Posts by Pat McCune

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Posts by Pat McCune

The Michigan Meetings

May 20, 2013 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

For many of us, the summer months are often a time to change gears, slow down, and take part in at least a few of the riches available to us on campus as part of a large, thriving research university. This month we have such an opportunity with the Michigan Meetings. These are a series of annual interdisciplinary meetings of national and international scope on topics of broad interest and contemporary importance to both the public and the academic community. This year you have the opportunity to attend all or part of The Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Research…

Published in: Graduate School News

Awards Ceremony for Outstanding Mentors and GSIs

April 11, 2013 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

At Rackham we do our best to encourage professional development and acknowledge the value of excellent teaching. Equally important are the faculty advisors who take what they’ve learned and put it into practice in their work at the university. A successful graduate experience depends about the development of a range of skills, among them research, public speaking, professional writing, time management and—of course—teaching the discipline. Each of these needs to be nurtured at every stage of your graduate education. One of the ways in which we do this is to annually recognize the efforts and talents of GSIs whose classroom…

Published in: Graduate School News

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

April 10, 2013 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

The National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program recently posted the names of the 2,000 students nationwide to receive award offers out of over 13,000 applications submitted. NSF has announced the names of recipients, their current institution, and where they plan to do their graduate work. I’m proud to announce that 59 of the students receiving these prestigious awards are planning to come to Michigan—and of those, 28 did their undergraduate degrees at U-M. The Award Offers and Honorable Mentions list for 2013 is here. These Graduate Research Fellowships help to ensure the vitality of the human resource base of…

Published in: Graduate School News

Competition to Improve Graduate Education

March 25, 2013 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

Through my work with Dean Weiss, I’ve become very familiar with her commitment to improve graduate education, both here on campus and on the national level. And I have seen how crucial it is to have students involved in efforts to implement change. When I recently read about a competition that’s doing precisely that, I knew I had to share it with you. It won’t take long to enter—and there’s prize money involved. The Division of Graduate Education at the National Science Foundation is sponsoring the “Innovation in Graduate Education Challenge.” Currently enrolled graduate students in the fields of science,…

Published in: Resources and Events

ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards

March 4, 2013 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

While all graduating Rackham students produce dissertations of quality, some students write dissertations that are truly exceptional for the high caliber of their scholarship and for the significance and interest of their findings. We recognize these exceptional dissertations with the ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards. Dissertations are nominated for the award by University faculty members who have served as chairs of dissertation committees of outstanding students. The nominations are then read by a review panel composed of members of the Michigan Society of Fellows, with assistance from other members of the University faculty and research community. The awards are co-sponsored by…

Published in: Graduate School News

2013 Recipients of the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Awards

February 28, 2013 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

A successful graduate experience depends on the development of a range of skills, among them research, public speaking, professional writing, time management and—of course—teaching the discipline. Each of these needs to be nurtured at every stage of your graduate education. For many, those career aspirations are in teaching in the academic community. At Rackham we do our best to encourage professional development and acknowledge the value of excellent teaching. Each year the Graduate School recognizes the efforts and talents of Graduate Student Instructors whose classroom activity and curriculum development are far beyond the norm. It is my pleasure to announce…

Published in: Graduate School News

Announcing the Winners of the 2013 Mentoring Awards

February 19, 2013 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

The Graduate School has developed a number of initiatives and programs designed to improve the resources available to faculty mentors and their students, and really encourage a culture of mentorship here at U-M. One of the ways in which we recognize the importance of mentoring is with three annual faculty awards for outstanding mentorship. It’s my pleasure to announce the 2013 recipients of these awards sponsored by the Rackham Graduate School. They are: John H. D’Arms Award for Distinguished Graduate Mentoring in the Humanities Louise Stein, Professor of Musicology Patricia Yaeger, Professor of English Language and Literature and Professor of…

Published in: Graduate School News

Rackham’s Mentoring and Teaching Awards for 2013

December 20, 2012 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

Quality mentoring and teaching are essential components of the successful graduate school experience. Among our efforts to recognize this are three different awards for faculty provided by the Graduate School: Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award Rackham Master’s Mentoring Awards D’Arms Faculty Awards for Distinguished Graduate Mentoring in the Humanities Take a look at the full descriptions at http://www.rackham.umich.edu/faculty_staff/awards/faculty_awards/. The deadline for submitting nominations is January 23, 2013. There’s no need to be concerned about how long it will take to put the nomination together because this year we’ve made a number of changes to our nomination process, to make it…

