GradLinks Feb 28

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Announcements for the week of February 28, 2011

Global Experiences and International Engagement The 2011 Symposium on Graduate Education will take place on Wednesday, March 2, 1:00 – 3:30 p.m., in Illini Union Rooms B & C. Join guest speaker Maresi Nerad, Director of the Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education (CIRGE), and a panel of Illinois faculty and graduate students to hear about projects that have been implemented at Illinois and how they benefit graduate students. There is no registration for this event. Dr. Nerad will also be interviewed on WILL-AM 580 the day before the symposium on Tuesday, March 1, at 11:06 a.m.  Program ____________________________________________

Dental & Vision Insurance Enrollment Deadline: February 28 Students wishing to purchase coverage for themselves or dependents must do so during the enrollment period: February 1 - February 28, 2011. More info ____________________________________________

Planning a doctoral defense for May 2011 graduation? Friday, April 8, is the last day for doctoral students to take the final examination for May 2011 graduation. Final examination committees must be appointed by the dean of the Graduate College prior to the examination. The Graduate College recommends allowing at least 3 weeks for appointment requests. Minimum committee requirements and additional information regarding doctoral examinations may be found in Chapter VI of the Graduate College Handbook. ____________________________________________

Résumés & Cover Letters Create an excellent résumé by incorporating your transferable skills and tailoring it to the position you want. Learn about résumé types so you can best highlight your strongest experiences, and get advice on formatting and cover letter writing. More info ____________________________________________

Unnofficial St. Patrick’s Day On Friday, March 4 many students and visitors will participate in an event known as Unofficial St. Patrick's Day. While the University does not support or condone this event, steps are being taken to ensure safety and to minimize disruption to classes and campus operations. Visit the Provost’s website for more information. ____________________________________________

The Savvy Researcher: Week 6 ICPSR: Health, Economic, Social & Political Data for Secondary Analysis, for SAS users The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is the world's largest archive of digital social science data. Learn to search ICPSR's catalog of holdings, download data, and read it into a statistics program (SAS) to make tables. Our examples will focus on topics suggested by the audience. Some prior experience with SAS may be helpful, but is not necessary.  Jointly sponsored by the University Library and ATLAS. Getting the Most Out of Google Google can be a good source for finding research materials. While it is not a replacement for searching in the Library's subscription article databases, Google can be an effective tool for finding scholarly materials that will help your research. Did you know that you can set up Google Scholar to link to the U of I Library's electronic journal subscriptions?  Or that you can use Google Books to explore a book before you interlibrary loan it? This workshop is lead by full-time librarian and PhD student Kathleen Kern who will share her strategies for using Google Scholar, Google Books, and other Google tools to supplement your research. Current Awareness: Tools to Stay Current in Your Field Doing research for your literature review is hard enough without having to remember where and how you located everything. If you set up search alerts to keep track of the essential information and journals in your field, you can have all that information sent directly to your feed reader account. We'll help you set up an account and add RSS feeds during this hands-on session. CITES Wants You to Have Fewer Meetings: Collaborative Tools for Teaching, Research and Service Want to collaborate with colleagues on campus or in Cleveland or Cairo, facilitate your students' group projects, or serve on committees with fewer meetings? CITES is here to help. The campus wiki makes it easy to create documents and collaborate online. NetFiles gives you space to collaborate with peers; store, move, and distribute files; with built-in Web space, available everywhere the Internet reaches. Wait. There's more. iLabs is a whole suite of collaborative tools to support inquiry-based learning. Within an hour we'll have you ready to get started, and you can follow up with consultation on your specific projects. We will explore some applications for teaching, research, and service. Drowning in Data? RefWorks can Help Learn how to use RefWorks, a citation management software program subscribed to by the University Library that is free to faculty, staff, and students of the University of Illinois. This workshop will cover the basics. More information about RefWorks is online. We often hear graduate students say that they wish they had implemented a citation management strategy at the beginning of their academic careers - don't let this happen to you! For Savvy Researcher workshop and registration details ____________________________________________

