Announcements for UNC CS Grad Students

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2010-04-26T19:35:00.001-07:00

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Grand Challenges Explorations Round 5: Now accepting Proposals

2010-03-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is now accepting grant proposals for
Round 5 of Grand Challenges Explorations, a US $100 million initiative to
encourage unconventional global health solutions. Anyone can apply,
regardless of education or experience level.

Grant proposals are being accepted online at
http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations until May 19,2010, on the
following topics:

New! Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Applications for Priority Global
Health Conditions
NEW! Create New Technologies to Improve the Health of Mothers and Newborns

Create New Technologies for Contraception
Create New Ways to Protect Against Infectious Diseases

Initial grants will be $100,000 each, and projects showing promise will have
the opportunity to receive additional funding of up to $1 million US
Dollars. Full descriptions of the new topics and application instructions
are available at http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations.

We are looking forward to receiving innovative ideas from scientists around
the world and from all scientific disciplines. If you don't submit a
proposal yourself, we hope you will forward this message to someone else who
might be interested.

Thank you for your commitment to solving the world's greatest health
challenges.

###
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In
developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving
them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the
United States, it seeks to ensure that all people - especially those with
the fewest resources - have access to the opportunities they need to succeed
in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff
Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and
Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

Workshop: The Twelve Keys to Successful Grant Writing

2010-03-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

Dr. Robert Lowman, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, will be conducting a workshop that presents twelve key concepts related to success in grant writing. Designed for the grant writer with limited experience, this workshop starts from the premise that nothing succeeds like a good idea. But there are other important ingredients of success, from assembling a winning team to achieving a strong match between the idea and a potential sponsor. The workshop stresses the importance of planning, and presents the sponsor as a potential ally, not an adversary.

This event is appropriate for faculty members and post-doctoral fellows in any discipline. Space is limited. Registration is required.

If you have questions regarding the workshop, please contact Jennifer Pruitt 962-7757 (jennifer_pruitt@unc.edu) for more details.

School of Public Health
Monday, April 5
1:30 to 5:00 p.m.
Rosenau Hall Room 133
Registration Required

School of Public Health
Thursday, April 8
1:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Rosenau Hall Room 133
Registration Required

Juicy Ideas 2010: A Software Contest for Students

2010-03-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

Google is excited to support the Juicy Ideas competition again this year by hosting the winning team at company headquarters in Mountain View California in Summer 2010, where winners will also each receive an Android-powered phone.

Juicy Ideas 2010 is asking you: "What can you do with data?"

Useful data streams are published by governments, private companies, NGOs, and endless websites and we want to see how you can harness this data to benefit your community in the form of a software application. Submissions will be judged on their ability to disseminate data and benefit the community, on the usability of the application, and on the business potential of the idea.

This year's contest is open to communities where Google operates offices or datacenters in the US, and universities within 50 km of offices are invited to participate. We've also invited school from last year's Juicy Ideas to join again.

Ready? Form a team of 3-5 students at an eligible college or university.

Set? Research publicly available data, come up with a business plan for that data.

Juice! Create a software application that uses the data to benefit your community, and upload a demo video to Youtube. You'll be judged on the app and the video.

The contest period runs through April 11 2010, so get started at www.juicyideas.com!

Weiss Urban Livability Symposium

2010-03-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

The Weiss Urban Livability Symposium
Sponsored by the Graduate School

INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY ACTIVISM THROUGH ENGAGED SCHOLARSHIP

Date: Thursday, March 18
Time: 5:30 -- 7:30pm
Location: Tate-Turner-Kuralt Auditorium in the School of Social Work, Pittsboro St., Carolina Campus

Symposium information: This Weiss Urban Livability Symposium brings together a group of university scholars and community professionals to discuss social, economic, and environmental issues of significance to North Carolina and how they engage those issues to solve problems in their communities. Panelists will share how they build relationships between academia and local communities to effect positive change and foster social justice.

Panelists:

* Altha Cravey, Professor of Geography, UNC-Chapel Hill
* Allan Parnell, UNC-Chapel Hill and Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities
* Gene Nichol, Professor of Law, Director of the UNC and Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity at UNC
* Gary Keuber, Durham urban activist and blogger, "Endangered Durham"
* Tes Thraves, Center for Environmental Farming Services: The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS)

Moderator: Donald Nonini, Professor of Anthropology, UNC.

