Responsibility and Respect

Contacting Your Preceptors for the First Time

Owned by Molly Clarie Cook
Last updated: Mar 04, 2015 by Leta Moser
10 min read

Timing: within 48 hours of receiving a final preceptor list.

Use the first welcome email to set the tone:

  • Express your excitement about the great semester ahead, and your confidence in their ability to meet the potentially-daunting challenges.
  • Remind them of the date of the first weekly planning meeting (and location, if you know - if not, explicitly promise to email them with that info when you do know).
  • Add any special info that is relevant, such as the media console code (1988), agenda for planning meeting, known swaps that need to be arranged, final study group schedule, etc.
  • ask for pictures* to develop your 'team roster'
  • (subject: Congratulations and Welcome!)

Here are some example welcome emails. You may use them as templates or create your own email:

1. Hello Preceptors,

My name is [NAME] and I am Dr. Saxena's Senior Preceptor. I have previous experience working with Professor Saxena and have successfully completed her BIO326M Microbiology/Immunology course. So, I have a pretty good idea of what you are going through in this class. There is an ardous journey ahead of us, but I am confident in your abilities and look forward to having the opportunity to work together. I believe it will be a very exciting semester, and I cannot wait to meet and get to know each of you.

Sincerely,

PS
The first weekly planning meeting will be next week, Tuesday at 12 o'clock, with the location to be determined.

2. Hello Everyone!

First off, congratulations on being selected for this position! I am certain that you will all find it to be a very valuable and rewarding experience. For those of you in the 2pm lecture that didn't get to hear me speak last week, I am the SP for this course and will be working with y'all throughout the semester to maximize the productivity and overall well-being of your groups. I am really looking forward to meeting everyone and getting this semester off to a great start. Unfortunately, I will only be attending the Friday training, so for those of you those of you who are going tomorrow, we can all get acquainted next week.

Our first weekly meeting with Dr. Finklea will take place NEXT THURSDAY (2/2) at 5pm in BUR 214. I will send out another email next week with details about what to bring and expect at that meeting.

Thanks again for volunteering your time to PLUS and I hope you all have a great weekend.

Cheers,

3. Hey y'all!

This is your senior preceptor speaking. I am so stoked for this semester with you 10, and I am looking forward to some successful collaborative learning between you and your peers in BIO 446L. Some of you had training last night, but I will see the rest of you today at 4pm. I will be sending another email shortly with the location of our weekly planning meeting, which will happen every Friday at 11am. Go ahead and mark that for every week on your calendar.

I know your test is approaching quickly. Your first study group will be Sunday Feb 5th. That is actually the super bowl. I really encourage whoever is on Sunday to go ahead and hold study group since it is so close to Exam One. We'll talk more about that soon. We will also be talking about switching one more Sunday person to Monday nights.

I need all of you to reply to this email so that I know I have your correct email address. I can't wait to meet you guys, and happy Friday!

4. Hey Preceptors,

My name is [NAME] and I am the Senior Preceptor for Dr. Machart's BIO 365S course. I missed you guys at the training session so I'm just emailing you to introduce myself and welcome you to the PLUS Program! I took Dr. Machart's class last semester and also served as a preceptor then. I can honestly say that being a preceptor helped me in this course tremendously so I hope you all benefit as well. Don't feel overwhelmed about the sessions. You are still students and are not expected to know everything, but our sessions with Dr. Machart will prepare you as much as possible!

Each week we have some activity that Dr. Machart organizes for our preceptor sessions. This week we will likely be doing the homework that is due on Feb. 8th but this is still tentative.

Our first meeting will be this Friday Feb. 3rd from 9 to 10 am. I will send you all an updated email later on this week with the activity and location of our meetings.

Other than that, I hope you are off to a good start. If you ever have any questions or concerns about class or PLUS, feel free to call or text me at [NUMBER].

I look forward to meeting you next week!

5. Hello everyone,

I'd like to welcome you all to PLUS! For those of you I have not yet met, my name is [NAME] and I'll be your senior preceptor for Dr. Siegel's class this semester. I'm really excited to start working with both y'all and Dr. Siegel, and I predict an awesome semester ahead for all of us.

