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Office designed to serve students new to the University of Michigan, including orientation program, university mentorship program, and welcome to Michigan program, as well as information and referral service for first-year students. Records relating to new student orientation program largely concerning diversity training and selection and training of counselors. Includes manuals, guides, and videotapes.

The Office of New Students Programs records consist of files relating to new student orientation program largely concerning diversity training and selection and training of counselors. The records includes manuals, guides, and videotapes and are divided into four series, Administration/Organizational Files, Evaluations of the Diversity Program, Audio-Visual Material and Publications. The Administration/Organization Files, Evaluations of the Diversity Program and approximately half of the VHS tapes from the Audio-Visual Materials series were acquired by the library in 1997. The rest of the material was acquired in a separate accession in 2007.

University of Michigan office responsible for programs to help students adjust to college life. Records include reports from various university offices and organizations with responsibility for orientation; correspondence and pamphlet material; and printed works directed toward incoming students and their families.

The Office of Orientation records document, somewhat unevenly, the efforts of the administration of the University of Michigan to ease the transition from high school student to university undergraduate. These records consist of correspondence and published materials sent to incoming students and reports of the various offices involved in orientation. The strength of this record group derives from the face presented by the university in these first documents given to its students. It is illuminating to note what advice the university deems essential for new students, but the tone of presentation is more telling.

The Office of Orientation records span the years 1925-1990, but primarily cover the years 1928-1946. The records came to the library in good order and are organized into three groups: Administration, Orientation Period, and Printed Materials.

Researchers interested in visual images of the orientation process should consult the University of Michigan News and Information Services collection for negatives on freshman week in 1930 and orientation in the 1950s and 1960s.

Thomas A. Butts, an expert in financial aid and student loan programs, worked for the University of Michigan, 1964-1999. He served as Director of Student Financial Aid (1971-1977), policy advisor and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Student Financial Assistance for the federal government (1977-1981), and was responsible for government relations for the University of Michigan at the Washington D.C. office (1991-1999). The collection documents his work for the University of Michigan admissions office, office of orientation, office of financial aid, and Washington D.C. office of government relations, his work for the U.S. Department of Education, and the evolution of federal student financial aid legislation.

This collection would be of use for research into the role of Thomas Butts at the University of Michigan, the role of the University of Michigan in student financial aid policy, and the evolution of federal student loan policy generally. The collection is composed of six series. The first five correspond to the positions Thomas Butts held (Office of Admissions, Office of Orientation, Office of Financial Aid, U.S. Department of Education, and Washington D.C. Office) and a sixth series, Loans, contains information on specific loan programs. The Loans series especially provides insight into how laws are developed in the federal government, including the evolution of the Higher Education Act and the Direct Loan program. Thomas Butts was involved with many organizations, and a glossary of the main acronyms follows the scope and content note.

Artificially constructed collection of University of Michigan publications received from a variety of sources. The publications have been sorted by the name of the creating unit, office or organization. Publications within the units or organizations have not been arranged.

The Publications in this artificially constructed collection of drop boxes include annual reports, brochures, bulletins, catalogs, directories, ephemera including flyers, invitations, posters, and programs, histories, manuals, newsletters, proceedings of conferences, reports, and topical publications.

A small number of publications for which no creating organization is discernible are listed at the end of this finding aid by title. These publications include a number of student newsletters and campus guides. Major continuing units are represented as well as smaller and defunct units.

Some university publications have been individually cataloged and exist in their own record groups. As this collection serves as an unprocessed drop box for university publications, not all units will be represented. Most of the units represented consist of a few folders of material, unless otherwise indicated in the finding aid. Consult MIRLYN for individually cataloged items as well as other related items.