Please refer to the attached save-the-date and check online
urbanlivability.org for more information and updates. Email questions or
rsvp to urbanlivability@unc.edu .

2010 Future Faculty Fellowship Program

2010-02-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

The Future Faculty Fellowship Program (FFFP) is a 5-day, intensive, interdisciplinary program for senior-level graduate students, conducted by the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE). The program was developed in collaboration with Student Government, the Graduate and Professional Student Federation, the Office of the Provost, and the Graduate School. It is designed to meet professional development goals by improving the instructional planning and teaching skills of new Teaching Fellows who are assigned to independently teach undergraduate courses at UNC-Chapel Hill and by preparing them to meet their future faculty responsibilities in research, service, and leadership.

The Spring 2010 FFFP will be May 12-14 and 17-18 in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room of Wilson Library. To apply for the program, graduate students should be directed to the application on the CFE website:

http://cfe.unc.edu/teaching/fffp/index.html.

The program is limited to 24 participants selected from the group of graduate students completing the application process, which includes an essay on why they want to participate in the program, a letter of recommendation from a faculty member, and some additional information about their experiences with teaching and learning. The deadline for submission of applications and faculty recommendation letters is March 17, 2010. Students will be notified of acceptance by March 22nd.

The FFFP will be repeated in August with an application deadline in mid-May.

Data Sciences Summer Institute

2010-02-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

May 24 –July 2, 2010

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The Mathematics, Algorithms and Tools for Data Analytics

The 3rd Annual Data Sciences Summer Institute (DSSI) will be held May 24-July 2 , 2010 on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This 6-week long program will expose students to the mathematical foundations of Data Sciences, allow them to attend advanced tutorials and seminars on a diverse set of topics in this area given by leading experts in the field, and provide hands-on experience working on research projects on topics such as:

· Machine Learning approaches for Natural Language Understanding and Information Extraction

· Knowledge Discovery in Social and Information Networks

· Information Retrieval and Text Mining

· Computer Vision

Eligibility:

· College Junior or Senior Computer Science students (majors or minors) and beginning graduate students.

· Students should show strong academic performance and must have sufficient mathematical and programming experience.

· Applicants must currently be living in the United States as citizens, residents or Visa holders.

· Room, board and stipend will be provided to qualified students.

Find more information and the online application form (deadline March 31, 2010) for the Data Sciences Summer Institute at: http://mias.illinois.edu/DSSI

This program is funded by the Department of Homeland Security’s Center of Excellence—Command, Control, and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis (CCICADA) at UIUC’s Multimodal Information Access & Synthesis (MIAS) Center.

Congratulations to Liangjun Zhang

2010-01-26T10:41:00.000-08:00

Please congratulate Liangjun, who won the university's Linda Dysktra Distinguished Dissertation Award.

WWW2010 Developers Track CfP

2010-01-26T05:08:00.001-08:00

WWW2010 - April 26 - 30 in Raleigh, NC

WWW2010 Developers Track - Call For Proposals http://www2010.org
Submission Details

Submission deadline: February 26, 2010 (9pm Eastern (US) Time)

Notification date: March 14th, 2010

The Developers Track focuses on the general WWW development community. Participants are invited to present new trends and interesting ideas, code and APIs of applications, platforms and emerging standards. Demonstrations of technical "nitty-gritty" are strongly encouraged. Focus areas include, but are not limited to, Browsers and Plugins, Web Metrics, Health, Science and Education, Web Social Impact, Information Integration and Mash-ups, Web Software and Tools, Information Mining and Reporting, Mobile Web, Monetization, Multimedia, Scalable System and Cloud Computing, Search, Security, Semantic Web, Social Network, Standards and Protocols, User Interface, Open Source (FLOSS) Development for the Web.

This track is an ideal venue for short reports of both industry and academic technical works.

This year, the proceedings of the Developers Track will be published online; the authors of the accepted works will have the option to publish a 3-page report.

