Summer 2006 Newsletter

IN THIS EDITION
• NEW Graduate Student Online Orientation Scheduled for Fall 2006
• Thesis/Dissertation News
• Summer and Fall Offerings: Professional Development Program
• New Look for Graduate School Web Site
• 2006 UAB Graduate Student Research Days Winners
• 2006 Barker Awardees Named
• Dean Noe's Notes

NEW Graduate Student Online Orientation Scheduled for Fall 2006
UAB is a diverse education and research community dedicated to the pursuit of academic excellence. Because our graduate students need to be aware of academic information, student services, and policies & procedures, the Graduate School will implement a new Graduate Student Online Orientation beginning with the Fall 2006 semester. Read more.

Thesis/Dissertation News
The process for completing your thesis or dissertation is evolving. In the past, the Graduate School has required that all theses and dissertations be sent to an outside reader, provided by the Graduate School, for professional editing. Read more.

Summer and Fall Offerings: Professional Development Program
SUMMER SESSIONS (MAY 10 - AUGUST 9) Read more.

New Look for Graduate School Web Site
The Graduate School’s Web site is being updated and should go live by the 2006 Fall semester. The same information that is available on the current site will be accessable on the new site including: Read more.

2006 UAB Graduate Student Research Days Winners
This year’s Graduate Student Research Days competition, sponsored by the Graduate School, GSA, and Sigma Xi, was held on March 2 & 3 in the HUC Great Hall. There were 149 student participants and 49 faculty judges. Read more.

2006 Barker Awardees Named
The Samuel B. Barker Award for Excellence in Graduate Studies, named for UAB’s first graduate dean, Dr. Samuel Booth Barker, is given each Spring to two students (one at the master's level and one at the doctoral level) who will graduate in the spring, summer, or fall of the calendar year. Read more.

Dean Noe's Notes
Greetings from the Dean’s office. I have been at UAB for just a little more than 5 months at the time this is being written. In this relatively short time, with the assistance of the Graduate School staff and members of the Graduate Council Advisory committee (ADCOM) we have started a number of new initiatives. Read more.

UAB is a diverse education and research community dedicated to the pursuit of academic excellence. Because our graduate students need to be aware of academic information, student services, and policies & procedures, the Graduate School will implement a new Graduate Student Online Orientation beginning with the Fall 2006 semester.

The purpose of the orientation is to provide students with the necessary information needed to be successful in their Graduate School experience as well as to ease the transition into graduate studies.

The orientation will consist of 3 segments: Academic Information, Policies & Procedures, and Student Services & Resources. A short assessment will accompany each segment along with a list of frequently asked questions. The orientation Web site will also be available for students, faculty, and staff to use as a resource for Graduate School and University information.

All incoming graduate students who have been newly admitted for the Fall 2006 semester are encouraged to complete the online orientation before arriving on campus and must complete the orientation by October 2, 2006, or a hold will be placed on their record and they will not be able to register for their second semester courses.

A link to the online orientation will be provided on the Graduate School Web site, www.uab.edu/graduate.

The process for completing your thesis or dissertation is evolving. In the past, the Graduate School has required that all theses and dissertations be sent to an outside reader, provided by the Graduate School, for professional editing. However, beginning Summer Semester 2006, outside editing will no longer be provided by the Graduate School. The responsibility for editing now resides entirely with the student and the individual departments and programs. The signatures of committee members and program directors on the approval forms indicates their assurance that they have examined the document and have found that it is of professional quality from all standpoints, including writing quality, technical correctness, and professional competency, and that the document conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation. All other policies regarding the steps to completing a graduate degree remain the same.

The UAB Format Manual will continue to provide guidelines for thesis and dissertation format and is available on the Graduate School website: www.uab.edu/graduate, as are deadlines and complete information concerning degree completion.

SUMMER SESSIONS (MAY 10 - AUGUST 9)

GRD 702-6Q: Writing up Research. Thur., May 31 - Aug. 9, 5:30pm-9:40pm, HB 236. Questions to Ms. Abney 934-8129. (3 hr)

GRD 703-2S: Style and Grammar for Writers (Second language writers). Sat, May 31-Aug 9, 9:40am - 1:50p, EB 132. Questions to Dr. Austin 975-6539. (3 hr)

GRD 704-00: Specialized Instruction. Individualized Instruction. For questions, dates, and call numbers, call Ms. Baird 975-6511, Ms. Abney 934-8129, or Dr. Austin 975-6539. (1-9 hr)

GRD 707-VT: Presenting Effectively. One-day workshop. Tue, May 9, 2006, 9:00am - 5:00pm, BBRB 170. Lunch provided. Questions to Dr. Austin 975-6539 or Ms. Abney 934-8129. (1 hr)

