Events
1. WEEKLY WALK-IN SERVICES IN THE GLC – last updated 12/11/2017
– Career Advising: Wednesday, 2:00-5:00pm, Info kiosk in lobby
– Ask the Academy: GTA Walk-In Advising: On hiatus until 2018
– Cook Counseling: Thursdays and Fridays, 1:00-5:00pm, Green Room
– Graduate School hours: MTTh 8:00-5:00pm, W 9:30-5:00 Closes 12:00pm Fri 12/22
– Immigration advising hours: MWF 1:00-4:00pm, TTh 9:00am-12:00pm Room 120
– Writing assistance: reserve appointment at https://www.lib.vt.edu/spaces/writing-center.html
2. FINAL GLC CAFÉ OF 2017 AND BOOK SWAP
Monday, Dec 18, 3:00-4:30pm, GLC Reading Room
Stop by for the final café of the year and enjoy some hot beverages, home-baked goodies, and good conversation in good company. Take some books from our Reading Room collection to enjoy during the break! The Thursday café on Dec 21 is cancelled due to graduate commencement; the GLC café will return on Thursday, Jan 4.
3. YALDA NIGHT
Thursday, Dec 21, 6:00-10:30 pm, Commonwealth Ballroom, Squires Student Center
Yalda, the longest night of the year, one of the most important traditional Iranian festivals since thousands of years ago, is a night in which friends and families come together and stay up until after midnight. Playing traditional music, singing traditional Persian dance, and reading poems such as Divan-e-Hafez are some of the major activities in this event. Moreover, eating pomegranates as a sign of rebirth and revival of generations, and watermelons as summer fruit to prevent getting ill during the winter comprise the essential customs of Yalda. For more information visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/262998837564912/, Come enjoy traditional Persian Music and Dance performance, Persian soup (Aash Reshteh) and more! Everyone is welcome to attend to this public event.
4. HEALTHY ANALYTICS SUMMIT KICKOFF EVENT – REGISTRATION ENDS DEC 21, 2017
Wednesday, Jan 10, 2018, 8:00am-4:00pm, Newman Library Multipurpose Room
Working with health data? Interested in learning how health data is used on campus? Hosted by the University Libraries’ Health Analytics Team, this unique event is for any students, faculty, and staff who want to learn about or are exploring the use and impact of health data on research. Using real data, multiple breakout sessions will showcase skills and tools needed to manage, share, and visualize health data across the humanities and sciences. This one-day symposium will include breakfast and lunch as well as a keynote by Dr. Irene Eckstrand, a former NIH Program Director and current faculty in the Biocomplexity Institute. Anyone with an interest in health is welcome and encouraged to attend. Please RSVP by Dec 21, 2017. For current information and schedule: http://tinyurl.com/healthsummit2018.
Administrative Announcements
5. BIOL 5174: WORK/LIFE BALANCE IN ACADEMIA – SPRING 2018 GRADUATE SEMINAR
BIOL 5174: Work/Life Balance in Academia (1 credit; CRN 19073), will be offered spring 2018 by Dr. Lisa Belden (belden@vt.edu). This discussion-based graduate seminar will meet Tuesdays from 1230-130 and will address some of the challenges facing academics as we try to balance our academic positions with other important life responsibilities. We will be primarily discussing family-related issues, although most of the topics we will cover apply broadly to "life" outside of work. This course can be applied to the elective requirement for the future professoriate certificate.
6. SCHOOL OF PUBLIC & INT’L AFFAIRS (SPIA) SPRING COURSE OPPORTUNITIES – 2nd posting
SPIA 5984: Facilitating Intergroup Dialogue: 1 Credit 9:00am-5:30pm, Feb 24& 25 Only-CRN: 20208
Course Overview: Study and practice of human relations and intergroup dialogue facilitation skills, specifically for use in diverse, intercultural contexts.
