A student studies in the Women's Center in Clark hall. The Center heades campus orientations as well as providing a varety of services to the community. photo by Sam Kasle

Helping students stay in school are not the only goals of the Women's Center. Responsibilities for new student orientation are also being handled through the Center by its coordinator, Joanne Bocci.

Bocci said the Center, established in 1973, has grown over the years and the position of coordinator was expanded to full-time in 1980. She said it was at that time the duties of new student orientation were assigned to the coordinator of the Center.

The Center regularly provides programming in the form of workshops and speakers on various topics.

Additional services provided by the Center include the handling of student sexual harassment complaints, crisis intervention, access to educational material, and a library. The Center also provides an emergency contact service.

"Students can come in, fill out a form with their schedule of classes and where they hang out," Bocci said, "and if it's an emergency, we'll come and get you out of class, you know, if your child is sick or whatever."

Of the six student orientation sessions throughout the year, the Center runs three over the summer. This year, the sessions will be held Jun. 4 and 5, and Aug. 14, 20, and 21. There will be one more session the Saturday before the Winter semester. These orientations are held in the J. C. Penney Building.

Bocci said the orientations help new students to understand what the faculty on campus are like and what the expectations will be for them at UM-St. Louis.

"We use just about every room we can get our hands on at J.C. Penney," Bocci said, "because we have break-out sessions and we do a lot of [seminars]."

Bocci said that the break-out sessions will provide information on career counseling, online services, and financial aid services. She said the UMSL Market Place for Student Learning will be set up to provide students with information on student organizations.

Bocci said student leaders will be participating in the orientation and are assigned to a group of new students to assist them by giving tours of the campus and being a contact person for the new students. Student leaders also help with the final details before orientation begins. Bocci said there are three or four paid positions as student leaders that need to be filled. Information regarding these positions can be obtained from Melissa Stack at The Women's Center or call 516-5380 for more information on the Center itself.