Please submit abstracts and papers via the WWW2010 Conference Management site: https://cmt.research.microsoft.com/WWW2010/Default.aspx

New York City based SeedStart 2010 Summer Program-$20k for up to 10 startups for the summer

2010-01-19T12:07:00.000-08:00

**** I have no idea how legit this might be *****

SeedStart will offer promising teams the chance to build a technology product and launch a company with the assistance of seed investment capital, mentorship and other resources. Companies will be selected through a competitive application process and each company will receive a $20,000 investment. Throughout the summer, companies will also receive mentorship from experienced New York City based venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, legal and business guidance, administrative help and technical assistance. At the end of the summer venture capitalists and angel investors will be invited to an Investor Day where each team will present their product and launch their company. SeedStart will run for 8 weeks beginning in June of 2010.

SeedStart is a joint effort among Contour Venture Partners, IA Ventures, NYC Seed, RRE Ventures and Polaris Venture Partners, and also includes Fish & Richardson, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Silicon Valley Bank. The program has begun accepting applications and teams of at least two founders can apply at http://www.nycseed.com/seedstart.html by February 28, 2010 to be considered. For information, contact Owen Davis at owen@nycseed.com. http://bit.ly/5FU4Mb

Grad-Level Entrepreneurship Classes Available

2010-01-04T07:20:00.000-08:00

Grad Students, Faculty and Staff:

Graduate-level Intro to Entrepreneurship Courses in the Arts, Sciences and Social Venturing

Explore entrepreneurial opportunities or get help launching a new venture or non-profit by enrolling in an entrepreneurship course this spring semester:

· Artistic Entrepreneurship (BUSI 701, M/W 4:00-5:15pm) more info

· Scientific Entrepreneurship (PLCY 575, T/TH 5:00-6:15pm) more info

· Social Entrepreneurship (MBA 866, M 6:00-9:00pm) more info

These courses are offered as a part of UNC’s Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship and are available to UNC graduate students, doctoral candidates, post-docs, faculty and staff.

This program is sponsored by the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative.

Writing Center ESL services, Spring 2010

2009-12-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

In keeping with the Writing Center's mission, we have renewed our focus on writing and language support for students (and especially graduate students, since they represent the largest ESL population at UNC). We also welcome exchange students and postdoctoral scholars to take advantage of our services, when appropriate.

Starting in January, I will be teaching a series of free, non-credit ESL mini-courses in grammar, writing, vocabulary, presentation skills, and pronunciation. Information is on the attached flyer.

We are also expanding our facilitated ESL writing groups, which have been very very effective for students and postdocs with substantial writing projects (papers, proposals, dissertations, and publications). Sign up will begin on the first day of classes.

In addition, we will be leading workshops, organizing speaking groups, recording more online video presentations, and participating in the International Coffee Hour.

Details and registration are on the Writing Center's new ESL resources webpages at:
http://www.unc.edu/writingcenter/esl

If you have any questions or suggestions, or would like to discuss ways that we can support your ESL students and postdocs, please do not hesitate to contact me or my colleague, Gigi Taylor (vgtaylor@unc.edu).

Happy holidays from the ESL specialists at the Writing Center!

Nigel Caplan

ESL Specialist, The Writing Center
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Tel: (919) 843-9604; email: nacaplan@unc.edu

http://www.unc.edu/writingcenter/esl
(Writing Center ESL Resources Homepage)
http://eslonthehill.wordpress.com
(ESL On the Hill Language-Learning Blog)

NVIDIA CUDA Superhero Challenge

2009-11-25T10:23:00.000-08:00

The 2nd NVIDIA CUDA Superhero Challenge has started in partnership with TopCoder!

Following on the heels of last week's hugely successful SuperComputing'09 - where anyone who's anyone was talking about CUDA and GPU Computing - we are pleased to launch the new NVIDIA Superhero Challenge for developers around the world.

The Challenge

Challenge #2 builds on one of the most well-known computing problems - the "travelling salesman", but with an added twist - chasing airplanes! (The Travelling salesman problem is one known to be computationally exceptionally difficult and is used as a benchmark for many optimization methods. It has several applications such as planning, logistics, the manufacture of microchips and DNA sequencing.)
In Challenge #2, contestants are asked to determine the best possible route that a mobile aircraft servicing crew should take to service a fleet of planes continually flying around the globe.

