Graduate Student Union // Graduate Student Union

Get involved with the GSU

2012-05-11T17:00:00-04:00

Get involved!

Interested in getting more involved with the Graduate Student Union? Looking for more leadership experience? Consider applying for a Committee Chair position!

Committee chairs are paid positions that serve a variety of leadership roles within the GSU. The deadline to apply is Thursday, May 31, 2012. Application.

There are 9 chair positions available:

Academic Affairs

External Affairs

Health Care

Orientation & Resources

Professional Development

Publicity & Procedures

Quality of Life

Social (2 chairs)

If you have any questions please contact Donna Frahn (dfrahn@nd.edu) or Doug Rice (drice1@nd.edu).

GSU Council News

2012-04-17T12:00:00-04:00

GSU Professional Portrait Picture Day

Free professional portraits provided by the GSU Professional Development Committee. Friday May 4^th. MUST have an appointment. Sign up at http://bit.ly/picture-day

Antostal Free Doughnuts

On April 24^th starting at 10 am the GSU will be handing out donuts from Stones Donughts in front of the library in celebration of Antostal (the all school all week end-of-year celebration)

GSU Relay for Life Team

The Graduate Student Union Relay for Life Team needs teammates to help us make this event a success. To join us, click the "join our team" link on our team page. Registration is $10 per teammate and includes a Relay for Life t-shirt. We understand that you are busy, so if you can't commit to the entire event, that's OK. Can't walk with us? You can still help! Help us raise funds for cancer research by making a donation online, or honor a loved one by purchasing a luminaria for $10. The Luminaria Ceremony will take place at 9:30pm on Friday, April 27th. During the Luminaria Ceremony candles are lit inside bags filled with sand, each one bearing the name of a person touched by cancer, and participants walk a lap in silence around the upper concourse. Donations can be made and luminarias can be purchased through the GSU team page (http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?team_id=1103669&pg=team&fr_id=37727).

Hesburgh Grad Student Computer Lab Survey

We are considering making changes / investments in the Computer Lab on the 10th floor of the Library. If you use this facility, please take a few moments to answer this short survey (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEpYbUFfMldsZVpsUjI0ZDhOM0tDNEE6MA)

GSU Charity Prom

The GSU Prom “Give Back to the Future” will be held on Saturday May 12^th.

It's like high school prom, except so much better. Come for a night of good times, but without the awkwardness of senior prom.

Tickets: $20. Proceeds benefit the Notre Dame Pregnant and Parenting Student Fund. Purchase your ticket starting Thursday April 19th at the LaFun Box Office.

Price includes Dinner (heavy horderves ) and dessert, DJ and professional Photographer. Drink specials have been arranged.

It's a dressy occasion so wear what you feel is appropriate.

Note: You must sign a waiver to attend this event. If you are picking up more than one ticket, please have signed copies of the waiver (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdl.dropbox.com%2Fu%2F5591895%2FWaiver%2520for%2520GSU%2520Charity%2520Prom%2520%2528March%252031%252C%25202012%2529-1.pdf&h=hAQE1aRZw) when you go to the ticket office

GSU Teaching Awards selection committee

If you are interested in serving on the GSU Teaching Awards selection committee, please contact Jon at jschwar1@nd.edu.

GSU Blood Drive

The GSU is hosting a blood drive for the South Bend Medical Foundation April 26th Thurs 9am-3pm at Hammes Bookstore! Sign up for a donation appointment online at: http://bit.ly/NDGRAD Everyone gets a free T-shirt and you could win a $1000 travel voucher.

Outdoor Sports Festival a.k.a. Bike Fest

The Notre Dame Outdoor Sports Festival takes place Friday, Apr. 27 in South Quad in front of the Rockne Memorial. The purpose of the Outdoor Sports Festival is to raise awareness about outdoor sports in the Notre Dame community and to help prepare bikes for the upcoming season. If you have a bike on campus or if you're interested in outdoor sports, then you can’t miss this event!

