Dear Grads,

The last two Graduate Student Support Network meetings were held two weeks apart instead of four weeks apart so I’ve put this information together to inform you of both meetings.  On Wednesday January 20^th, we had a few announcements which I’ll discuss below, along with announcements from Wednesday February 3rd.  The bulk of our January meeting was devoted to an extremely informative presentation by Dean Morrison.  She presented her research on academic and financial planning for graduate students here at UCSB.  While many of the departmental specifics were confidential, I’d like to share some of the general findings and numbers with you.

Roughly speaking, 1/3^rd of funded graduate students are funded through teaching assistantships, 1/3^rd of funded graduate students are funded by research assistantships, and 1/3^rd of funded graduate students are funded by fellowships.  About 13% of the fellowships come from the graduate division.  While the fellowships from the graduate division have been protected, TA positions have been cut.  Multi-year central fellowships from the graduate division typically include a portion of the funding via guaranteed TAships; those TAship commitments have been protected.  In some cases, graduate students aren’t securing TAships until the last minute as they anxiously wait for word from their department.  Dean Morrison reports an estimated 400 graduate students do not receive support from a typical TAship, fellowship, or research assistantship.  As fees increase, the number of students that can be supported cannot increase without additional funding.  We are all aware that these conditions are stressful.  Dean Morrison suggested that one pressure on funding is related to the wide range of time to degree reports she sees across departments on campus.  Students in P3 status, which equates to 9 quarters beyond advancing to candidacy, receive no campus funding supplement from the state.   The number of students in P3 status has reduced significantly the funding from the state to our campus over the past several years.

What can you do?  Make every effort to stay within normative time to degree.  Seek advice from your department or a funding peer if the struggle to support yourself financially begins to have a negative impact on your progression towards your degree.  Staying within normative time ensures eligibility for a wide range of support.

• Announcements:
  • New Grad Peers:
    • We have new graduate student peers available to help you navigate through a wide variety of graduate life issues.  Courtney, April, Neda, and Mario can be found in the Graduate Student Resource Center, located in room 1215 of the Student Resource Building.  You may email your questions about funding to fundingpeer@graddiv.ucsb.edu, diversity questions to diversitypeer@graddiv.ucsb.edu, and academic questions to academicpeer@graddiv.ucsb.edu.  Students from the STEM disciplines have also acquired a new writing peer.  Her name is Lisa, she’s a graduate student from the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, and her position is funded through the NSF AGEP program.  She will be sending out a needs assessment to departments soon.
  • Upcoming Workshops:
    • Interested in a non-academic career after graduation?  The UCSB Women’s Center will be facilitating a round table discussion on non-academic career options on Tuesday February 9^th, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.  The Women’s Center is located in room 1220 of the Student Resource Building.  For additional information, visit www.sa.ucsb.edu/women
    • Planning is under way for a networking workshop to be offered by Don Lubach, formerly the Associate Director of Career Services; currently promoted to the position of “Everywhere Man” (Graduate Student Support Network and Graduate Student Resource Center co-chair, GSHIP committee member, liaison for the Division of Student Affairs on all graduate student issues, advisor to the Graduate Student Association, and likely additional posts that have slipped my mind at the moment.)  Luckily for us, Don has boundless energy, and couldn’t wait to be on our team.  The workshop will likely run for 90 minutes and cover a variety of topics related to the experience of attending a professional conference.  The first few offerings of this workshop will be piloted soon, and faculty participation will be solicited in order to provide discipline specific input.  In the mean time, Don recommends www.phds.org, where you can find an excellent collection of peer rated networking skills along with a host of other essential skills for graduate students.
    • Filing workshops are being offered again this quarter, along with plans to repeat the workshop for graduate students with families.  Visit the Graduate Division calendar for times and locations:  http://www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/calendar/
    • Looking for additional events and workshops?  Visit the Wellness Center’s “Fun Stuff To Do” calendar page:  http://www.wellness.ucsb.edu/students/funstufftodo.aspx
  • Showcasing the Graduate Student Support Network
    • The members of Graduate Student Support Network look forward to meeting with graduate students over the course of the year through open houses, visits to the GSA bagel hour, during Graduate Student Appreciation Week, and at additional events on campus.  The goal is not only to highlight the work of this campus community dedicated to supporting resources for graduate students, but also to encourage an increase in the use of the services each organization has to offer in a more personal way that goes beyond emails, newsletters, and blog posts.
  • GSA Excellence in Teaching Awards
    • Nominations for the GSA Excellence in Teaching Awards for graduate students who have been teaching assistants in Spring 2009, Summer 2009, Fall 2009, or Winter 2010 are being accepted via http://ucsbgsa.org/awards.  The deadline for nominations is March 20th at 5:00pm, and nominees will be notified during the first week of Spring quarter.  Additional supporting materials will be requested at that time.  Anyone from the campus community (grads, undergrads, faculty, admins) can nominate their favorite teaching assistants for an award.
  • Graduate Student Appreciation Week
    • Last but not least, Graduate Student Appreciation Week has been scheduled for April 19^th through April 23^rd!  So far the week is shaping up to be packed with activities to honor the graduate students on campus.

• Call for Feedback
  • Finally, if there is a service you would like to see offered for graduate students here at UCSB, or if you feel existing services are lacking in some way, please contact me or leave a comment on this post so that I may voice your concerns and requests at the next Graduate Student Support Network meeting in January.  I can be reached at GSAVPAcademic@gsa.ucsb.edu.  Additionally, if you participated in an event that you found particularly helpful and want to see it offered again, please send me your feedback.