What You Can Do
Please let your programmer friends know that they can participate in the CUDA Superhero Challenge and win some serious cash - plus it's a great excuse to learn about CUDA C. There's no entry fee, and they can use TopCoder's Tesla-powered servers to run and debug their code.

Here is the link:

http://www.topcoder.com/news/2009/11/23/5000-nvidia-cuda-superhero-challenge-2-has-now-begun/

Within the first 48 hours of the contest, there are already over 260 registrants and 100 test submissions; the leader score table is changing rapidly. The competition is expected to be hot and heavy until the final day, December 7th.

Computer programming opportunity from the Chart Project for the UNC community

2009-10-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

Computer students & others:
Get experience working on a humanitarian Internet service!
Join the Chart Project

We are creating a large database for on-line discussions which use a modified flow-chart. This could give you experience, satisfaction, and lead to paid work with us.

We hope to go on-line soon by finishing the work started by a college class in Canada. They say the programming needed is not too advanced. Can we become a world-wide sensation and make money at this? Yes, because it is a very innovative plan and fills a huge gap.

On-line discussions now, you might have noticed, can be very frustrating. They get illogical, over-long, petty, repetitious, circular, distracted, irrelevant, and hard-to-follow. Our plan will ameliorate all those problems to allow the public to try to settle all disagreements and conflicts on all topics.

Ask us for more to see if you'd like to work on this.

Korky Day
korkyday@yahoo.com
Telephone in Chapel Hill
919-929-0923

2010 NSF EAPSI Fellowship Program Now Open

2009-09-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC SUMMER INSTITUTES FOR U.S. GRADUATE STUDENTS - 2010 APPLICATION NOW OPEN

(Link: www.nsfsi.org )

The National Science Foundation (NSF) East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes for U.S. Graduate Students (EAPSI) is a flagship international fellowship program for developing the next generation of globally-engaged U.S. scientists and engineers knowledgeable about the Asian and Pacific regions. The Summer Institutes are hosted by foreign counterparts committed to increasing opportunities for young U.S. researchers to work in research facilities and with host mentors abroad. Fellows are supported to participate in eight-week research experiences at host laboratories in Australia, China, Japan (10 weeks), Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan from June to August. The program provides a $5,000 summer stipend, round-trip airfare to the host location, living expenses abroad, and an introduction to the society, culture, language, and research environment of the host location.

The 2010 application is now open and will close December 8, 2009. Application instructions are available online at www.nsfsi.org. For further information concerning benefits, eligibility, and tips on applying, applicants are encouraged to visit www.nsf.gov/eapsi or www.nsfsi.org.

NSF recognizes the importance of enabling U.S. researchers and educators to advance their work through international collaborations and the value of ensuring that future generations of U.S. scientists and engineers gain professional experience beyond this nation's borders early in their careers. The program is intended for U.S. graduate students pursuing studies in fields supported by the National Science Foundation. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply for the EAPSI. Applicants must be enrolled in a research-oriented master's or PhD program and be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents by the application deadline date. Students in combined bachelor/master degree programs must have matriculated from the undergraduate degree program at time of application.

The first Summer Institutes began in Japan in 1990, and to date approximately 1,800 U.S. graduate students have participated in the program. For the 2009 competition, NSF received 317 applications and issued 187 awards. EAPSI applicants are representative of most U.S. states and territories. The 2009 awardees pool included representation from 95 universities and 40 states.

The NSF-EAPSI Operations Center is administered by the American Society for Engineering Education (www.asee.org/fellowships).[

Should you inquire additional information, please contact Mr. Ergys Ramaj by email at eapsi@asee.org or by phone at 1-866-501-2922.

DTH Online

2009-08-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

I'm the online managing editor at The Daily Tar Heel, and I'm writing you because we're looking for students with computer programming skills to work with us next year. On August 21, we'll launch our new site using Drupal. We hope to improve upon that throughout the year, but we're very short of students with the skills to do so. If you know of any students in your classes who might be interested in working with us, I'd love if you could pass this opportunity along to them. Journalism experience isn't a requirement in the slightest, and we're mostly looking for students who are interested in experimentation, web design and using technology to help readers better understand the news. At this point, there's a lot of opportunity for students to make applications or create projects that can give them experience and a place to showcase their work.