A large maintenance area where mechanics will repair bikes
An instructional area covering different facets of cycling
Bike registration through NDSP
Representatives from biking clubs at Notre Dame and the surrounding area
Retail shops to help improve or upgrade bikes
Free Food!

GSU Easter Brunch Tickets

2012-03-10T17:50:00-05:00

The LaFortune hours to purchase tickets for the GSU Easter Brunch (4/8 at South Dining Hall) are:

LaFortune Info Desk & Box Office hours for Holy Week

Monday, April 2 (9AM – midnight)

Tuesday, April 3 (9AM – midnight)

Wednesday, April 4 (9AM – midnight)

Holy Thursday, April 5 (9:00 AM - 9:00 PM)

Good Friday, April 6 (9:00 AM - 6:00 PM) – University Offices CLOSED

Holy Saturday, April 7 (9:30 AM - 4:00 PM)

Easter Sunday, April 8 BUILDING CLOSED

Tickets go on sale at the LaFortune Information Desk & Box Office Monday, March 19^th. Tickets cost $5/ID. Children under 5 are no charge.

GSU Council News

2012-03-05T21:00:00-05:00

“A Call to Action in Regards to the Discriminatory Incident”

A campus-wide town hall meeting has been organized to discuss the discriminatory incident related to mailboxes of the mailboxes of the Black Students Association and the African Students Association. The title for the meeting will be, “A Call to Action in Regards to the Discriminatory Incident.” The meeting has been scheduled for Monday, March 5, from 8 pm -9:30 pm in the Carey Auditorium of Hesburgh Library ( ** please note the change in location ** ).

GSU Conference Presentation Grants

If you have comments on how the GSU Conference Presentation Grants might be administered in the future, please contact Kevin at kmuelle4@nd.edu. Utilization of the fund has grown to a level where a policy change may be needed.

Food Service Changes

There are potential new campus food options that may come to the library and LaFortune. The top contenders for new locations in LaFortune: Panda Express, Taco Bell/Pizza Hut Express combined location, and a Moe’s Southwest Grill. For the library, it is being proposed that a coffee shop goes into the library with Au Bon Pain the top contender.

Coffee: We would like to especially solicit feedback when on Saturday/Sunday mornings you might be on campus and want coffee. Should Starbucks open earlier? How early would we want Au Bon Pain to open in the library, especially on the weekend?

Please email Sam at srund@nd.edu if you have any comments you would like shared with Food Services.

Homeward Bound run

A walk/run to eradicate homelessness across Indiana. It’s a 5k Run/Walk on April 14 (Saturday). It starts and ends at Robinson Center. 8am registration, 9:30 run. There will be food, a balloon clown, a DJ, and it is chip-timed. There is a website to run/walk as a team to raise money, can make a donation. Early Bird registration – the run/walk will cost $15 to a week before the race, and then the price will rise. Check out the website at www.homewardboundindiana.org/ .

South Bend Bike Routes

If you have suggestions and feedback on bike routes/lanes in the South Bend area, please email srund@nd.edu to share with the city.

Sign up for our community service email list

Interested in community service opportunities in the South Bend area? Sign up the GSU’s community service email list. Just click on “update subscription preferences ” at the bottom of any GSU email. Here is a link the most recent email: http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=f5b1656df6c4a8b6d8e10e408&id=99e2fe8944

GSU Relay for Life Team

The Graduate Student Union Relay for Life Team needs teammates to help us make this event a sucecss. To join us, click the "join our team" link on our team page. Registration is $10 per teammate and includes a Relay for Life t-shirt. We understand that you are busy, so if you can't commit to the entire event, that's OK. Can't walk with us? You can still help! Help us raise funds for cancer research by making a donation online, or honor a loved one by purchasing a luminaria for $10. The Luminaria Ceremony will take place at 9:30pm on Friday, April 27th. During the Luminaria Ceremony candles are lit inside bags filled with sand, each one bearing the name of a person touched by cancer, and participants walk a lap in silence around the upper concourse. Donations can be made and luminarias can be purchsed through the GSU team page.

