First-year students (and beyond) can often find that interacting with the faculty at UW-Madison can be a daunting task. In an effort to make those interactions more approachable, Dr. Jenny Saffran, current Director of the L&S Honors Program, chatted with a host of students for the first Wednesday @ Washburn of the 2023-24 academic year. The Wednesday @ Washburn series has been an annual tradition within the L&S Honors Program for many years. Each month, the L&S Honors Program invites individuals of interest, typically UW faculty, to Washburn Observatory to chat with Honors students about whatever is on their minds. These conversations give faculty members the opportunity to not only share about their personal journeys to their current positions, but the individuals, events, and opportunities that helped them along the way.
On this Wednesday in September, Dr. Saffran had a packed house of expectant onlookers. While sharing pizza and treats, the students were delighted to hear about Dr. Saffran’s background, including her initial distaste for the field of Psychology (her current department). Students then had the opportunity to ask questions, ranging from family history to undergraduate and graduate school experiences to favorite psychological discoveries in the Infant Learning Lab.
Thank you to all those who made the event possible!