Feel free to contact me further with questions. I appreciate your time!

Sara

--
Sara Gregory
The Daily Tar Heel
Managing Editor/online
704/591.0365 (c)

Future Faculty Fellowship Program Call for Applications

2009-06-22T12:09:00.001-07:00

The Future Faculty Fellowship Program (FFFP) is a 5-day intensive interdisciplinary program for senior-level graduate students. It is facilitated by the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE) and was developed through collaboration with Student Government, the Graduate and Professional Student Federation, the Office of the Provost, and the Graduate School. The Program serves to meet professional development goals by improving the instructional planning and teaching skills of new Teaching Fellows who are assigned to teach undergraduate courses at UNC-Chapel Hill independently as well as prepare them to meet their future faculty responsibilities in research, service, and leadership prior to completion of their degrees.

The dates for the Fall 2009 FFFP are August 12-14 and 17-18, and it will be held in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union Building Room 3203. To apply for the program, graduate students should be directed to the application on the CFE website: http://cfe.unc.edu/teaching/fffp/index.html.

The program is limited to 25 participants who are selected from the group of graduate students completing the application process that includes an essay on why they want to participate in the program, a letter of recommendation from a faculty member, and some additional information about their experiences with teaching and learning. The deadline for application is July 17, 2009. The deadline for the faculty letter of recommendation is July 21. Students will be notified of acceptance by end-of-day, July 24.

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this program or the application process.

Todd Zakrajsek, Executive Director
Center for Faculty Excellence
966-4838
toddz@unc.edu

Research Ethics Course - GRAD 721

2009-06-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

*Two sections now open for Fall 2009 registration*

The purpose of this mini-course is to discuss in serious and systematic ways some of the important issues in research ethics. This is not a course in moral theory, nor is it a course that aims only to review rules and codes of conduct. Rather, the aim is to increase our awareness of the nature of ethical issues in research and some methods for reasoning constructively about them. The topics to be addressed include (but are not restricted to): falsification of data, plagiarism, professional codes of ethics, issues in mentoring, peer review and authorship, the use of statistics, intellectual property, conflicts of interest, the use of human and animal subjects in research, environmental ethics, issues involving women and under-represented minorities in the professions, and the social responsibilities of researchers.

This graduate level course will be conducted as a seminar and will meet one time per week for seven weeks. All readings, case studies, and instructional material are available online. Participants will do the readings for each topic and take a self-paced quiz to test their comprehension of the material before each seminar session. The seminar sessions will be devoted to review of the principles relevant to specific reading topics and a discussion of the complexities and difficulties of the specific cases. The requirements of the course are to complete the online material before each seminar and to attend the seminars. There will be no additional exams or papers.

The Research Ethics course will be taught by members of the Philosophy Department under the guidance of Douglas MacLean, professor of philosophy. Section 001 will meet on Thursdays, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.; section 002 will meet on Mondays, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. Both sections will meet at the Graduate Student Center, 211W Cameron Avenue. Classes will begin the week of August 17; class size is limited to 45. To register please go to University Registrar website.

For more information about this course, please visit: http://openseminar.org/ethics/ and go to the student entrance. Then click on "University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill" and select "Douglas MacLean" as your instructor. This will let you enter the course and explore the readings, case studies, and the tests for each unit.

Teaching & Research Assistants Appreciation Picnic

2009-04-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

Teaching & Research Assistants Appreciation Picnic

We cordially invite you to join faculty, administrators, graduate and undergraduate students as we celebrate the contributions of Teaching Assistants (TAs) and Research Assistants (RAs) and thank them for their impact on the university and university life.

Wednesday, April 15th at 5:00pm-6:30pm in McCorkle Place In Front of South Building

Please Print this Invitation and Bring it with you!

Rain Location Student Union 3102

Sandwiches, Salads and Dessert will be provided until we Run out, so Come Early!

All  TAs  &  RAs  in  attendance  will  be  entered  into  a  drawing  for  free  T‐Shirts,  gift  certificates  to  Top  of  the  Hill,  Spanky’s,  Tar  Heel  Bookstore,  UNC  Student  Stores,  and  other  giveaway  prizes! 
 
