Dear CITASA'lers, As part of my new, temporary gig as interim Associate Dean of the Graduate School I have been asked to update some of our information and recruitment strategies. This includes a beta effort at running a student fair in SecondLife. The event is scheduled for Thursday 1/29/09 from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. Featured graduate programs include: * Applied Sociology (MS) * Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management (MS and PhD) * Human Resource Development (MA - a distance education program) * Industrial Engineering (MS and PhD) * Computer Science (MS and PhD) * Business Administration (MBA) * Entomology (MS) This may be of research interest to members of the list-participants will be there from Thothica, a very interesting SL education group and from the Carolina Virtual Worlds Consortium. And, if any of your undergrads are interested in our program, please do invite them to attend. Instructions for getting on SL and how to find the fair are provided below. Thanks, jim ________________________________________________________________________ __________________ Dear Prospective Students In an effort to get as much information as possible to prospective students, we are trying something new this year. On January 29th 2009, we will hold our first ever SecondLife Graduate Student Fair. If you are not familiar with SecondLife (SL) www.secondlife.com <http://www.secondlife.com/> , it is a web-based virtual world. In SL you are represented by an avatar. You can walk, fly and teleport about a variety of islands. You and your avatar can participate in text or voice chat with others on these islands. For our Student Fair, we have built a special place on the Clemson University Graduate School SL Island. The Island has information about programs, examples of student projects and video presentations by faculty and students. On January 29, 2009, all day from midnight (12:01 am) till midnight (11:59 p.m. US Eastern Standard Time), faculty and students representing the graduate school and particular programs will be on the island, behind our avatars. We'd like to have you come meet us, learn about our programs, and have us answer your questions. Now everyone has the opportunity to visit our campus and learn firsthand about graduate education at Clemson! How to participate: 1) If you are familiar with SL and already have an avatar, you are all set. If you know you'd like to talk with someone about a particular program at a particular time, send an email and we'll set up an appointment. (jwitte@clemson.edu) 2) If you are new to SL there are a few steps to follow. (This will take about one hour-it's best to try this out a couple of days before the 29th, just in case you run into any problems. If you do have problems, email jwitte@clemson.edu ) 3) Find a computer with SL installed or download the software to an appropriate computer with at least a cable or DSL connection. System requirements are located at: http://secondlife.com/support/sysreqs.php . I have it installed on my 3 year old Lenovo T-60 laptop and it runs fine over the wireless router to my DSL. 4) Get a free SL account and create your avatar. 5) Go to Orientation Island and learn the basics: walking, flying, teleporting and chatting. 6) Explore the worlds, including our space, which you can locate by using the Search function, selecting "Places" and typing in "Clemson University Graduate School" or you may use: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Clemson%20University%20GS/192/195/32 We look forward to meeting you on the Island. Jim Witte Associate Dean and Professor of Sociology Clemson University (jwitte@clemson.edu ) ps. Also please join the Clemson University Graduate School Facebook group, which provides a ready link to our web page. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------- James Witte Interim Associate Dean of the Graduate School & Professor of Sociology Clemson University Phone: 864.656.3816. Department of Sociology & Anthropology Fax: 864.656.1252 123D Brackett Hall Web page: http://people.clemson.edu/%7Ejwitte/ <http://people.clemson.edu/~jwitte/> Clemson, SC 29634-13566