Announcements

Invest in Your Future:   A Graduate School Success Symposium January 24, 2019 9 am-4 pm Edward St. John Learning Center Registration opens: December 12thLast day to cancel for a full refund: January 18th Deposit: $20 (This event is free, but a deposit is required to register. The Graduate School will initiate the process for returning deposits to all attendees within 5-7 business days after the event.)

Dear Members of the Graduate Community, Recent events have been troubling to us all. The deterioration of public discourse, hostility towards individuals based on racial, ethnic, religious, and gender expression, and hate-based violence strike at the core of our shared values as a campus community.

This semester, the Graduate School implemented a new policy that requires an expectation-setting meeting between graduate assistants and their supervisors. This policy is intended to enhance communication between graduate assistants and their supervisors. To assess the policy, we surveyed graduate assistants in late September to see if they had these meetings and, if so, if they judged the conversations useful. 

Begin your academic year with this series of events to meet other graduate students and learn about services the Graduate School offers to support your academic and professional success. This week of events is especially targeted towards new students, but ALL graduate students are welcome! Some events may require registration; please see individual event descriptions for additional details. Building your writing and communication toolkitTuesday, September 4, 5-7 pm, Prince George's Room, Stamp Student Union

In light of yesterday’s Supreme Court decision upholding President Trump’s executive order banning travelers from certain Muslim-majority countries, I would like to make clear the commitment of the University of Maryland to the education of all students, regardless of national origin or religion.  We are committed to excellence in graduate education, and that requires recruiting the best and brightest students from across the nation and around the world.  Diversity, inclusion, tolerance, and intellectual freedom are fundamental values of the University of Maryland.  

The Graduate School will host its campus-wide New Graduate Student Orientation on Monday, August 20, 2018, at 9:30 a.m.—12:00 noon, in the Grand and Colony Ballrooms of the Stamp Student Union. The orientation will be followed by an outdoor BBQ from 12:00 Noon—1:00 p.m. on McKeldin Mall for new graduate students who attend the orientation.  Registration is required. For additional information and to register, visit http://gradschool.umd.edu/orientation.

The Graduate School will host the second Invest in Your Future, Summer Edition Student Success Symposium on Tuesday, June 5 from 9 am-4:30 pm in the Edward St. John Teaching and Learning Center.  With three concurrent tracks of sessions focused on writing, career planning, and developing professional skills, the symposium aims to launch participants into a productive summer. Master’s and doctoral students, as well as postdocs, can benefit from attending.

The Graduate School again will provide in-person income-tax preparation, formerly the Tax Assistance Program (TAP) services for graduate students at the University of Maryland, College Park.  In-person income-tax preparation assistance will be provided to graduate students between the end of March to mid-April in Room #5101F McKeldin (this is the Graduate Student Lounge on the 5th floor). In-person income-tax preparation assistance through TPAP is meant to help guide students through Glacier Tax Prep: 

Dean Steve Fetter, on behalf of the Graduate School, submitted written testimony on HB 199, for the hearing on the bill before the Maryland House of Delegates Appropriations Committee, held February 7, 2018. Read his full testimony here.

The Graduate School has released its final report from the Spring 2017 Quality of Life Survey. This survey, administered in conjunction with the Office of Graduate Student Life, Graduate Student Government, and the Office of Graduate Student Legal Aid, is the most comprehensive survey of graduate student experience at UMD to date. The full report is available online.