Picnic_Invites-2.pdf

Upcoming Graduate Student Professional Development Workshops

2009-03-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

3/25: Non-Academic Careers in the Humanities & Social Sciences

This panel discussion will include representatives from various non-academic careers related to humanities and social science disciplines. They will speak about their experiences, advice for job hunting, how to use your graduate degree for advancement, and other professional skills to develop for a successful career. Co-sponsored by the Graduate School and University Career Services.

1:00-2:00pm, Graduate Student Center, 211A W. Cameron Ave.

REGISTER: http://cfx.research.unc.edu/res_classreg/browse_single.cfm?New=1&event_id=21857

4/1: Workshop: Conflict Resolution

No one likes conflict, but it is an inevitable part of life. Come and learn how to defuse tense situations effectively at this interactive workshop led by NCSU’s Dr. Rhonda Sutton. A special emphasis will be given to situations faced by graduate students.

1:00–3:00pm, Graduate Student Center, 211 A W. Cameron Ave.

REGISTER: http://cfx.research.unc.edu/res_classreg/browse_single.cfm?New=1&event_id=21895

4/1: Graduate Funding 101–Humanities & Social Sciences

Get a jump start on proposal writing for graduate funding! This half-day workshop will provide an introduction to the library's resources, strategies for conducting funding searches, effective writing strategies and insight into literature reviews. The workshop includes a panel discussion with students and faculty who have experience writing for funding at the graduate level as well as tips from funding review committees.

9:00am–Noon, Graduate Student Center, 211A West Cameron Ave.

REGISTER http://cfx.research.unc.edu/res_classreg/browse_single.cfm?New=1&event_id=21928

4/8: Graduate Funding 101–Sciences & Health Sciences

Get a jump start on proposal writing for graduate funding! This half-day workshop will provide an introduction to the library's resources, strategies for conducting funding searches, effective writing strategies and insight into literature reviews. The workshop includes a panel discussion with students and faculty who have experience writing for funding at the graduate level as well as tips from funding review committees.

9:00am–Noon, Graduate Student Center, 211A West Cameron Ave.

REGISTER http://cfx.research.unc.edu/res_classreg/browse_single.cfm?New=1&event_id=21929

4/15: Establishing North Carolina Residency for Tuition Purposes

10:00am – 11:00am, Graduate Student Center, 211A West Cameron Ave.

REGISTER http://cfx.research.unc.edu/res_classreg/browse_single.cfm?New=1&event_id=21953

Student Marshals for 2009 Hooding Ceremony

2009-03-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Call for Graduate Student Marshals

Help celebrate the PhD completion process!

One highlight of an academic career is the culmination of academic and research pursuits with the receipt of the diploma that says Doctor of Philosophy. Each year the Graduate School at UNC Chapel Hill conducts a Hooding Ceremony to formally recognize and congratulate the attainment of this degree. This year the Hooding Ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 9, 2009, prior the general University Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, May 10.

We are looking for 18 graduate student volunteers to serve as the 2009 Graduate Student Marshals. As Graduate Student Marshals you will 1) lead the processional (academic deans, candidates for graduation, faculty advisors) onto the Dean E. Smith Center main floor, 2) guide the movement of candidates and advisors as each degree and hood is awarded, and 3) offer general assistance, as needed, before, during, and after the course of the ceremony.

Your time commitment will include (approximately):

Friday May 8, 2009, 1 hour training (time to be determined)

Saturday May 9, 2009, 3 hours for the Hooding Ceremony (at Dean E. Smith Center)

Saturday 9, 2009, 1-2 hours (optional) barbeque dinner (spouse/partner/guest included) with Junior Marshals who will assist with Sunday general Commencement Ceremony

If you are interested, please contact Leslie Lerea, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Graduate School; Lerea@unc.edu. Please include your departmental email; deadline March 31, 2009.

Future Faculty Fellowship Program Call for Applications

2009-03-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

The Future Faculty Fellowship Program is an annual 6-day intensive interdisciplinary program for senior-level graduate students. It is facilitated by the Center for Faculty Excellence and was developed through collaboration with Student Government, the Graduate and Professional Student Federation, the Office of the Provost and the Graduate School. The Program serves to meet professional development goals by improving the instructional planning and teaching skills of new Teaching Fellows who are assigned to teach undergraduate courses at UNC-Chapel Hill independently and to prepare them to meet their future faculty responsibilities in research, service and leadership prior to completion of their degrees.

