PHILADELPHIA-- Incoming freshmen in the University of Pennsylvania's College of Arts and Sciences can register for courses and communicate with academic advisors face-to-face before the fall semester begins without stepping foot on campus thanks to a series of live webcasts.  

Participants can submit questions before and during the webcasts July 12, 2-3 p.m. (EDT), and July 26, 6-7 p.m. (EDT), by logging onto www.college.upenn.edu/freshmen/webcast/index.html.

College Dean Dennis DeTurck; Janet Tighe, dean of freshmen and director of academic advising; and other College faculty, advisors and students are participating in the webcasts.

"The webcasts provide a lively, interesting way for our incoming students, and sometimes their parents, to connect with people in the College at Penn," DeTurck said.  "It's important for us to reach out through as many communication channels as possible, so that our students begin to engage with the important questions they need to consider on their way in.

"You have a large population of incoming students and parents interacting in the live webcast, but many more are interested in viewing the archived ones posted on the College website," Tighe said.  "They've received hundreds of hits."

The first webcast of the summer took place on June 28.   

Advance registration for fall semester courses began June 26 and runs through July 28.  Each incoming freshman has received a packet with registration information including the names of his or her pre-major advisor and peer advisor.  In the mailing, students are asked to begin their academic journey by completing a questionnaire about their intellectual interests and skills.  This questionnaire is the first entry in their personal academic blog and the first substantive communication with their academic advisors.   

Although students have the option of coming to campus during the summer, in most cases distance and busy schedules mean there's no face-to-face contact during the registration process.  The webcast provides that human contact electronically.  

"You need to encourage students to think about the next chapter in their academic lives in advance of the fall semester," Tighe said. "Most students need a little help, especially in the beginning, in making informed choices.  We want to give them as many opportunities as possible to ask questions."  

Typical questions: "How do I study abroad?"  "How do I get started registering?" "I want to be pre-med but the system won't let me take three labs. What should I do?"

More than 1,500 incoming College freshmen are expected to arrive on campus for new-student orientation Aug. 31.