After an abrupt end to the Fall semester, Cornell Campus Activities welcomes back new and returning students to campus with Weeks of Welcome — a series of workshops, panels and performances — from Jan. 24 to Feb. 20. In accordance with the University’s recent policy, all events will be virtual until Feb. 7, when in-person classes are expected to resume.
Weeks of Welcome programming features a variety of events, including career advice workshops covering different industries, virtual film showings organized by Cornell Cinema and ClubFest, which will be held in-person on Feb. 20.
Soup and Hope — a speaker series that invites Cornell faculty, staff, students and alumni to reflect diverse cultural, religious, political and philosophical experiences and beliefs — will also host five talks on Thursdays during Weeks of Welcome and beyond.
This spring, the series will feature Dr. Jacque Tara Washington, a mental health therapist working in Counseling and Psychological Services at Cornell Health; Michelle Artibee, director of workforce wellbeing in the Division of Human Resources; Prof. Alan Mathios, policy analysis and management; Sokhnadiarra Ndiaye ’24, a campus engaged ambassador; and Zebadiah Hall, director of student disability services at Cornell Health.
In addition, Cornell Concert Commission, an organization that plans and produces live music shows across campus, will host an event in Bailey Hall for Weeks of Welcome on Feb. 12.
After canceling their Homecoming concert due to the last COVID-19 outbreak on campus, the Concert Commission has made necessary adjustments to continue hosting in-person events.
“We’ve made up for not being able to have as many large concerts by having additional smaller concerts, and more events outside of concerts,” Miles Greenblatt ’22, promotions director for the Concert Commission, said. “We still feel like we’re serving the Cornell community at the same level we would in previous semesters.”
Although in-person activities will have resumed by the day of the concert, the Concert Commission will continue to take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Guests will have to remain in their seats, and masks will be required per University policy. The concert will also be shorter than the organization’s typical events, according to Greenblatt, to reduce the possibility of COVID-19 transmission.
The Concert Commission has not yet finalized the artist for the Weeks of Welcome concert, but it plans to announce the performer on social media in the near future.
“Hopefully, we can be representative of the interests of as much of the [Cornell] community as possible,” Greenblatt said, “so that we can bring live music, at an affordable cost, to students.”
The Concert Commission event, along with the other Weeks of Welcome programs, can be found on Cornell’s campus activities website. The calendar will continue to be updated as more organizations plan events.