Good Morning, Griffins. WELCOME BACK to the 255! We hope that you all had a wonderful January break. We are excited to see all of you back in the virtual classroom, as well as those embarking on in person classes! We also wanted to promote some of the upcoming events of our Division and fill you in on how you can get involved!

Firstly, we want to highlight the amazing student led organizations offered within our division. Each of these clubs are amazing ways to actively participate in the MMC community and know about our college’s current events. The Social Sciences’ Assembly and Bedford Hills Club are two student led organizations that actively advocate for student led discussions and events around social justice and activism. These clubs partner closely with the Politics & Human Rights and International Studies departments to host amazing guest speakers and events. Be sure to check out both of their Instagram pages to stay updated on some awesome events. @socscimmc & @bedfordhills_mmc.

Secondly, speaking of the social sciences, the PHR/IS departments are hosting the Soujourner Truth Suffrage Academy this semester. The academy is a combination of content both in and out of the classroom to honor the centennial celebration of the Women’s Suffrage in the United States. Another goal of the program is to decolonize the discussions of feminism and look beyond traditional Western, Eurocentric stories of the feminist movement. To read more about the Suffrage Academy check out our previous post on the 255 [here]. This first week of classes is a great time to add and drop courses, if need be. Check out the Suffrage Academy’s list of courses to see if any of them fulfill your AIPs. Finally, follow us on Instagram @humsoc_mmc to stay up to date on the PHR/IS event series.

Also, to highlight our wonderful English and World Literature’s department, we would like to inform you of their upcoming semesters events. Although their Spring 2021 calendar is not currently published, the EWL department never fails to engage students through interactive seminars and discussions around reading world literature and creative writing. These events are often time great opportunities to learn more about the specific areas of expertise of the EWL Faculty, and showcase student work. Our Instagram page, @ewlmmc, will post alerts regarding more information about these programs as the semester progresses.

Finally, we wanted to send you all a reminder to care of yourself this upcoming semester. As we are sure you are aware, these are unprecedented times. Now more than ever it is crucial to keep a continued dialogue between your mind and body. Self-care is SOOO important. Your academic success is important to us, yes. But health and well being should always be our top priority, even and especially in the chaos. Take care of yourselves, and each other!

We look forward to bringing you new segments of #FacultyFeatures, #StudentSpotlights, and a new blog series to be released soon entitled #AcademiaIRL. We are incredibly excited about the ongoing activities of our Division and are eager to share these events, posts, and spotlights with you each week. Again, we’re sending a WARM welcome back, especially during a snow storm, and wish you all the best in the upcoming Spring semester. As always, we would like to remind everyone to be kind, stay safe, and enjoy your first week back at MMC!