GRD 711-VT: Special Topics: Word Processing for Theses and Dissertations. Designed to give graduate students hands-on practice with formatting a thesis or dissertation. Two half-day workshops, Thur, May 18 and May 25, 1:00pm-5:00pm, Lister Hill Library, G40. Questions to Ms. Baird 975-6511. (1 hr)

GRD 714-00: Individualized Pronunication and Accent Training. Pass/Fail, TBA. Permission of Instructor required. Questions to Ms. Shadix 996-2947. (1-8 hr)

GRD 722-6P: Discovering Language Through Culture. Pass/Fail. Second language English speakers. Wed, May 31-Aug 9, 5:30pm-9:40pm, EB 236. Questions to Ms. Abney 934-8129. (3 hr)

GRD 724-2S: Pronunciation & Accent Improvement Workshop. Sat, May 31 - Aug 9, 9:40am-1:30pm, EB 130. Class will meet 6 weeks before June 18 and 3 weeks after July 15. Questions to Ms. Shadix 996-2947. Class size limited. Permission of instructor required. (3 hr)

EDU, MBA, MPH, MSPH, DrPH, and MSN students: Check with your Graduate Program Directors for other deadlines, which differ from those of the Graduate School.

May 9: Deadline to change residency
May 9: Admission to candidacy due (Doctoral students require 2 semesters)
June 9: Application for degree due

Plan I
July 7: Last day for public defense
(Committee approved version due in Graduate School no later than 10 days following the defense

Plan II
July 28: Last day for receipt of final papers

Open Registration
Summer semester: April 17 - July 3
Fall semester: July 31 - August 21

This year’s Graduate Student Research Days competition, sponsored by the Graduate School, GSA, and Sigma Xi, was held on March 2 & 3 in the HUC Great Hall. There were 149 student participants and 49 faculty judges. At the Graduate Awards Luncheon, 39 of those students received cash awards in recognition of exemplary presentation of scholarly research.

Mark your calendar for next year’s competition. Graduate Student Research Days 2007 will be held on March 1 & 2. For more information and a complete list of this year's winners, visit the Graduate Student Research Days web site at www.uab.edu/graduate/researchday.

The Samuel B. Barker Award for Excellence in Graduate Studies, named for UAB’s first graduate dean, Dr. Samuel Booth Barker, is given each Spring to two students (one at the master's level and one at the doctoral level) who will graduate in the spring, summer, or fall of the calendar year. Students may be nominated for the Barker Award by their program's graduate program director. The Dean of the Graduate School chooses the final recipients from the group of nominees. The winners’ names appear on plaques outside the Graduate School offices as continuing evidence of their accomplishments.

This year, both recipients accepted their awards at the Graduate School Awards Luncheon, held on March 10 in the HUC Great Hall. They will also be recognized at Honors Convocation in May.

This year’s winner at the doctoral level is Francisco Hernandez (left) from the department of Computer and Information Sciences. Lauren Rast (right), from the department of Physics, is this year’s winner at the master’s level. Both of these students were recognized by their respective departments for their research, excelling in their classes, volunteer and extracurricular activities, and TA responsibilities.

More information about the Barker Award and a list of past winners can be found on the Graduate School website at www.uab.edu/graduate.

Congratulations, Francisco and Lauren!

Greetings from the Dean’s office. I have been at UAB for just a little more than 5 months at the time this is being written. In this relatively short time, with the assistance of the Graduate School staff and members of the Graduate Council Advisory committee (ADCOM) we have started a number of new initiatives. The first was to reactivate ADCOM. This was done to assure that the Graduate School staff and the Dean had ready access to representative faculty input in the process of developing new policies and procedures. The first task that ADCOM tackled was to assist in developing a procedure for using new resources available to the Graduate School to assist Ph.D. programs in recruiting the most well qualified students into their program. We then worked toward updating and streamlining the application and admissions process for all graduate students. Our goal is to encourage as many applicants as possible to apply online with the ultimate objective of having all applications to Grad School programs submitted online. As indicated earlier, members of the Grad School staff are working with web development professionals to update and make the Grad School web site more informative and user friendly. It will include a comprehensive online orientation for new students. To better serve our international students, the Grad School is expanding its capacity to provide English as a Second Language (ESL) education. We are also developing an email listserve that will allow us to communicate by email either to all grad students at one time, or to specific student subsets as the information content warrants. As outlined on page 1, to streamline thesis and dissertation processing the ADCOM has approved a significant reduction in requirements for formatting and additional review. Finally, in the very near future the Grad School will be adding to its staff a new Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. This person will be responsible for developing some important new initiatives, and helping to expand others already underway.

We believe that all of these changes are “student friendly” and that they will transform the Graduate School into a unit that assists students in meeting their degree requirements and ultimately to reach their career goals.

Bryan Noe