To get things started for the semester, our first weekly meeting will be next Monday, February 6th, at 4pm in Dr. Siegel's office, which is in NHB 5.132A. I will send y'all a reminder Sunday sometime just in case anyone forgets. We will be discussing how to handle and what you will do in the first study groups and be suggesting formats for how to approach them.

If you ever need help with anything, please just give me a call or text me at [NUMBER] If you have any questions in the mean-time, feel free to e-mail me.

See y'all next Monday!

6. Hello everyone,

My name is [NAME]. I'll be your Senior Preceptor this semester for Dr. Grabner's class. I had the chance to meet a few of you last Friday at the training session but for the rest of you we'll be meeting this Friday. I'm excited to be working with everyone and I think you will all find that being in PLUS is a great way to help ensure that you do well in biochem.

One of your fellow preceptors, [NAME], has a scheduling conflict on Wednesday nights. If anyone from a Monday or Thursday session could switch time slots with her that would be helpful. We will also bring it up again on Friday in the meeting. If you think you can switch please send an email notifying her and include Leta Moser in the recipients.

[NAME AND EMAIL]

Leta Moser: leta.moser@austin.utexas.edu

We are still waiting for a room confirmation on Friday. Once I have the final details I will send you all another email with the rest of the meeting information. For now, enjoy the rest of your week and if you have any questions you can send me an email.

Thanks everyone!

Best,


7. Hey Everyone,

 

 

 

Congratulations on being selected as preceptors! I want to officially welcome you to the PLUS program! My name is XX, and I'll be the senior preceptor (SP) for this course. We'll be working together every week to help you maximize the productivity and success of your study groups, and I'm really looking forward to having a great semester! (As some of you in the afternoon class might remember from my PLUS promotion, I was a preceptor for Dr. XX class two years ago and have been an SP for the past two semesters.) I'm confident that this semester will be rewarding and beneficial for you like it was for me and my other fellow preceptors.

 

 

 

Our first weekly planning meeting will be this XXX in XXX. We'll introduce ourselves, you'll get a chance to ask Dr. XX course-related questions, we'll go over some logistics for study groups, and we'll go over the first agenda and address any questions/concerns you might have. Also, preceptor training will be Thursday or Friday evening (remember to let Leta know which you will be attending), and the first PLUS group meets on Sunday, the 15th!

 

 

 

Thank you again for volunteering your time to PLUS, and I'm really excited to meet you all! Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

 

 

See you Thursday,

 8)

Hi everyone!

 

 

 

Congratulations on being selected as preceptors for Dr. XX class this semester! I want to officially welcome you guys to the PLUS program! My name is XX and I will be the senior preceptor for this course. I was a preceptor for this class last semester and I enjoyed it a lot. So I hope this semester will be as rewarding and beneficial for you as it was for me last semester and I can't wait to meet all of you guys!

 

 

 

Our first weekly planning meeting with Dr. XX and I will be this XX from XX pm in XX. We will introduce ourselves, you will get to ask Dr. XX about course-related questions, we'll go over some logistics for study groups, and we'll go over the first agenda and address any questions you guys may have. If you cannot make it to the weekly planning meetings this week please let me know and we can make arrangements for a different time.  

 

 

 

Also, preceptor training will be Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week and the first PLUS study group will meet this Sunday (September 14th). Note that there is a room change for the Wednesday and Friday training groups. The Wednesday group will meet in SZB 370 and the Friday group will meet in NOA 1.126.

 

 

 

If you guys ever need any help with anything, please email me or call/text me at XXX-XXX-XXXX. I have attached the study group schedule to this email with the groups that you guys will be working in. Please review that schedule and let me know if you cannot make it to the study group time that you are assigned to so we can make changes before we start.

 

 

 

Thank you guys for volunteering your time to being a preceptor! I am really looking forward to having a great semester with you guys!

