What Now? What’s Next? Life after/outside of AUW workshop was first initiated in Spring of 2013 when the Asian Studies faculty realized that the first graduating class majoring in Asian Studies had concerns about post graduation. Their concerns were valid given that both Liberal Arts and Asian Studies was a concept in this part of the region. The first workshop included Asian Studies students and faculty having an open ended discussion about the major concerns of the students regarding post graduation. The faculty members then involved the students to brainstorm ideas about the tools and skills they developed over the years studying at AUW to use to overcome their concerns. The workshop concluded with an evaluation and feedback from the students. The faculty members then realized that the concerns were not only centered around the Asian Studies students but for all the students from the graduating class.
In Spring of 2014 the Asian Studies professor, who initiated the What Now? Workshop included the Office of the Dean of Students staff (Asst. Dean, Psychologist), Director of Career Development Center (CDC), AUW alumnae who were then working at AUW Fellows, to the workshop.
The workshop was broken into three segments:
Segment 1: Presentations from AUW alumnae and faculty and staff
Segment 2: Students were asked to break into groups to brainstorm ideas
of how to deal with their post graduation problems followed by presentations by each group
Segment 3: Feedback and evaluation from the attendees
Asian Studies Professor and Asst. Dean of Students turned the 2-hour workshop into a semester long workshop series.
Fall 2015
September 28 : Grad School 101 (Office – CDC)
October 6 : Grad School 101: Follow up Q/A Session (Office/Person – EmilyC & Sharmistha)
October 10 : Fact Finding (Office – Dean’s Office)
October 24 : Senior Year Experience
Remaining workshops of the series were cancelled.