GSU Council Meeting Announcements

2012-02-04T11:00:00-05:00

GSU Sponsored Men’s Basketball Game - ND vs. Rutgers:
Come cheer on the Irish in a section of graduate students on February 15th! Tickets available at the LaFortune Box Office for $5 each, up to 4 per grad student ID. Gyms will be available before and during the basketball game for students and children to play basketball, color, and run around. More details to follow soon.

GSU Executive Council elections will be held in March:
Interested in serving on behalf of the Graduate Student Government as the President or Vice President? Elections are coming up in March. Reach out to one of the current President/Vice Presidents to get a better understanding of what the job entails. Note committee chair selection occurs after the Executive council election.

Graduate Student Symposium:
We have a great selection of poster presentations for the Graduate Student Symposium on February 24, from 2:30-4:30 in the Jordan Hall of Science. Come, swing by, and see what other Graduate Students are working on (and enjoy free food, of course!).

Library Hours - Upset with the Changes?
If you have any comments about the changes to the library hours, please contact Jon Schwarz. He serves on behalf of the Graduate Student Union on the Library Committee.

Know a Great Research Librarian at ND?
The Library Committee is now accepting nominations for its annual award for research librarians. If you know of a great research librarian you'd like to nominate, please contact Jon Schwarz.

Job opening, Lab efficiency program coordinator:
The Office of Sustainability is looking for a PhD student (1st-3rd year) with experience in a wet-lab. (more info).

Swan Lake Tickets

2012-01-03T13:00:00-05:00

Swan Lake

Sun, Jan 22, 3pm @ Morris Performing Arts

Max. 2 tickets per ID ($12/ticket). Each person attending the event must sign and bring this here. Purchase online with Visa, Mastercard or Discover here. Tickets will be available for pickup at the LaFortune Information Desk starting Tuesday, January 17.

Deadline extended (Call for Abstracts)

2011-12-20T13:00:00-05:00

Graduate students,

The Graduate Student Union has decided to extend the deadline for abstracts for the 2012 GSU Research Symposium, giving graduate students an extra week to submit proposals. Your abstract (300 word max) can be a write up of a class project or a work in progress, but it must be submitted by 11:59 pm on Monday, December 26, 2011. For more information, please visit the GSU website.

Best,

John Lubker - Associate Dean of Students

Call for Abstracts

2011-11-28T14:30:00-05:00

GSU Graduate Research Symposium

When: February 24, 2012, 2:30 – 4:30pm,
Where: Jordan Hall of Science, University of Notre Dame
Deadline for Abstract Submission: Monday, December 19, at 11:59pm. Guidelines.

The Graduate Student Union at the University of Notre Dame is proud to present the 4th annual Graduate Research Symposium. This event showcases the innovative work of the Notre Dame graduate student community. Students who wish to apply must submit an abstract contextualizing their research for an audience outside their academic discipline. The symposium will be separated into four divisions representing all colleges of the Graduate School: Engineering, Humanities, Science, and Social Science. Authors of selected abstracts will present their posters to members of the University and the general public on February 24, 2012 from 2:30 – 4:30pm in the Jordan Hall of Science Galleria. First and second place awards will be given in each of the four divisions, as well as an additional award to the best poster related to this year’s forum topic, “Reimagining School: To Nurture the Soul of a Nation”—topics related to the challenges facing Kindergarten-12^th grade education, which can come from any of the 4 divisions.

The deadline for submitting an abstract is Monday, December 19, 2011 at 11:59pm (EDT). An abstract that does not comply with the guidelines may not be considered for review.

