Excel! Mills

Tea Shop and Faculty Lounge Outlets

2010-03-11T12:08:00.001-08:00

Ever tried to study in the Tea Shop and/or the Faculty Lounge and can't find an outlet to plug your laptop in? How great would it be if either there were additional outlets OR power surge protectors were placed throughout the rooms so more students could have access to use their laptops... Just a thought....

Discontinuing selling wine at the Tea Shop?

2010-03-10T22:20:00.001-08:00

I just overheard that food service may discontinue selling wine. I didn't even know they sold wine, but I certainly don't want them to drop it from the menu now that I know about it. I was told to put a suggestion card into the box, but alas there were no cards to fill out. Maybe a post here would help?

[Thanks for the blog.]

More Art Projects on Campus!

2010-03-09T16:57:00.001-08:00

There are so many boring blank walls in the buildings on campus. No more boring walls!!!

I suggest that Mills to commission its art students to do projects on those walls.
The quality of the art must be closely monitored by the community before it goes up to the wall.

Yun Miao

How about a Car Share Program?

2010-03-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

Being a resident student at Mills is really tough without a car. Maybe
the College could implement a car-sharing program like Saint Mary's
College of California. They use a program called WeCar.

Or Try "Uncriticism"

2010-03-05T20:23:00.001-08:00

The "We are so lucky!" post got me thinking. How about identifying places in Mills where something is done really well already and where you just want to tell other parts of Mills that they should do it that way. Some posts already did this by mentioning a good experience, but what about telling all offices they should do something like the way the, say, M-center (for example) does something. Or tell all professors about the best class experience you've had and why it worked so well (you don't even need to name the instructor -- just say "more classes should..."). Or that good thing that happened once here and that should happen again. Or the one piece of the institution that really really has its act together and why. And so on....

-- Dan Ryan

Staff and Faculty Welcome to Post Suggestions Too!

2010-03-05T19:04:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder to staff and faculty that you too can be a source of solutions, problems, suggestions, wild ideas, and/or disgruntlements. And you can post with or without attribution by email (the email comes in without a return address -- if you want credit, include your name in the text of the email). Send your post to

mills2010.excel-mills@blogger.com

with the title of your post in the subject line. HTML and links are welcome in the text of the post.

Thanks,

Dan Ryan

We are so lucky!

2010-03-05T15:16:00.002-08:00

I don't dispute the validity of all the recent posts, but I have to say that Mills is doing a great job in general. Hey, at least we are privileged enough to have cars to get to campus at all, have free on-campus parking, have a free shuttle, and many school programs that I believe are highly relevant to the real needs of students. I think the real challenge for Mills is not to "sell out." In the pursuit of higher enrollment, Mills should not lose sight of what attracted current students: small classes, academic excellence, a small, intimate setting, a progressive/alternative school culture (at least as compared to other universities). Instead of focusing on adding the latest conveniences, can Mills focus on retaining its character? It would be such a shame to see Mills become the academic version of a strip mall.

Lighting On Campus

2010-03-04T16:29:00.000-08:00

Walking from Vera Long after evening classes recently made me realize how deadly dark some spots on campus are. The steps down from Vera Long toward the parking lots are totally dark -- hard to see where you are walking. And the path from Vera Long over to the art buildings has some parts where you can't see a thing after sunset. Partly because tree branches obscure lights and because existing lights are burned out, but also some spots in need of lights.

I bet there are other places. Maybe rather than demanding some sort of "light audit" people could just chime in with places they've noticed are dangerously dark.

Publish Course Evaluations

2010-03-04T13:24:00.001-08:00

Wouldn't it make sense to have student evaluations of courses available somewhere so that students could see what people who had taken a class before thought about the course? Not the individual ratings, of course, but the averages for a given course on the various questions on those forms. Or maybe there is some other system that would allow students to benefit from "inside" info of those who had gone before?

