The University of Oregon’s annual Week of Welcome for new students offers something for everyone. Students can make a mug in a ceramics class; learning to browse the World Wide Web; apply for student loans; or find adventure on a river rafting, mountain climbing or biking trek. They also can learn how to use the library, study more efficiently, investigate career choices and join a Freshman Interest Group designed to help newcomers connect with good study buddies. Even new students’ parents have special programs that help them find out how to let go but stay connected. Each new student receives a 30-page program listing both serious and fun classes and activities that start at 8:30 a.m. and continue through the evening. Student Orientation begins Wednesday, Sept. 23, and includes academic advising, placement testing and registration. Welcome Week continues through the start of classes Monday, Sept. 28. SOURCE: Kris Winter, director, Office of Student Orientation, (541) 346-1142.

What restaurant at the University of Oregon has great food, stylish ambiance and all the amenities of a destination food court? All of the eateries at the newly remodeled Erb Memorial Union (EMU). Returning students will hardly recognize the old Fishbowl eating area. A year-long, $4 million renovation has turned the formerly Spartan space into a roomy eating area where patrons can relax in large comfortable chairs, spacious booths or at coffee house-style counters with stools. The remodel was funded with dedicated student building fees–no state dollars were used. Eight restaurants on the EMU main floor now dish up everything from vegetarian fare to subway sandwiches. "One exciting innovation allows five community vendors to share one booth," says food service director Theresa Coleman-Kaiser. "Each of the vendors uses the booth one day of the week, moving out at closing time to make way for the next vendor. We may be the only collegiate retail food service in the country doing this." The renovation plan was based on market research conducted by

Thomas Ricca Associates, a Denver, Colo., firm. "The students told us they didn’t want an institutional look," says EMU director Dusty Miller. "For example, the Buzz–the downstairs coffee shop–offers espresso drinks, pastries and unique sandwiches. It’s not at all institutional nor is the setting." SOURCES: Charles "Dusty" Miller, director, Erb Memorial Union, (541) 346-6063, e-mail <dusty@oregon.uoregon.edu>; and Theresa Coleman-Kaiser, (541) 346-3719, e-mail <Theresa_Coleman-Kaiser@ccmail.uoregon.edu>.

What began 25 years ago as a single class taught by a part-time instructor evolved into a new undergraduate degree program offered for the first time this fall at the UO. "It took years of hard work," says program director Barbara Corrado Pope. "When we started, I had an office in the basement of Prince Lucien Campbell Hall, right next to Ethnic Studies and Environmental Studies. I called it the floor of ephemeral studies." Due to growing student interest, Women’s Studies and Ethnic Studies since have joined Environmental Studies in offering UO students an undergraduate degree. "Women’s Studies has been tremendously popular since the very beginning," Pope remembers. The first year, 60 students signed up for the course. "When people take a course in women’s studies, they quickly realize that gender is a very crucial form of analysis in any field. It’s a powerful intellectual discovery that gender is so important. You can’t study history, anthropology or literature without considering gender roles," Pope says. SOURCE: Barbara Corrado Pope, director, UO Women’s Studies program, (541) 346-5523; e-mail <bcpope@oregon.uoregon.edu>.

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