Straight No Chaser

2011-10-15T10:00:00-04:00

Back by Popular Demand, STRAIGHT NO CHASER, are neither strait-laced nor straight-faced, but neither are they vaudeville-style kitsch. They are reinventing the idea of a cappella on the modern pop landscape. The group has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, HLN, and Today, among others. Come see them -- October 28, 2011 -- 8pm at the Morris Performing Arts Center. Graduate students can purchase up to 2 tickets each from the Lafortune Box Office for $18 each (a $16.75 value!). Tickets go on sale Monday, October 17. Each ticket purchased must be accompanied by a signed waiver for the event. You can download the waiver here waiverforsnc.pdf. For more information about this event, please check http://www.sncmusic.com/.

Conference Presentation Grant: new procedures

2011-10-15T09:00:00-04:00

The GSU CPG application process has changed from the start of the semester to better accommodate the travelND system. Please visit gsu.nd.edu/about/cpg for more information.
Please note that there is a NOVEMBER 1, 2011 deadline for those conferences in December and beyond.

The next deadline of December 1, 2011 will be for those conferences in January and beyond. The GSU will no longer accept applications for those conferences that have already occurred (except for those in October or November as the new policy was not yet in effect).

Please contact gsu+cpg@nd.edu with any questions. Additional information will be sent to you after your application is accepted.
Thank you.

Print Quote Increase

2011-08-22T14:15:00-04:00

The Office of Information Technologies (OIT) is pleased to announce that graduate student print quota for the 2011-12 academic year will be increased from 3,000 sheets to 3,500 sheets.

This increase is in response to tremendously high demand last year from faculty for academically needed print quota increases on behalf of their students.

Additionally, the cost for a single-sided B&W print has been reduced from 10 cents to 5 cents.

This increase in print quota eliminates the need for faculty to request additional quota on behalf of students.

Graduate students will receive an initial base print quota of 1,500 sheets on August 14th, at the same time that all other students receive their quota.

Graduate students will receive their additional quota of 2,000 sheets on September 10th. We are waiting until after the semester begins to augment graduate student quota in order to accommodate graduate students who are admitted just a few days before the semester begins.

When you log on to a printer release station for the first time after August 14, 2011, your initial quota will be set at $75. This is NOT a quota reduction! It reflects the new value of your 1,500-sheet print quota at 5-cents per sheet. On September 10th you will see your quota increased by an additional $100. This represents 2,000 sheets multiplied by the new cost of 5 cents.

The total graduate print quota will be 3,500 sheets, which will be valued at $175 on the print management system. This is a print quota increase in terms of the amount of printing that it allows graduate students to do.

If you have any questions or concerns about the changes to student print quotas please contact me by phone, email, or in person when you are in DeBartolo Hall.

Sincerely,

Brian Burchett

Office of Information Technologies
Manager, Technology Enhanced Learning Spaces

1.6503 -- bburchet@nd.edu -- 226 DeBartolo Hall

Article delivery for graduate students

2011-08-22T14:00:00-04:00

Dear Colleagues:

The Hesburgh Libraries are pleased to announce that, beginning on Monday, August 15, graduate students will be able to request electronic delivery of articles that are in the Libraries' print collections. This means that graduate students will now have the same article delivery that faculty enjoy.

Graduate students should continue to search databases just as you do now. For material that is available only in print, FindText will offer document delivery as an option, just as it does now for faculty. Just as with faculty requests, if the material is not available within our collection we will automatically route the request to interlibrary loan for fulfillment.

While we are not yet able to offer the service to our executive MBA students or to the Chicago business program, we plan to monitor the flow of requests to see when this might be possible.

In the past year the library has offered a number of services to assist graduate students, from book retrieval, to free pdf downloads of Proquest dissertations and theses, to fellowships in Special Collections. We are also tracking interlibrary loan requests in order to help us determine what additional books should be added to our collections. We have placed graduate students at the reference desk to assist undergraduates during key hours and appreciate the special perspective that you bring to student research questions.

