An increasing dependence on technology has created a lack of interpersonal communication between faculty and students, according to some faculty members in the Ohio State College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences.

The first annual CFAES Success in the Real World Week, which kicks off today, aims to remedy this problem by featuring activities sponsored by each of the college’s seven departments, emphasizing internship and job search strategies as well as student and faculty communication.

“Our perception is that the increasing use of technology has come between the relationships. There are more students who are using technology rather than coming in and talking to their faculty adviser,” said Jill Pfister, assistant dean in the college.

The activities will have several different focus points, ranging from internship and job placement to study abroad programs and selecting research topics.

“There’s different concepts related to different populations of students and the focus is success,” Pfister said.

Not all of the events are directed at planning for the future.

“A few of the events are just plain social oriented, to get together and have fun, to show faculty outside their role of teachers and researchers,” said Paul Heimberger, academic counselor for the college.

A chili cook-off and treasure hunt are among the planned activities as well as the Horticulture and Crop Science department conversion of their greenhouse into a bowling alley, Heimberger said.

Each department will host at least one activity, and Heimberger said some departments are using the CFAES Success in the Real World Week to push existing programs.

“Some of our departments kind of piggybacked some of their traditional events,” Heimberger said. “For example, our Animal Science department has an internship forum each quarter… they knew we were doing this Success in the Real World Week and they decided to go ahead and choose week number five for their internship forum.”

The week also serves as preparation for the college’s upcoming annual Career Fair.

Planning for the week of activities began in October and event schedules and information were e-mailed to students in the college just before winter break.

“We’re looking at doing this annually or quarterly, depending how this goes,” Pfister said.

Andrew Kieta can be reached at [email protected].