May 20-26, 2013

1. WEEKLY SERVICES IN THE GLC

  • Cook Counseling (walk in, no appointment needed): Thursdays and Fridays 1:00-5:00pm, Green Room
  • GLC Café: 3:30-5:00 every Thursdays, Reading Room – year round!
  • Other regular GLC services are on hiatus for the summer. Please contact Career Services and the Writing Center if you need assistance.

2. GLC CAFÉ AND GRADUATION ROBE SWAP
Thursday, May 23, 3:30-5:00pm, GLC Reading Room or outside on the GLC side patio (near Bookstore)
The GLC Café is offered throughout the year with free coffee, tea, and cookies in the company of your graduate-student and Grad-School colleagues. If the weather is nice (=not raining), the café may move out to the newly furnished side patio on the Bookstore side of the GLC, behind the hedges. Come find us! If you just graduated or if you will graduate in the fall and you are interested in selling/buying your robe to a fellow grad student, stop by the café to see if you can find an interested buyer/seller. This is a shot in the dark on our part, but we’ll give it a try since we hear from many students who are interested in reducing the cost of their attending commencement and purchasing regalia for a one-time use. Let us know what you think!

3. NEW FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES DATABASE
The Office of Research announces the availability of the Grant Forward funding database to VT faculty, postdoctoral associates, staff, and students. This service allows anyone with a VT e-mail address to search for research funding by entering key words. In addition to research funding, the Grant Forward database includes fellowship and scholarship opportunities, travel grants, etc. with an inventory  8,000+ federal  and 6,000+ foundation funding opportunities in academic fields including the arts, medical sciences, education, humanities, social sciences, business, engineering and technology, physical sciences, law and more. Grant Forward can be accessed directly from a campus computer, or from an off-campus computer by setting up an account using your VT e-mail address. 

4. GRADUATE COMMENCEMENT DVD AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
DVD of the Spring 2013 Graduate Commencement Ceremony is available from the University Bookstore for a limited time at a cost of $19.99. Click the DVD image on the bookstore’s homepage for ordering information: www.bookstore.vt.edu. If you have any questions about official photographs taken during the ceremony, please contact GradImages® by phone at 800-261-2576 or online.

5. FALL GRAD CLASS: GLOBAL ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
Taught by Anna-Marion Bieri, GRAD 5224G explores how our globalized society, shaped by mobility,  international capital flow, digitalization, and constant advancements in communication technologies, calls for international intellectual property protection and standards. The expansion of the western IP system in the global arena is increasingly being criticized. The class covers the key aspects of this controversy: the protection of and access to medicines, knowledge and biological materials. Tuesdays 5:00 – 8:00 pm / DER 1076. For questions please contact Anna-Marion Bieri.

6. FALL CLASS OFFERING: PEDAGOGY FOR NATURAL RESOURCE SCIENCES CRN 97426
This 2-credit course may be used toward the grad certficiate in Preparing the Future Professoriate. The 10-week course is organized around 5 major themes in higher education: (1) How people learn (theories in educational psychology, brain function, learning styles; metacognition; learning for transfer; lifelong learning); (2) Paradigms in teaching (instruction-centered and  learning-centered; teaching for improved  thinking [critical, creative, reflective] vs. teaching for  content and coverage; teaching styles; distance learning) (3) Teaching for student engagement (creating meaningful learning experiences; passive vs. active & collaborative learning; peer instruction; deep learning; etc) (4) Tools for teaching (technology; improving lectures; alternatives to lecture; Socratic teaching; etc.; assessing learning)  (5) Life as a professor (teaching millennials; trends in higher ed; school types; teaching vs. research; publish or perish; the tenure process; non-tenure appointments; balancing the professional and the personal) . For more information contact Dr. Brian Murphy.

7. STUDENT BUILDING MANAGER FOR GLC – WAGE POSITION OPENINGS – 3rd posting
The GLC Student Building Manager works closely with the Operations Manager for Student Centers and Activities as well as the Graduate School to provide services to the patrons who use the GLC. This includes providing excellent customer service, overall building management, reserving rooms, oversight of the information desk, basic cleaning (wiping tables, vacuuming, etc.) and administrative support. The Student Building Manager has primary responsibility, including emergency response, for the building during evening and weekend hours. Filling 2-3 positions to start in August at a rate of $12/hour. Please apply online; click the “Student Centers and Activities ‘VT Graduate Student’ Pool.” Please contact Eric Margiotta (Margiotta@vt.edu) with questions.

8. VT CREW TEAM SEEKS COACH – 1st posting
The VT Crew team is a club sport organization, run by students and through the VT Recreational Sports Department.  Currently, they are looking for coaches for the upcoming seasons. Must have coxing/rowing experience; coaching experience not required. Contact snolta92@vt.edu for more information.

9. PARTICIPANTS NEEDED FOR A LOWER BACK LOADING STUDY – 1st posting
Grad student researchers are conducting a study to investigate how biomarkers change with lower back lifting. The study will include multiple experimental sessions, each lasting about 3 hours. Compensation is $10/hour + $10 for completion. Qualifications are: normal weight (BMI: 18.5-25), have no current or recent (≤3 years) history of musculoskeletal disorders, and have no conditions that limit your mobility. The protocols used in this study have been approved by the VT IRB (IRB #13-059). If you are interested please contact Marc Christian, 536F Whittemore Hall, (234) 788-3939.

10. SMART PHONE USERS SOUGHT FOR RESEARCH STUDY – 1st posting
Volunteer smart phone users are sought to install an Android application (available on the Google Play Store ) on their daily-use Android smart phones, and allow it to run without interruption for an IRB-approved study. The application collects anonymous usage data (e.g. location, browsing, communications, connectivity, etc). The application does not collect any identifying information, and the data collected cannot be tracked back to the user. URLs, email addresses, and phone numbers are encrypted (hashed and salted) locally on the phone before being sent to the server. After the first run, the application hardly requires any further interaction from the user. Before installing the application, please read the recruitment letter at https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7bc1n6iTHrGM0tWSDhxcjhROFU/edit for more details and instructions. Contact Amr Abed, or 540-449-3336 for any details or concerns.

11. PARTICIPATE IN GRAD HOUSING PREFERENCES SURVEY – 2nd posting
The Graduate School invites you to participate in a grad housing preferences survey. Dedicated graduate student and graduate family housing has been a concern of graduate students, the Graduate Student Assembly and the Graduate School for several years now. Recently, the Graduate School was contacted by local developers for our thoughts and suggestions about ways to improve the variety and availability of graduate housing within the Town of Blacksburg. A site has already been identified and the local developers intend to begin construction of new housing in the South Main Kroger vicinity within the next 18-24 months. The survey will take approximately 10-12 minutes. The information you provide will help us better understand the housing needs of our current and future graduate student community. Access the survey>>.

12. UPCOMING EVENTS:

Summer break with altered Graduate School business hours! Starting May 28, the Graduate School student services area (120 GLC) will be open 9:00am-4:00pm Monday through Friday. GLC Café will continue throughout the summer and will probably move to the GLC side patio/lawn on the Bookstore side. Stop by next Thursday to check it out.