The library has also launched an e-book project that will make materials in that form available. During this past year we have added nearly half a million e-books to our catalog. They can be found through the e-books tab on the library's homepage. In the next academic year journal aggregators such as JSTOR and Project Muse are going to add e-books to their databases. We will provide those resources to you. The Library has also partnered with the Internet Archive to digitize out-of-copyright material in our collections. And we recently joined the HathiTrust, which will make millions of digital books available to our university community.

We live in exciting times for publishing. Books continue to be a vital part of our teaching and research. At the same time, more resources are becoming available in digital form. Material that was previously inaccessible can now be accessed electronically. The Hesburgh Libraries are committed to providing our research community with the materials it needs and we will work hard to ensure that you have them.

Finally, I want to thank all of you for your interest and suggestions this year. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to work with you in my role as Interim Director. Next Monday, July 25, our new University Librarian, Diane Parr Walker, joins us from the University of Virginia. Diane will bring much experience from her previous post that will help move our libraries forward. She is also strongly committed to serving the research and teaching needs of our students and faculty. I look forward to working with Diane and hope that you will join me in welcoming her to our community.

With good wishes,

Susan

-----
Susan Ohmer, Ph.D.
Assistant Provost and
Interim Director of the Hesburgh Libraries
221 Hesburgh Library
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
email: sohmer@nd.edu
phone: 574-631-7790

PhD Comics Movie

2011-07-28T14:57:00-04:00

Yes, we know that we are all waiting to see it, but we do not have the details yet. Hang in there!

Details will be announced later in the semester. We'll post the date and venue in this website as soon as we can.

Thank you for your patience.

Health Insurance, 2011-12

2011-07-02T15:30:00-04:00

This is the email that the GSU sent to the grad students to inform them of the changes that will take place next year.

"Fellow Graduate Students,

Next school year will be bringing us significant changes to the graduate student health plan. In an effort to provide you with the most updated information, a few important links are provided below. Here is an update on the current ND insurance policy provided by Aetna. The premium for the 2011-2012 school year will be $1,666. Please see the Student Life pages of the Graduate School website for information on the subsidy of $1,175: http://graduateschool.nd.edu/graduate-student-life/health/. Here is a comparison sheet of the new and old insurance policies, detailing the changes for the upcoming school year. Note that, in addition to an increase in premiums, there is a reduction in benefits at the South Bend Medical Foundation (SBMF), X-ray Consultants (XRC), Rad, Inc., and McDonald Physical Therapy: http://uhs.nd.edu/assets/43429/comparison_chart_11_12_school_year.pdf. If you would like to learn more about coverage and changes in the policy, please attend the upcoming insurance info sessions. There will be food served!
Aug 22 and 23 (6-7pm), and Aug 24 (1-2pm). Location: TBA. ***Please note that the continuation plan which allows a graduated student to purchase the plan for 6 additional months AFTER August 14, is being eliminated on the 2011-12 plan. Any student currently on the 2010-11 school plan who graduated in December or May can still purchase the additional months of coverage which would extend their coverage up to 2/15/12. Any student on the plan for 11-12 who will graduate in Dec of 2011 or May of 2012 WILL NOT be allowed to purchase the additional 6 months. You MUST sign up PRIOR to August 14 to be eligible.*** The changes to this year's insurance plans were due to significant losses by Aetna in providing health care to Notre Dame students. Please be assured that the Graduate Student Union is actively advocating for cheaper and better health care options in the year to come.

Sincerely,
Samuel Rund & Victoria Lam
President & Health Care Chair"

Letter from the Dean: New Outside Chair Requirements

2011-05-06T12:00:00-04:00

This is a letter from Dean Gregory Sterling, sent on May 4, 2011, regarding the upcoming change to the requirement for outside chairs for defenses.