SPIA 5984: Grassroots Organizing Theory & Practice: 1 Credit 9:00am-5:30pm, Mar 17&18 Only-CRN: 20207
Course Overview: Study and practice direct-action community organizing with emphasis on strategies for fostering coalitions among diverse communities.
SPIA 5984: Conflict Resolution and Mediation: 1 Credit 9:00am-5:30pm on Apr 21&22 Only-CRN: 20206
Course Overview: Study and practice conflict resolution and mediation techniques, including intercultural perspectives on conflict mediation.
Contact Christian Matheis at matheisc@vt.edu with questions on any of these courses.
7. ENTREPRENEUR CHALLENGE – PITCH YOUR IDEA! – 2nd posting
Calling all entrepreneurial-minded students! Got a winning startup idea? Working on a new concept? Pitch your idea at the Virginia Tech Entrepreneur Challenge for a chance to win up to $60,000 in cash and prizes, including the $25,000 grand prize! Visit the Entrepreneur Challenge Website and sign up today! Team registration is now open at http://ApexCIE.vt.edu/entrepreneurchallenge. Teams are encouraged to sign up immediately (it takes 2 minutes) in order to secure a spot in our preliminaries and receive support from the Apex Center to further develop their business models and executive summaries. Entrepreneur Challenge Finals will take place on March 24, 2018 at The Lyric Theatre.
8. THREE MINUTE THESIS INTEREST SURVEY – 2nd posting
If you are currently involved in thesis work, or will be writing one in the future, consider taking part in Three Minute Thesis this upcoming year. This has been a highly successful event worldwide and will help you finely tune your thesis work. See https://threeminutethesis.uq.edu.au/ for more information. If this is of interest to you, please fill out the 1-minute survey: https://virginiatech.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b7vPlVnUJ28Eu3P. If you have any questions, please contact Kelly at kmfomenko@vt.edu.
9. NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR WRITERS – 2nd posting
The Interloper, Virginia Tech’s LGBTQ Magazine, is now accepting applications for writers, editors, photographers, and artists for Issue #8 this spring. If you have any questions or are interested in joining, email Maggie at theinterlopervt@gmail.com
10. GRADUATE STUDENT PHOTOS ON DISPLAY – 3rd posting
The photographs submitted by your fellow graduate students under the theme, " A Changing World," are now up in the GLC meeting rooms hallway. Come on by!
11. THOUGHTSWAP – A TEACHING RESOURCE FOR GTAS/INSTRUCTORS – 3rd posting
We are looking for a small cadre of enterprising graduate student instructors and faculty to work with ThoughtSwap by using it as part of their teaching/pedagogy during the Spring 2018 semester. ThoughtSwap is a tool that can be used to change and deepen the infrastructure of face-to-face classroom interaction. Up to 10 graduate students will be selected for this opportunity in the spring. The ThoughtSwap tool is used to support the distribution of a prompt for writing 5-8 minute draft responses and for the gathering and redistribution (“Swapping”) of drafts for the depiction component. To be eligible for participation in this pilot study, a graduate student must: (1) be in a doctoral program or equivalent, (2) be the instructor of record, (3) have taught at least two years. In addition to helping class instruction and learning, benefits of participation include the support and structure of the focus group and the potential to add this to the C.V. and Teaching Statements. To learn more about ThoughtSwap go to http://thoughtswap.cs.vt.edu/ or contact: Prof. Deborah Tatar at dtatar@cs.vt.edu.
12. GRADUATE STUDENT TUTORS NEEDED FOR RECENT IMMIGRANTS/REFUGEES – 3rd posting
Tutors sought by The Blacksburg Refugee Partnership (BRP), a group founded in the summer of 2016 to partner with former refugees in our community. The organization seeks to provide tutoring for 16 students, ranging from elementary to high school. To do this requires the regular and energetic commitment of many volunteer tutors. Tutors work with the students for one hour, two to three times per week, throughout the semester, either in-home or in-school. In some cases they help with homework, at other times the focus is on the development of skills in speaking and reading English. We provide a training session and ongoing support, including feedback from teachers. Applicants will be requested to supply 1) a recent background check, 2) a commitment to tutoring at least two hours each week through the end of the semester, 3) a promise to maintain confidentiality about the students’ educational matters, and about the families in general, 4) a positive attitude. Please follow this link to indicate your interest. Contact Prof. Brett Shadle at shadle@vt.edu with any questions.
