The Graduate School has introduced a new Graduate Certificate in Workplace Competencies through the Center for Graduate Life.
The Workplace Competencies Certificate is designed for graduate students across all disciplines, students with a recent undergraduate degree, and young professionals interested in enhancing their career prospects.
For more details, please visit the Graduate School.
Faculty may nominate students for the Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award through Oct. 18, 2019.
The Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award is a part of the Graduate School’s focus on enhancing research skills. For more information, please visit the Center for Graduate Life’s Research Skills website.
Nomination information, fields of competition and more is available from the Graduate School.
If you have questions, please contact Julie Green, jhgreen@uncc.edu, Master’s Thesis Student Services and Fellowship Specialist.
Graduate students and community members gathered recently for the 2019 Summer Graduate Writing Retreat sponsored by the Center for Graduate Life (CGL) at the UNC Center City campus in Charlotte.
Facilitated by Dr. Jill Huerta, CGL Director, and Dr. Aura Young, Doctoral Services Specialist & Postdoctoral Support, the group worked on writing projects throughout the July 26-28 weekend.
“I got an incredible amount of work done, more than I had expected,” said Pam Turner, Senior Library Assistant, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. Pam focused the weekend’s work on sorting and editing a collection of poems into a manuscript.
Rosalba Scott, Ph.D., Educational Leadership, said her goal was to make progress on her dissertation. “I reviewed and improved the entire draft,” she said. “My expectations for what I could accomplish were met.”
The Graduate Writing Retreat provides a multi-day opportunity for graduate students, faculty, staff, and members of the community who want to make progress on a large writing project. The writing retreat offers a quiet space to work, structured writing time, and writing-related resources and support because all participants are actively engaged in their writing.
Continuing writing support is available through the CGL’s Write Time & Place series. Learn more by visiting the CGL’s Communications Skills website.
The Graduate School recently co-hosted and took part in a multi-institution professional development conference “Building Graduate Community and a Culture of Inclusion” on the campus of Virginia Tech. Read how regional institutions came together to discuss how to create communities of inclusion for their graduate students. Read more…
The Center for Graduate Life is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Lisa Russell-Pinson as their first full-time faculty member. In her capacity as Assistant Teaching Professor, she’ll create and and teach academic writing courses which will be designed for the matriculating graduate student. In addition, she’ll continue to support writing programming aimed at the graduate-level such as writing retreats, dissertation bootcamps, academic workshops and resource development.
“Dr. Russell-Pinson has taught writing and provided writing support for several years in the CGL on a part-time basis,” says Dr. Jill Huerta, Director of the Center for Graduate Life. “We are delighted to have her expertise and look forward to her contribution as a full-time member of the CGL team.”
Russell-Pinson earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Linguistics from Georgetown University and her B.A. cum laude in English from the University of South Carolina at Columbia. For more visit her profile page on the Center for Graduate Life website.
Graduate students Krystal Turner, MA, Counseling, Rebecca Blanchard, MA, Counseling and Rachel Saunders, Ph.D., Counselor Education, were honored recently by the UNC Charlotte Mu Tau Beta chapter of international counseling honor society Chi Sigma Iota.
For more details, visit The Graduate School‘s web site.
The annual Graduate Research Symposium (GRS) Mar. 15 featured presentations from various areas of study within graduate certificate, master’s, and doctoral programs. Awards were presented to top candidates for oral and poster presentations.
Complete details can be found on the the Graduate and Professional Student Government‘s (GPSG) website.
The 2019 Graduate Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award will focus broadly on Biological Sciences, Humanities and Fine Arts and nominations should be in by May 24.
This award is presented by the Graduate School to recognize outstanding research and scholarship by a doctoral student at UNC Charlotte. Award recipients receive a cash prize and possible participation in the annual meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools.
For more details and how to nominate someone, download the 2019 Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award information sheet.
The Graduate School is offering its Summer Fellowship Program (GSSF) in 2019 to enable students to continue focus on their studies through the summer months.
The program, which pays $2,000 per month, is available to full-time doctoral students on GASP. Information on program enrollment and additional criteria was sent to students via email.
Questions about the program may be sent to Julie Goodliffe, jmgoodli@uncc.edu, Director of Funding and Fellowships for the Graduate School.
The Center for Graduate Life seeks it’s next group of Graduate Life Fellows (GLFs). The position requires students to build community not only within the programs and peers, but to develop it across disciplines and departments. As a GLF, students can add an important component to their CV. $5,000 is awarded to each GLF for the academic year.
Please pass along this Information Sheet to your top-tier students or ask them to visit the CGL’s website at https://gradlife.uncc.edu.
Nominations for the 2018-19 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant (TA) Award will be accepted through Mar. 1. Awards will be presented in the spring semester.
The TA Award recognizes students who are nominated by their faculty supervisors for their work as teaching assistants. Two awards are presented; one at the Doctoral level and one at the Master’s level.
For more information is available on the CGL’s website.
Aayla Alexander, LCSW, Counseling & Psychological Services Center, will lead discussion on Keys to Effective Time Management in Graduate School Jan. 30 at the Center for Graduate Life, Cone 268.
This session will be helpful to students who find it difficult to manage time and manage stress.