The dates for the May 2009 Preparing Future Faculty Program are May 13, 14, 15, and May 18, 19, 20, 2009 in Toy Lounge at Dey Hall. To apply for the program, go to the application on the Center for Faculty Excellence website http://cfe.unc.edu/teaching/fffp/index.html.

The program is limited to 25 participants who are selected from the group of graduate students completing the application process that includes an essay on why you want to participate in the program, a letter of recommendation from a faculty member and some additional information about your experiences with teaching and learning. The deadline for application is March 25, 2009. The deadline for the faculty letter of recommendation is March 31, 2009.

Please do let me know if you have any questions regarding this program or the application process.

Sincerely,

Todd Zakrajsek, Executive Director
Center for Faculty Excellence
919-966-1289
toddz@unc.edu

Faculty Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring

2009-03-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

The Graduate School is pleased to announce the call for nominations for the Faculty Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring. This award was established to recognize extraordinary performance and achievement in the mentoring of doctoral students. We will present the award at the Doctoral Hooding Ceremony on May, 9, 2009 in the Dean E. Smith Center.

All graduate students who receive their doctoral degree in 2008/2009 are invited to nominate faculty for this special honor. This includes students who received their degrees in August and December 2008, and those who will receive their degrees in May 2009. Regular members of the Graduate Faculty at UNC Chapel Hill who have successfully guided at least one student through the completion of their doctoral training are eligible. *The deadline for nominations is April 6, 2009. *A call for nominations, outlining the criteria and eligibility for the award, and the nomination form can be found on the Graduate School web site at http://gradschool.unc.edu/awards.html.

We ask that you circulate this information broadly within your departments and with your graduate students in order that outstanding mentors can be nominated. If you have any questions about the award, please do not hesitate to contact me at Lerea@unc.edu.

We look forward to announcing of the recipient of the 2009 Faculty Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring!

--

Leslie S. Lerea, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
The Graduate School
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
203 Bynum Hall
Campus Box 4010
Chapel Hill, NC, 27599

Office: 919.962.6329
Fax: 919.966.4010

Identifying Funding Sources for Graduate Research and Study

2009-02-25T15:53:00.001-08:00

Identifying Funding Sources for Graduate Research and Study in the Arts and Sciences and Professional Schools

When: Thursday, March 5, 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Where: 246 Davis Library

Identifying Funding Sources for Graduate Research and Study in the Health Sciences

When: Monday, March 2, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Where: 307 Health Sciences Library

The GrantSource Library invites interested graduate and professional students from all disciplines to a workshop on finding funding for graduate research and study. The instructor will provide time-saving tips for conducting a funding search and an overview of resources available through the library

You will learn how to:

* Make the most effective use of the COS and Sponsored Programs Information Network (SPIN) multidisciplinary funding opportunity databases (how to search, important features, pros and cons)
* Set up a customized funding alert in COS and other mailing lists about funding
* Search for funding using special resources for graduate students
* Identify UNC internal funding opportunities
* Find online and print proposal writing guides

Advance registration is not required. For more information, see http://research.unc.edu/grantsource/workshops_help.php#workshops, or email gs@unc.edu or phone 962-3463.

English Language & American Culture at the Writing Center

2009-02-07T08:28:00.000-08:00

Is English your Second Language?

English Language & American Culture at the Writing Center offers free support for all non-native speakers of English at UNC (students, scholars, faculty, and staff).

This semester, ELAC is running writing groups, workshops, an International Coffee Hour, and a language blog. You can find information at www.unc.edu/writingcenter/elac

For more information about English Language & American Culture, please contact:

Nigel Caplan (nacaplan@unc.edu)
ESL Specialist, The Writing Center
Tel: (919) 843-9604

http://www.unc.edu/writingcenter/elac
(English Language & American Culture Homepage)

http://www.unc.edu/~nacaplan/eslonthehill/
(ESL On the Hill Grammar Blog)