduate experience \| Paris, France: Fall 2003
This site is overseen by New Student Services, a unit of the Office of Student Development, University of California, Berkeley, resource@berkeley.edu \| 510/642-4970 (weekdays, 8am-5pm, PDT) \| 2610 Channing Way #2272 \| University of California \| Berkeley, CA 94720-2272 \| CalSO Questions \| Technical Questions \| Privacy Statement \| Disclaimer \| UC Berkeley Home \| (c) 2001-2008 by the UC Regents. \| Photos may not be used without permission.



Welcome to CalSO Postscript This newsletter features stories for and by Berkeley undergraduates. If you've attended CalSO, you've already learned a bit about the campus. Postscript hopes to expand your knowledge about some of the opportunities and advantages available to you. Postscript Fall 2006 Stories Welcome to Cal! \| Peer Education: GenEq Resource Center \| I "heart" consent \| Writer's block: a Berkeley tutor's experience \| Campus Politics: the ASUC and me \| Community Service: Hurricane Katrina Postscript Fall 2005 Stories Dear incoming freshmen \| Diversity in Berkeley \| Drinking 101 \| Research: Expand your undergraduate experience \| Paris, France: Fall 2003

Professor Botterill speaking to new students during a CalSO welcome address. Photo by Jenne Mowry.				Welcome to Cal! In a few short weeks you will be joining one of the liveliest communities on Planet Earth, and all of us here are looking forward to your arrival. Each new class brings its own potential for extending the great traditions of this University in directions no one has thought of before; now it's your turn. Berkeley will offer you every possible opportunity to learn and to grow. You will have access to unparalleled resources for exploring the ideas that interest you and discovering ideas that you never even knew were interesting; you will be surrounded by smart people like yourself, who love to read and think and discuss and argue and puzzle things out. And you will each bring to this vibrant community your own set of gifts and your own unique personality; every one of you will find the place that's right for you in this wonderful ongoing conversation that we call Berkeley. Your years here will be exciting in ways that now you probably can't even imagine; and if you make the most of them, if you draw to the full on the rich intellectual banquet that Berkeley puts before you, you will leave here not only with a degree, but with something much more important: an education. But Berkeley is more than just a great place to study, and studying is far from the only thing you can do here. (Though if you don't study at all, you may not find yourself staying around as long as you might like!) Life in Berkeley is full of opportunities outside the classroom as well: whatever your interest, whether sports, the arts, politics, volunteer activities, music, or just relaxing on a sunny day and enjoying the outstanding natural beauty of the San Francisco Bay Area, it's here for you to explore. You may well find that there don't seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything that you want! So if I had to give you one piece of advice on coping with the challenges that await you here at Berkeley, it would be this: slow down, and look around. Now is the best chance you will ever have to take your time to think about who you are, who you want to be, and how to become that person; now is the best chance you will ever have to try something new, to take a course in an area you've never studied before, to meet people whose interests and backgrounds are different from yours, to begin to taste the best of what the world has to offer. Don't get so caught up in the flurry of coursework and social life that you have no time to stop and think about the meaning of what you're doing; don't get so deeply involved in any one thing that you can no longer find the right balance between all the different things you have to do. And if you do find yourself needing advice, or guidance, don't hesitate to ask for it. Berkeley is full of people whose job is to help students who have questions --and yes, that includes faculty! Once again, welcome to Cal. We can't wait to have you join us. May your time here be everything you hope for or dream of-and more. --Steven Botterill Associate Professor & Undergraduate Adviser, Department of Italian Studies Associate Dean Undergraduate Division College of Letters & Science Editor-in-chief "Dante Studies"


Postscript Fall 2006 Stories Welcome to Cal! \| Peer Education: GenEq Resource Center \| I "heart" consent \| Writer's block: a Berkeley tutor's experience \| Campus Politics: the ASUC and me \| Community Service: Hurricane Katrina Postscript Fall 2005 Stories Dear incoming freshmen \| Diversity in Berkeley \| Drinking 101 \| Research: Expand your undergraduate experience \| Paris, France: Fall 2003
This site is overseen by New Student Services, a unit of the Office of Student Development, University of California, Berkeley, resource@berkeley.edu \| 510/642-4970 (weekdays, 8am-5pm, PDT) \| 2610 Channing Way #2272 \| University of California \| Berkeley, CA 94720-2272 \| CalSO Questions \| Technical Questions \| Privacy Statement \| Disclaimer \| UC Berkeley Home \| (c) 2001-2008 by the UC Regents. \| Photos may not be used without permission.