How to Make the Tag (Label) Cloud

2010-03-03T20:15:00.000-08:00

Several folks have written to ask what widget code was used to make the label cloud to the right. It's called Blogumus. It's a combination of JavaScript and Flash animation that parses and displays the labels that have been added to the posts on the blog. It's easy to install and customize.

Mills Van Schedule Not Coordinated With Class Schedule

2010-02-24T20:17:00.000-08:00

I am very upset that the Mills Van Schedule was not designed to get students to their classes on time.

Notice that one morning van arrives at 10:10. This makes the van a bad choice for any student in the science department, or a morning Spanish or PE class, because most of these classes START AT 10 AM.

Students taking a 1 PM class must arrive on campus at 11:30 AM if their only option is the van, because the next one after that arrives at 1:20!

My final concern is with getting off campus. For those of us who take evening classes that end at 6:30: the van fails us once again, leaving only ten minutes before we can reach it---at 6:20. Students have to wait an hour until the next van at 7:25 PM.

Monday–Friday

Depart Mills	Arrive Kaiser	Arrive Rockridge	Depart Sproul	Depart Rockridge	Depart Kaiser	Arrive Mills
6:45a		7:00a	7:15a	7:30a		7:50a
7:50a		8:10a	8:25a	8:40a		9:00a
9:00a		9:20a	9:35a	9:50a		10:10a
10:20a		10:40a	10:55a	11:10a		11:30a
12:10p		12:30p	12:45p	1:00p		1:20p
1:20p		1:40p	1:55p	2:10p		2:30p
3:00p		3:15p	3:30p	3:45p		4:05p
4:05p		4:20p	4:35p	4:50p		5:10p
5:10p		5:30p	5:45p	6:00p		6:20p
6:20p		6:40p	6:55p	7:10p		7:25p
7:25p		7:40p	7:55p	8:10p		8:25p
9:30p		9:45p	10:00p	10:15p		10:30p

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this is that many of us have the impression that the folks in charge of the van service aren't interested in our feedback.

[Posted for MD]

Connecting Students and Alumnae/i

2010-02-24T12:28:00.001-08:00

Can Mills put into place stronger formal links with individual alumnae/i for informational interviews- networking? With 22,000? Alumni, can the College work with the Alumnae/i Association to have a big feature in the alumnae magazine and online digest to recruit in several categories: mentors, information interview contact, etc. This would have to be a BIG pitch

From an alumna, now in grad school at Mills.

[Posted from email]

The Womens' Bathroom in Lucy Stern

2010-02-24T11:48:00.001-08:00

This bathroom is both a historic artifact and a stunning example of the art work of Mills' women. Instead of painting it over at the end of each year and making it a palimpset, we should allow each class to add their own work to the walls.

Parking!

2010-02-24T09:58:00.001-08:00

WHY do commuters get tickets for parking in Residents parking spots, but Residents DON'T get tickets for parking in commuter spots? And WHY did they just take away a bunch of commuter spots for handicap spaces without replacing the commuter spots?? WE NEED MORE COMMUTER SPOTS CLOSE TO OUR CLASSES!!!

[Posted for Deanna Sanders]

Student disconnection?

2010-02-23T23:22:00.000-08:00

Recently I have worked with a number of students who have had to take time away from Mills to address financial or health issues. Sadly, because these students are on academic probation, they have only one choice: Withdrawal from Mills.

Although I can tell students how simple the readmission process can be, the sense is that Mills is "throwing" them out, or that they are not welcome at Mills. They leave Mills feeling disconnected-perhaps forever.

Mills has invested in these students and they may be lost to Mills forever.

While there is certainly a reason why this policy is in place, might Mills wish to consider a pilot program where students in such a situation might be given up to two semesters away in a new status (with ongoing connection with the College during time away) so that they can remedy the situation and then come back to Mills to graduate and leave Mills with a real sense of investment on their part and that of the College?

Just a question.