13. LITTLE HOKE HANGOUT – LIMITED SPACES AVAILABLE FOR SPRING ’18 – 3rd posting
Little Hokie Hangout has limited spaces available for Spring ’18 semester. These spots will be assigned on a first-come-first-served basis, so don’t wait! Students may apply through Friday 12/8, then enrollment will open to faculty and staff. Please email childcare@vt.edu for information, an application or to schedule a visit.
14. INVITATION TO SUBMIT WRITING – 3rd posting
The Institute for Policy and Governance (IPG) invites graduate students to submit to the student blog RE: Reflections and Explorations, offered through the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance. All VT graduate students are eligible to offer essays as long as they address a policy, politics or governance issue or concern, but we particularly encourage those in Agricultural Leadership and Community Education, ASPECT, Government and International Affairs, Human Development, P G and G, Natural Resources, Public Administration and Public Policy, Political Science, Rhetoric and Writing, Sociology and Urban Affairs and Planning to submit essays. For examples of past topics, please read the archived essays. The RE column appears weekly and everyone who signs up is responsible for writing one article during the Spring 2018 semester. Your entry will be a topic of your choosing and total approximately 1,000 words. At your earliest convenience, please complete this Schedule to sign up for a week. Slots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Send questions to mneda14@vt.edu or regina50@vt.edu .
15. ROAD TO ZERO FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM – 3rd posting
The National Safety Council (NSC) seeks a student interested in motor vehicle injury prevention for the Road to Zero fellowship program. Fellows work with the NSC government affairs team on its leadership of the Road to Zero coalition, which aims to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2050. The selected student will receive a full fellowship and tuition waiver for spring semester. When travel is required, student will be reimbursed for cost of travel and meals. For more information, please contact Jane Terry, Senior Director of Government Affairs at jane.terry@nsc.org. To apply, send a cover letter and resume and writing sample to Jane Terry no later than December 8, 2017.
16. GRAD 5214: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION FOR A GLOBAL SOCIETY—SPRING 2018 – 3rd posting
Tuesdays 5:30-8:30pm in GLC, Room C—CRN 19601 – 3 Credits Instructors: Christian Matheis and Tami Amos. The world is increasingly more complex and diverse with emerging cultures and trends that impact global higher education. As a part of their graduate education, it is important that graduate students prepare themselves for the diverse global society of the future. This course is offered through the Transformative Graduate Education (TGE) framework with the intention to allow for the content to reach beyond a single disciplinary perspective to allow many points of views and across multi disciplines. This course fulfills part of the requirements for the Future Professoriate Graduate Certificate. Contact: Christian Matheis at cmatheisc@vt.edu.
Jobs:
17. WINTER BREAK VIRTUAL REALITY EPIDEMIOLOGICAL VISUALIZATION OPPORTUNITY
We are seeking a software developer to work closely with School of Visual Arts professor Zach Duer and Biocomplexity Institute professor Bryan Lewis in the creation of a virtual reality visualization of an agent-based nuclear fallout simulation. Work will be completed in Unity and C#. Code development experience is expected, but it does not need to be specific to Unity or C#. Part-time work will be completed between mid-December to late-January and compensation for your time will be provided. Interested individuals should email Van Truong as soon as possible at heyvan@vt.edu.
Volunteers and research participants sought
18. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR A WALKING AND RUNNING STUDY
Volunteers needed for a 2 visit study, each visit should be about 30 minutes. Participants will walk and run at three different paces: 20, 10 and 9 minutes per mile. Each of these will be performed uphill, downhill and flat for 1 minute. If you are interested please email granata-lab-g@vt.edu.
Upcoming events:
None at this time