Published in: Graduate School News

2013 Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize

December 17, 2012 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

The 2013 Provost's Teaching Innovation Prize. The prize, sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT), and the University Library, honors innovative teaching approaches that incorporate creative pedagogies. In 2013, five faculty teaching innovations will receive prizes of $5,000 each. Students, faculty, GSIs, department chairs, directors, deans, and staff members are invited to submit nominations for the prize. Nominations are due by noon on Monday, February 4, 2013. I encourage you to nominate a faculty member who is deserving of recognition for their innovations in teaching. Visit the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) website for information on nomination and selection processes.

Published in: Resources and Events

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Recipients at Michigan

August 9, 2012 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

This year 46 students here at the University of Michigan were offered one of the Graduate Research Fellowships sponsored by the National Science Foundation in the most recent competition. Some of them enjoyed public notice by their departments or lab groups earlier in the spring. I’d like to give credit to all for their notable achievement. This highly prestigious award recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in fields that come within the mission of NSF. The fellowship provides for three years of support in a graduate program to students who have shown…

Published in: Graduate School News

Three Rackham Students Receive Boren Fellowships

July 10, 2012 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

Foreign language study has long been one of the strengths at our university. So it’s not surprising to learn that three University of Michigan graduate students have been awarded the prestigious David L. Boren Fellowships for the 2012-13 academic year. Congratulations to Robert Poulson-Houser (South Asian Studies), Megan Ryan (Southeast Asian Studies) and Andrea Trese (Environmental Engineering). All are in Master’s programs. Boren Fellowships provide up to $30,000 to U.S. graduate students who want to add an international experience and language study to their program. These fellowships support study and research in areas of the world that are critical to…

Published in: Graduate School News

The History of Graduate Education at the University of Michigan

June 27, 2012 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

We began celebrating the Centennial of the Graduate School in January with special events and special funding opportunities, and we’ll continue into the fall with projects throughout the university funded by the Graduate School as we mark our first one hundred years. However, 1912 saw the formal institution of a graduate school at U-M; it was not the beginning of graduate education at our university. As we were planning ways to celebrate our Centennial year we thought it would be fun to put together an illustrated timeline; that will be up on our website in the fall. Finding material was…

Published in: Graduate School News

Rackham Students Selected for National Award

June 21, 2012 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

I always enjoy sharing good news about graduate students here at Michigan. We learned last week that Jonathan (Yoni) Brack (History) and Dzovinar Derderian (Near Eastern Studies) were among the ten recipients nationwide who were selected to receive support from the Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund for the coming year. In 2012-13 the fellowship provides an $18,000 stipend plus tuition. It is an annual award that may be renewed for a total of three years. And three others here at Michigan who received support from the Liebmann Fund for this past year have been renewed for next year: Eli Feiman (Political…

Published in: Graduate School News

Two Rackham Students Named Newcombe Fellows for 2012

May 16, 2012 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

I’m very excited to report that two University of Michigan students in Rackham programs have received the nation’s largest and most prestigious award for Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences. On April 24 the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation announced the selection of 21 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellows for 2012. These Fellows are doctoral candidates writing dissertations on topics involving religious and ethical values. Each Newcombe Fellow receives a 12-month award of $25,000. Among them are our very own Maxim Romanov and Ronit Stahl. Mr. Romanov, who also completed his master’s at U-M, is a doctoral…

Published in: Graduate School News

ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards

April 23, 2012 | By Pat McCune, Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

While all graduating Rackham students produce dissertations of quality, some students write dissertations that are truly exceptional for the high caliber of their scholarship and for the significance and interest of their findings. We recognize these exceptional dissertations with the ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award. Dissertations are nominated for the award by University faculty who have served as chairs of dissertation committees of outstanding students. The nominations are then read by a review panel composed of members of the Michigan Society of Fellows, with assistance from other members of the University faculty and research community. The awards are co-sponsored by ProQuest,…

Published in: Graduate School News Professional Development

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