[Posted for KG]

How to Improve First Academic Advising Meeting

2010-02-23T22:50:00.000-08:00

How might Mills make it easier for entering students to prepare for the first academic advising meeting?

How might this be different for entering first time freshwomen, for traditional transfer students and for resuming women who may be beginning their college career?

What suggestions do students have?

[Posted for KG]

Work Study and Faculty Research Assistants

2010-02-23T19:24:00.001-08:00

Why are so many work study jobs in mundane tasks like guarding the library door or IDs at the pool? Why don't we set aside some work study positions for being a "research" assistant to a faculty member? Admittedly, there might not be enough to go around or maybe every professor wouldn't be interested, but it should be an option.

Change the Schedule

2010-02-23T19:14:00.001-08:00

Mills has a funny pattern of twice a week classes: M-W, T-Th. It ends up meaning there is one day between half the classes and 4 between the others. And, the campus is practically empty on Fridays.

Why is it set up this way? Makes it possible for some professors to have three day teaching work weeks. The argument that it allows students to have short weeks (and perhaps thus have days on which they can pursue employment) doesn't make too much sense -- all that's guaranteed is a Friday off if not in science/math courses.

Why don't we modify the schedule so that we have Mon-Thur classes and Tu-Fri classes (along with MWF and one day a week classes as needed)?

Benefits would be more efficient use of facilities, less of a feeling that campus is a ghost town on Friday, more evenly spaced time for completing work between classes, and so on.

There is one downside here which is that there would be more time collisions between 3 day per week science classes and two day a week non-science classes but this could be managed by a wise choice of course slots. Now the MW morning slots conflict with lots of MWF morning slots. The new effect would be on some TuTh slots.

I think that we should try to make the campus less of a "I only come here when I need to" place (for both students and faculty) and this would contribute to that goal too.

Mills: Not so Green in the Dorms

2010-02-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

So I know Mills is trying to push the Green image, but they are missing out on a huge opportunity within the dorms. Students should be able to compost their waste in the dorms. Just yesterday I had to throw out a box from the Tea Shop that could have been composted if we were given compost cans in our dorm kitchens. Mills has covered the recycle bins in the dorms, and now they need to add a compost bin. If it works, maybe they can even take it a step further. Instead of just having a small trash can and recycle bin in our rooms, we could add in a small compost container.

[Posted for email user]

Foreign Languages

2010-02-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

…and while on the topic of classes we could use more of, why not some foreign language courses besides Chinese and Arabic? Even high school has basic language learning like German, Spanish, etc. Why not Mills College, too? We are a private, esteemed college, but we don’t even have some basic class choices. Do we want tons of people taking classes at Berkeley? No. We are Mills students. We want to take classes here. So give us more classes that are lacking!

[Posted by DR for CB]

No food during weekends is a killer

2010-02-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

No food during weekends is a killer. Truth be told in college their is only a couple things that gather students around and one of them is food. For now, Suzie’s or the Tea Shop needs to be open during the weekend. While at the community meeting, they said they tried and had negative income, a semester is not an adequate amount of time to determine if students are using it or not. Plus, it was advertised poorly. In the long run, vendors other than Bon Appetitt because the grills 8 options gets old pretty quickly.

[Posted for MS by DR]

Provide Toys in Dorms!

2010-02-13T11:46:00.000-08:00

Until the actual new student union is built for social events, housing needs to improve situation in dorms. Need pool tables, air hockey tables, board games etc. The only fun equipment is in the commuter lounge which is never even used by commuters in the weekend usually.

[Posted for MS by DR]

Facilitate Enjoyment of Bay Area & Oakland

2010-02-13T11:40:00.001-08:00

Our literature and website are all excited about being in the Bay Area. How much do students actually experience of what they could experience of the Bay Area? What are the impediments if not? Knowledge, transportation, time?
Explore Oakland! Mills should take first years around Oakland on the shuttle for field trips. Many people are intimidated of Oakland and need to see the beauty it really has. Just taking them twice per semester to different spots can ease them in and help them go themselves later on.
Yes? No? What keeps you in? What activities/places have you found that others should too? What would get you out? What do you wonder if there is anywhere out there?