"Colleagues,

Over the course of the last two years, we received a significant number of requests from faculty that we reconsider the requirement to have an outside chairperson at the comprehensive/candidacy examinations and dissertation defenses of graduate students. I asked Barbara Turpin to analyze the reports from outside chairpersons and to do a comparative study of the practices of other institutions. This material was presented to and discussed both by the Directors of Graduate Studies and by the Graduate Council. The DGSs voted overwhelmingly to remove the requirement and the Graduate Council did as well. This means that the current year is the final year in which we will use outside chairs to oversee examinations and dissertation defenses. The requirement ends with graduation on May 22, 2011. Beginning May 23rd, we will have only the members of the committee present (and outside guests for dissertation defenses).

The Graduate Council wanted to ensure that we make a special effort to protect the equity of the examination for the benefit of the students. As a result, the Council voted to implement two new practices. First, we will ask each member of the committee to sign their name with their vote. This will guarantee the accuracy of the voting. By the end of the month, we will replace the current form that the outside chair completed with a new form that the members of the committee will complete. Second, we will state on the instructions distributed to students that they have the right to appeal an examination or defense on procedural grounds through the normal appeal process (they may not appeal on the basis of content or the judgment of the faculty on their performance). This will be a simple statement of the right to appeal that already exists. In the event that a student fails, appeals, and is given the right to retake the examination because of a procedural flaw, we will require an outside chairperson for the retake or second defense. An outside chairperson is not required if the program allows a retake of an exam on the grounds of performance. We will include both practices in the Bulletin.

We will ask a senior or tenured member of the committee to serve as the administrator of the exam and to identify her or himself on the form. Normally this will be the advisor. This faculty member will be responsible for keeping time.

I think that this reflects a fully warranted confidence in the quality of our faculty and their capacity to uphold high standards while administering examinations and defenses fairly. I am also confident that the new practices passed by the Graduate Council will ensure equity for our students. We will monitor the process carefully in the next few years to make sure that the intended result is achieved. Thank you to all who assisted with the study and in the deliberations.

Best wishes as your semester ends,

Gregory E. Sterling
Dean of the Graduate School"

Congratulations to the 2011-2012 GSU President & Vice-Presidents

2011-05-02T10:15:00-04:00

The votes are in! Congratulations to the 2011-2012 Graduate Student Union President, Samuel Rund, and Vice-Presidents, Kevin Mueller and Ellen Childs.

GSU Outstanding Teaching Awards Winners

2011-04-10T11:00:00-04:00

Congratulations to this year's winners of the GSU Outstanding Teaching Awards!

Teaching Instructor

Winner: Mary Wagner Fuhs, Psychology
Honorable Mention: Joshua Lollar, Theology

Teaching Assistant

Winner: Yugon Kim, American Studies
Honorable Mention: James Matta, Physics

GSU Donates to the Boys and Girls Club of St. Joseph County

2011-04-10T10:30:00-04:00

The GSU donated the proceeds from the 2011 GSU Charity Gala (held on March 25th) to the Boys and Girls Club of St. Joseph County. The GSU Social Chairs presented John Morgan, the Executive Director of the Club, with a check for $2,005!

Thank you to everyone that attended the Gala and/or bought raffle tickets.

GSU Social Chairs, Ellen Childs (left) and Karen Saavedra (middle, along with Sofia Saavedra), present a check to John Morgan, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of St. Joseph County.

Graduate Research Symposium Winners

2011-02-08T12:29:00-05:00

The GSU would like to thank all of the participants of the 2011 Graduate Research Symposium for their hard work and fantastic poster presentations. We would also like to congratulate the winners from each category!

Congratulations to:

First Place:

Edit Varga (Engineering)

Patrick Mello (Humanities)

John Engbers (Sciences)

Chadwick Curtis & Elizabeth Munnich (Social Sciences, co-winners)

Second Place:

Punit Bandi (Engineering)

Brandon Cook (Humanities)

Patrick Shirey (Sciences)

Get Synced: Graduate Student Calendar Now Available!

2011-02-04T17:00:00-05:00

The GSU now has a sync-able calendar of events that is full of various, important graduate student-relevant events, from social to career development, campus-wide to community-wide. Want to sync the GSU calendar to your personal calendar? Get started here!