Invitation from the Director:
What does it mean to be a Lloyd Scholar?
Every Friday morning I host students for coffee, tea, pastries, and conversation in the living room of Alice Lloyd Hall. Sometimes the students want to talk about trouble with their stats homework or how excited they are to declare their sociology major. Sometimes they want advice on a poem they’re working on or to discuss plans for an upcoming open mic. Often they just want to talk about their friends’ latest shenanigans, or developments in their D&D campaigns, or the thrill of beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl. These mornings are much more about talking to each other than about talking to me; I get to listen in and appreciate their ingenuity, their kindness, their joy.
This Friday breakfast tradition was started by my predecessor, Carol Tell, who directed the Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts program for eighteen years and built it into the vibrant program it is today. LSWA is a living-learning community full of intelligent, ambitious, and imaginative students from a variety of backgrounds, pursuing a variety of majors, brought together by a common love of creative expression. Our students become Wolverines because they want to set themselves up for successful careers in engineering, business, screenwriting, neuropsychology, nursing, theater, computer science – you name it. And they become Lloyd Scholars because they want to do it in a supportive community that will help them achieve their academic goals, build lasting friendships and community, feed their artistic passions, and foster the holistic growth of their full creative selves.
If you are looking for a way to stay connected to your own creativity as a U of M student, whatever your major, and to live and grow together with like-minded peers, then LSWA is the perfect home for you.
In LSWA you will reside with students who have similar passions; you will take writing and arts classes together, and you will participate in creative workshops, activities, and clubs. We offer writing classes that fulfill several requirements – the first-year writing requirement, the race and ethnicity requirement, as well as humanities and creative expression requirements – and which are taught by experienced instructors from the Sweetland Center for Writing. Our arts classes are also varied—from drawing and painting to DIY crafting culture to our Art in Public Spaces class, where students create giant puppets and take part in the annual Ann Arbor FestiFools parade.
Our community is designed to inspire, challenge, and support you while at the U of M. At LSWA, you can take part in the film club or become an editor of our arts and literary journal. You can attend a UMS performance with your hallmates and your instructor, then talk about it in class the next day. You might submit some poems or perform an artist talk for our annual Caldwell Prizes. And if you love it here, you can apply to stay on in LSWA after your first year or return as a leader in the program.
Most important, while you are here, you belong to an inclusive community that values every student. LSWA is strengthened by the diverse experiences, backgrounds, perspectives, and aesthetic sensibilities of all our students. That means we rely on each Lloyd Scholar to participate actively, create vehemently, argue respectfully, and socialize joyfully. Once you are a Lloyd Scholar, you are the program.
We can’t wait to create great things with you!
Scott Beal, LSWA Director