[Posted for MS by DR]

Dancers and Sports Medicine

2010-02-13T11:31:00.000-08:00

We need to give Dance Majors access to the sport’s injury specialist that we (already) have on campus. We get sports injuries too but are refused access to the sports training facilities because the school does not consider dance majors “athletes” and thus will not pay the insurance so that we could have the same coverage and access that the other athletic women and recreational sport teams on campus are entitled to.

Post by Amy

Using Blog for "Customer" Feedback

2010-02-06T15:28:00.000-08:00

Southwest Airlines provides a great model for using a blog as a part of both informing customers about something and getting feedback and suggestions. The post that made me think so is this one about their plans to have WIFI on Southwest aircraft. Two things stand out: one is the constructive way that the customers offer suggestions and state their preferences. The other is the tone with with the Southwest staff chime in now and then. Worth filing under "things to emulate."

Pictures, Databases, and the Personal Touch

2010-01-30T13:14:00.000-08:00

It's a no-brainer that teachers learning their students' names falls under "the more, the sooner, the better." And it's a safe bet that the classroom works better when the students know one another (at least by name) and that such classroom level solidarity will translate to higher levels of feeling connected on the campus as a whole.

So why don't we deploy our database technology to facilitate it? The raw materials are there: Banner has student pictures. Banner has class rosters. Faculty can access class rosters and click on individual students and see pictures. Why not add a few simple functions:

Click a button and you get a PDF (or MSWord) file of "index cards" with student names, basic info, and pictures. Faculty member can print out. Oila, index cards with names and photos.
Click a button and you get a single web page with pictures and names (a bit like those grids of pictures we used to get in grade school). Easy -- it's just a page within myMills.
Click a button and you get a PDF (or MSWord) file of name placards. These can be printed out and students fold them and put them on desk in front of themselves.
Click on a class and you get a basic seating chart of the classroom assigned to it and a list of the students enrolled in the class. Drag names to seats and the program produces a seating chart with pictures and names.
And finally, here's a radical idea: we should find a way to let students do this too (after we test and refine the idea with a few focus groups). Within Banner or Blackboard a student should be able to push a button "who are my classmates" and see names and faces of classmates. If the lawyers get too worried about privacy and such it could be made an opt-in function -- when class begins students are asked to create an "index card" on which they can indicate what information can be seen by classmates ranging from nothing to picture, short bio, etc.

Note that at many schools secretaries or administrative assistants will produce these for faculty on request, but that's a poor use of resources given that we could write the above programs once and be done with it.

I've heard in the past that there's all manner of concern about privacy, the risk of pictures floating around on the web, etc. Of course, but please, let's treat these as problems that it's someone's job to solve, not someone's job to champion as roadblocks on the path to innovation.

Welcome

2010-01-28T17:49:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Excel! Mills blog. As the banner description says, this is all about how Mills can be fixed, upgraded, tweaked, modified, re-designed, polished, tightened, loosened, plumped up, slimmed down, jazzed up, worked over and so on to become an even better school. What should Mills do more of that it already does or what should it do less of? Are there things that some parts of the institution does that others should imitate? Where's the best "customer service"? Where's the worst? What do you walk past every day and wonder why no one ever changes it? This is meant to be a little more suggestion box than gripe session, but you don't have to have a solution to a problem to post or to comment ("me too!" is useful information).

To post an entry, send it by email to mills2010.excel-mills@blogger.com. As we get things rolling, posts are moderated and will appear asap. What we'll filter out are personal attacks and/or nastiness and the like so as to keep this a safe place for community conversation. But other than that, no limits.

To comment on a post just click on the comment button. You can supply your google ID or openID or you can also post anonymously if you prefer.

Thanks for your ideas on how Mills can affirmatively evolve!

Dan