Professional Development for Graduate Students Proposals are sought for the “Black Women’s Life and Balance Conference” in Atlanta, Georgia from July 15th to July 17th. Contact the organizers for the call for proposals, or if you have additional questions, concerns, or would like to volunteer to contribute to the success of the conference. Applications Sought for Preparing Future Faculty Summer Institute Doctoral students who have completed the third year in their respective graduate program are eligible for the Preparing Future Faculty Summer Institute, to be held at Howard University on June 8-11 in Washington, DC. For more information and to apply Dissertation Awards The Survey Research Laboratory announces the annual Robert Ferber Dissertation Award and the Seymour Sudman Dissertation Award, both for excellence in survey research as part of an ongoing doctoral dissertation project. Doctoral students with dissertations that broadly relate to survey methods are eligible. A cash award of $1,800 will be given to the winner of each of these two awards (only 1 application is needed to be considered for both awards). Applications are due April 29. Complete eligibility and application information Office of Volunteer Programs Service Award Do you know of outstanding volunteers, volunteer organizations or volunteer projects? Please nominate candidates that have exhibited outstanding volunteerism to receive OVP’s Service Award. Nominations are available from February 28 through March 9.  More info UI-KULeuven faculty/PhD student exchange program accepting applications The UI-KUL exchange program provides funding to support travel to and local accommodations for Urbana-Champaign faculty members and/or advanced graduate students at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium for one to three months, to collaborate with faculty colleagues there. Applications for summer and/or fall of 2011 are due by March 1. More info Teaching Opportunity with the Education Justice Program The University’s Education Justice Program (EJP) offers a range of educational programs to men incarcerated at Danville Correctional Center, a state prison about 35 miles from campus. EJP is also a vibrant community of teachers and scholars committed to reflective teaching, critical pedagogy and social action. We hope to engage more historians in our work at the prison. Graduate students are invited to submit applications for Fall 2011-Spring 2012. Due date is Tuesday, March 1. More info ____________________________________________

Participate in a transportation survey to improve safety A campus transportation survey is being conducted regarding safety issues in University District locations. Feedback is being sought involving buses, bicycles and pedestrians on and around campus. The study is being conducted in coordination with the development of the Campus Bicycle Plan. ___________________________________________

Building Campus Community Through Collaborative Problem Solving Conference The conference, to be held March 25-26, is designed to bring together faculty, administrators, and students from all types of colleges and universities to share innovative ideas and programs on the topic of how collaborative problem solving supports campus community building. The gathering is co-hosted by Illinois State University, Heartland Community College, Illinois Wesleyan University, Lincoln College, and the National Association of Academic Affairs Administrators. More info Inclusive Illinois Diversity Roundtable: March 9 The Office of Equal Opportunity and Access and the Illinois Student Senate present 'Mix It Up Day,' an event to deepen racial and cultural understanding by way of focused dialogues. The event will be held Wednesday, March 9 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Illini Union, Illini Rooms A&B. RSVP by March 4. More info Free treatment group for women Do you experience mood swings, stormy relationships or impulsivity? The Psychological Services Center is offering a free skills-training group to help women cope with negative emotions, have healthier relationships and reduce harmful behaviors. The group is for women ages 18-45 and meets weekly on Tuesdays from 5:30-7:00 p.m. Call 333-0041 or visit the Psychological Services Center (mention 'DBT' group). More info Free seminars on survey research The Survey Research Laboratory is offering four seminars on survey research methodology this semester. The series is free to faculty and staff members and students. Space is limited; advance registration is required. All seminars are scheduled from noon to 1 p.m.  To register Earth, Wind and Fire 5K run and 2.5K walk The Institute of Natural Resources and Sustainability is hosting its fourth annual competitive 5K run and 2.5 K walk on the Urbana campus Saturday, March 12. The race begins at 9:00 a.m. at the Natural Resources Building in Champaign. More information and online registration

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