 

 

 

SP


XX

 

Hello all,

You should have all received an email from Leta Moser (leta.moser@austin.utexas.edu) recently updating you on the status of your application - you've all been selected to be preceptors for this upcoming semester for Dr. DeLozanne and Dr. O'Halloran's Cell Biology class! WOOHOO A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!! You all should know that we received a large number of applications this round and you were all chosen out of a very competitive applicant pool! I'm so excited to be working with all of you this semester! The preceptor pairings, times, and locations are the following (all of this information will also be posted on Canvas later next week when it's all finalized):

Sunday 7:00 - 8:30 PM (MEZ 1.122): Caroline Starling and Rahul Naik
Monday 4:30 - 6:00 PM (JES A209A): Antony Velasquez and Ajay Narayanan
Monday 7:00 - 8:30 PM (JES A209A): Chinasa Anokwuru and David Kraan
Tuesday 7:00 - 8:30 PM (CLA 0.118): Jamie Huckabee and Anita Vasudevan
Wednesday 4:30 - 6:00 PM (PAR 201): Hannah Oritz and Immy Clover-Brown
If you have an issue making your assigned study group time, please let me know as soon as possible so I can make adjustments accordingly.

Our first weekly planning meeting will be held in Patterson (PAT) 238 on Tuesday, February 3 from 3-4 PM. PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY REPLYING TO THIS EMAIL INDIVIDUALLY WHETHER YOU CAN ATTEND ALL, PART, OR NONE OF THE MEETING. Our weekly planning meetings are where you guys get an opportunity to address any content questions you (or your study group) may have with the professor, receive any updates from me about PLUS study groups, build community with your fellow preceptors/me/the professors, and be further trained in your roles as preceptors. Thus, it is very important for you to come to our weekly planning meetings every week if at all possible. I will be expecting all of you to be present unless you have clarified with me beforehand that you will not be able to attend; in these cases, YOU MUST NOTIFY ME AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE THE MEETING (except for illnesses/emergencies).

Study groups will start the week of February 8. I'm so excited to meet and get to know each and every one of you this semester - if you have any questions, whether about PLUS or about the class in general, please don't hesitate to let me know!

Janice Jiang


**

 

Hey everyone,

 

 

 

This is your senior preceptor Trevor Hadley. First and foremost, congrats on being selected to be a Preceptor for Dr. Fischer's BIO325 Genetics. I'm excited to walk through this journey with you and guide you in any way that I can. This is certainly a challenging course, but I'm more than confident you all will do very well. Let's get a few things in order so that we can start this semester off smoothly.

 

 

 

First Weekly Planning Meeting

 

This will be at 5pm in MBB 2.204. The doors lock automcatically at 5pm, so please make sure you get there a bit early. For whatever reason, if you cannot do this, please just text or call me and I will send someone down. My number is 2144990818 (please save this in your phone).

 

 

 

First Plus Session

 

Study sessions will start the week of Feb 8th-14th. Here is how I have you all organized. Please note, this is subject to change as we wait to hear back from a few more applicants.

 

 

 

Wednesdays 4:30-6pm CLA 1.102

 

Ojas

 

Tessa

 

 

 

Thursdays 7-8:30p CLA 0.124

 

William

 

Raj

 

KaCee

 

 

 

I'm excited to see you all on Monday! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

 

 

Best,

 

Trevor

Trevor Hadley


**

Hello everyone,


My name is Julie Choi and I'm Dr. Finklea's Senior Preceptor for Spring 2015. I want to congratulate you all once again for becoming a preceptor for Genetics BIO325. It's going to be a great semester.

This is a simple reminder that our first weekly planning meeting with Dr. Finklea will be held Thursday February 5th at 4pm in PAI 5.33. We will have time to ask content related questions first then share our goals for the rest of the semester. You will also find out when your study sessions are then! Also don't forget to go to your assigned preceptor training next week. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me or our PLUS program coordinator, Leta (leta.moser@austin.utexas.edu). Cannot wait to meet you all this Thursday!



Julie Choi




*

 

Subject line: [PLUS] Getting things started

 

 

 

Hey guys!

 

 

 

I wanted to try something new this semester for our group. I was thinking of creating a "Silverthorn's PLUS team" roster that will include a picture submitted by everyone so that everyone can learn each other's names and faces a little bit faster. If you guys don't mind, please submit a picture of yourselves (could be casual, formal, or even a selfie if you want) to me by Thursday so that I can have it made by our meeting Friday!

 

 

 

Thanks everyone,

 

Fin


Questions? Contact Leta Moser, PLUS Program Coordinator, at leta.moser@austin.utexas.edu