You Can’t Miss It! Dr. Denise Horn, Dean of College of Liberal Arts, Walks You through the Major Meetings

Dr. Denise Horn, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, attended meetings of various majors in the College and started face-to-face discussions with students to help them better adapt to the intense demands of higher education.  The goal is to assist students with the adversities in their studies and integrate the educational concept and philosophy of the College

On April 12, Dr. Horn made her first appearance at the psychology meeting.  Here, Dr. Horn made a brief self-introduction and had a cordial talk with psychology students.  In order to help more students apply to their dream universities, Tang Wenhao, who is going to Northwestern University, and Zhang Wenxuan, who successfully minored in Psychology and is going to Columbia University, shared their experiences of applying for graduate universities.  Among them, Tang focused on the significance of GPA and language scores and the tips in the interview process, such as being polite, seizing the opportunity to speak, and having an independent perspective.  Zhang shared his experience in aspects of college assessment requirements and how to prepare the application and called on students to “hold on to yourself.”  Much of this information inspired the audience to become enthusiastic about Psychology.  This talk ended with a Q&A session.  Dr. Horn addressed the students’ questions and proposed new perspectives.

The English meeting was successfully held on April 21.  Unlike previous meetings, Dr. Horn first asked students what courses they anticipated the most, who are their favorite professors， and what plans they had for their future as English majors.  In addition to explaining the four-year plan to students, Dr. Horn also brought exciting news: The English department will add a new literature option to choose from.  Dr. Hogsette, Executive Director of the School of English Studies, said that new elective courses would be offered in the new semester.  Dr. Marquardt, Prof. Vikhnevich, Dr. Adhikari, and other professors also explained the general content of the new courses to the students in detail.  Dr. Hogsette also mentioned that it is essential to enrich students’ activities in their professional fields while organizing professional courses, such as English film appreciation, outdoor outings, puzzle game interaction, and daily lectures.

On April 28, the communication meeting was held as scheduled.  Dr. Horn met Communication students in the afternoon.  In the beginning, Prof. Abigail Ajim introduced the Communication major, focusing on the goals and plans.  In order to acknowledge students current development in Communication, Prof. Ajim also updated the progress of the current projects, such as the approval of the iMac lab for video production and the establishment of a course practice base.  The year 2022 will be a milestone year for the Communication major, with the first batch of graduates from WKU going to the global stage.  Graduate representative Chen Xin and Zhao Wei Yuan also shared their experiences with the students.  Chen said she had learned a lot here and thankedWKU and professors for their guidance.  She also mentioned her hope that scientific research courses in Communication could open in the future, where professors could lead students to explore more unknown fields and analyze data with SPSS to improve their research abilities in Communication.  At the same time, in the Fall of 2022, there will be new Communication professors.  Dr. Agata Wrochna and Dr. Imran Khan appeared at the meeting and greeted the students.  Prof. John Chua also participated in the meeting online.  At the end of the meeting, Dr.Horn took the stage, interacted warmly with the students, and shared the significance of communication studies to further studies and careers.

The conference of the College of Liberal Arts ended in cheers and applause.  Students benefited a lot from the Dean’s meetings held recently.  Dr. Horn has provided information helped students think about their future study, life, and career planning while strengthening their determination to pursue the path of humanities and social sciences.  As Dr.Horn encouraged, “The unknowns and mysteries of humanities challenge you and can change your life direction at a time when you do not even know it.  College of Liberal Arts is committed to helping you find the path.”