Articles

Pat McCune
Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

Research Ethics Training Required by NIH and NSF

Did you know that if you receive research or fellowship funding through the National Science Foundation (NSF) or a fellowship from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) you are required to receive training in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)? If you don’t have appropriate instruction, you—and the University—are at risk of losing that funding.  The NIH requires that all undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral fellows receiving support through any NIH training,…

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Paula D. Wishart
Career Consultant, The Career Center

Building Professional Relationships: The Power of Community, Step 5 of 5

This week, I’m going to introduce the fifth step to building your professional community. If you missed the first steps, visit my posts: Step 1: Determine What You Want to Know; Step 2: Identify Contacts; Step 3: Prepare What You Want To Say; and Step 4: Make Contact – Again and Again!  Step 5: Maintain the Relationship The basic way to maintain a relationship (and you know this) is to be kind and regular about your…

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Donna M. Huprich
Director, Academic Records and Dissertations, Rackham Graduate School

The Post-Defense Meeting

Congratulations! You’ve defended your dissertation and your committee has approved all of your corrections. Now what? The final step is scheduling a post-defense meeting online with Rackham’s Office of Academic Records and Dissertations (OARD). You received a folder at your group pre-defense meeting that had a checklist of the final items needed for submission along with the required documents to complete.  All requirements must be completed and brought to your post-defense meeting. Take some time…

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Paula D. Wishart
Career Consultant, The Career Center

Building Professional Relationships: The Power of Community, Step 4 of 5

This week, I’m going to introduce the fourth step to building your professional community. If you missed the first steps, visit my posts: Step 1: Determine What You Want to Know and Step 2: Identify Contacts. And Step 3: Prepare What You Want To Say Step 4: Make Contact – Again and Again! So, you find names, you prepare questions, you plan what you want to say—so make contact – and keep making contacts! Here…

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Pat McCune
Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

Just Announced: 2012 Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize

Earlier this week, Provost Philip Hanlon announced the 2012 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 2012, 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…

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Paula D. Wishart
Career Consultant, The Career Center

Building Professional Relationships: The Power of Community, Step 1 of 5

Take a moment to think about the words “power” and “community.” I often find graduate students meeting with me saying both of those elements are lacking from their life, and wondering why – often feeling like they can’t get traction in their professional goals. You will gain traction if you put the locus of control back where it should be – in yourself. Instead of saying my advisor doesn’t know anyone in my field of…

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Pat McCune
Senior Project Manager, Rackham Graduate School

Who Really Makes the Difference?: Faculty Mentoring Awards

How quickly can you name the teacher who made the most amazing difference in your education?  I’ll bet it’s as quickly as I can:  Prof. Mac Nelson, English Department, SUNY Fredonia. As a student, you know the people here at Michigan who make a difference. And you know the sorts of things they do that make them stand head and shoulders above their colleagues when it comes to really seeing you and your goals. They…

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Amy Homkes-Hayes
Coordinator, The Career Center

9 Things for Grad Students to Know From The Career Center

Tips, Information, and Concepts to Digest as You Prepare for Your Professional Future As grad students you have the ripe, albeit sometimes confusing, opportunity for ample feedback on how to present your professional self to employers (be they academic or non). Below we have included some easy tips and big picture concepts to help guide your thinking on presenting a professional self to employers. Develop a Core Message - Sometimes it is overwhelming deciding what…

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Natalie Bartolacci
Program Manager, Rackham Graduate School

What We’ve Learned About Faculty Connections From Our Student Bloggers

Our student bloggers took on the topic of faculty connections this past month. They offered a range of perspectives on this important relationship in graduate school and had some great advice for managing this relationship. Below are some of the highlights of this topic’s posts: Faculty can help you get ready for the next step (whatever that next step may be), so they can be great resources for you. They are the leaders in their…

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Ellen Meader
Student Affairs Program Manager, Rackham Graduate School

Improving Communication with Your Faculty Mentor

Open, honest and frequent communication is key to building and maintaining a productive relationship with your faculty mentor/advisor/dissertation chair. No matter what level or stage you are in as a graduate student (i.e., master’s, doctoral pre-candidate, doctoral candidate), communication with your faculty mentor is essential for your success. Here are some points to consider to develop positive communication between you and your faculty mentor: Initiate a conversation early in your working relationship, and be prepared…

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Natalie Bartolacci
Program Manager, Rackham Graduate School

When You Need to Take Time Off: Leaves of Absence for Ph.D. Students

One of my roles at Rackham is serving as the Leave of Absence Coordinator. Ph.D. students are required to register each fall and winter term from the time that you begin your program until you complete your degree.** The exceptions to this requirement include times that you are approved for a leave of absence or you are taking courses at another institution. When you need to step away from being an active student for a…

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Douglas Keasal
Senior Fellowships Officer, Rackham Graduate School

Funding Your Graduate Education, Part 3

"I Received Funding, Now What?" Once you have been awarded funding, here is a checklist of tasks you may need to do: Contact the funding source to accept the award and verify that everything is set for your funding to begin. Confirm if the funding will be released directly to you or to your institution. Notify your faculty advisor and the graduate coordinator in your program about your award. They may want to publish your…

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Michael Benson
President, Rackham Student Government

Your Rackham Student Government

There are over 10,000 graduate and professional students at the University of Michigan. Who knew? And of that, nearly 80% are Rackham students. While there are literally thousands of graduate students on campus, most of us only meet a very small percentage of them.  Am I really saying that there are thousands of people at the University with similar experiences to your own? Yes and no. As we each know, graduate school can be a…

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Mark Kamimura-Jimenez
Director, Graduate Student Success, Rackham Graduate School

Introducing Myself

Hello Rackham Students, I first moved to Ann Arbor as a Ph.D. student in Higher Education and Public Policy 10 years ago this fall. I remember well, my journey to the Ph.D.; coursework, the qualifying exam, research projects, lack of sleep, learning how to churn out 30 page papers in my sleep, living on a budget, and answering every derivative of that dreaded question, “Are you finished?” If I had a dollar for every time…

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Erin Cain
Senior Fellowships Officer, Rackham Graduate School

Funding Your Graduate Education, Part 2

Most awards have deadlines 6 to 12 months prior to the start of the academic year, so you are encouraged to get started on the application process early and apply for as many sources of funding as you can find. When considering applying for a fellowship or award, you will need to research the answers to the following questions: General Do you meet the eligibility requirements and satisfy the selection criteria? What is the application…

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