For more information and to register, visit the Center for Graduate Life Calendar.
The Graduate & Professional Student Government (GPSG) is seeking faculty volunteers to judge entries in the annual Graduate Research Symposium March 15.
The Symposium will include poster and oral presentations. Goals of the Symposium are to:
Foster and promote graduate student research
Encourage research skills including preparation and presentation
Expose students to research across the disciplines
Provide opportunities to network with faculty and peers
More information is available from the GPSG Research Symposium site. To volunteer as a judge, visit Symposium sign-up page.
Xueying Brown, Environmental Engineering, and Donna Goodenow, Biological Sciences, received honors as the top presenters in the Center for Graduate Life’s 2018 Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition held at the Halton Reading Room of Atkins Library Nov. 9.
Visit the News on the Graduate School’s home page for details.
When your career is on the line, getting your point across can be everything.
Graduate students at UNC Charlotte are learning how to boil down extensive and complex research or scholarship into a brief, compelling presentation that anyone can understand – especially the boss. In November each year, students take what they’ve learned to the stage in the Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition.
The professional development courses – and the competition – come from the Graduate School’s Center for Graduate Life (CGL) in Cone University Center 268. The CGL exists to provide a comfortable place, a sense of community, and the developmental support to help graduate students navigate their time here and find success when they graduate.
The CGL programming fits what appears to be a growing need. According to an article in Fast Company, American employers say nearly half of graduates arrive on the job lacking the interpersonal skills to succeed.
“Polishing communication and other soft skills like critical thinking and decision making, has long been a focus for our Center for Graduate Life,” said Tom Reynolds, Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School. “We assess what employers are looking for, beyond the educational discipline, and develop the supplemental programming to meet those needs.”
Students hone their skills in CGL courses and workshops that include such titles as Workplace Communications, Elements of Business Writing and Strategies for Communicating Your Research. Then, they can put those skills to the test through the 3MT® competition.
Through 3MT®, a program that originated at the University of Queensland, Australia, participants compete based on how clear and engaging they can be with their research presentation. The presentations are limited to three minutes and the contestants may use only one static slide.
Finalists in this year’s UNC Charlotte competition will present to an audience in the Halton Reading Room of Atkins Library on Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. Winners will take away cash prizes and a chance to travel to this year’s Conference of Southern Graduate Schools annual meeting in Knoxville.
A reception and celebration of the winners will follow the competition.
The first 3MT® competition was held in 2008 with 160 University of Queensland research students competing. Since then, the competition has spread to 350 universities across 18 countries.
Visit the Center for Graduate Life for more information on the Graduate School’s professional development opportunities.
Distance Education, Co-op, Student Interns, and Student Teaching students are eligible to enroll in Student Blue health insurance
Distance Education, Co-op, Student Interns & Student Teaching students can now enroll in Student Blue. Special Instructions on how to enroll for this group of student, are on the Student Health Center’s insurance website under the link Distant Education & Co-op Students. The deadline to enroll in Student Blue is September 10, 2018 for the fall semester and January 31, 2019 for the spring semester. If you have students who fall into these categories, please let them know of this opportunity.
Last Saturday, the Graduate School and the Center for Graduate Life at UNC Charlotte welcomed over 700 incoming graduate students at Graduate Student Orientation. Associate Dean Katherine Hall-Hertel launched this year’s Orientation by providing impactful advice for thriving in, rather than merely surviving graduate school. Incoming students also learned about opportunities in the Center for Graduate Life where they can build vital skills in professional development, leadership, communication, and collaboration. Panels composed of UNC Charlotte faculty, students and Graduate School staff followed with discussions and insightful information critical to academic success.
Following the Orientation, the incoming class experienced first-hand, the ease of transportation to UNC Charlotte’s Center City campus and the uptown Charlotte area, via the new light rail service where they attended a welcome reception. Students had the opportunity to meet Provost Joan Lorden, and a host of campus offices and staff were on hand to provide information about their services and support. These included the University Career Center, the Office of Identity, Equity, and Engagement, Counseling and Psychological Services, and the Jamil Niner Student Pantry. Student enjoyed good music, food, games and the opportunity to connect with each other. Afterwards, many went to a handful of designated restaurants, parks, and coffee shops to explore uptown Charlotte, meet with current graduate students, and begin their graduate journeys.
Student outreach, engagement and development offered through the Graduate School’s Center for Graduate Life, provides the support and sense of community students need to meet the challenges they will face throughout their graduate experience. Through the Center for Graduate Life, well-educated students become well-rounded graduates with the leadership, cultural and communication skills to enable them to quickly assume productive roles on the job, whether their career sights are set on business or academia.
The Office of International Programs recently sent a reminder to international teaching assistants calling attention to the requirement to attend an English language assessment and to complete an I-9 form that is available from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
This reminder went out to those whose assistantships are already listed in Banner. Please share this information with any newly hired ITAs in your department whose names are not yet in Banner in order for them to set up their assessment. OIP will also continue to send out notices directly to ITAs as their names appear in Banner.
Your past help with ITA compliance has been extremely valuable, and OIP thanks you in advance for your help with Fall’s efforts. Please contact ITASupport@uncc.edu for a list of available dates and times.
