Just a quick one…

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers. The Graduate School will be taking a break tomorrow, but will reopen on Friday with a slightly smaller staff. Back to full steam next week, so enjoy your holiday and safe travels.

Some Reflections on a Great Travel Season for our Recruiters

Morning against the mountains in Logan, Utah

Evan Nelson here, and on behalf of everyone who hit the road for The Graduate School this autumn on recruitment visits, I want to let you know how great our travel season was. We visited schools near the beaches of Southern California and Lake Superior, in the cities of St. Louis and Missoula, during snow sprinkles in Salt Lake City and sunshine in South Dakota. All counted, in eight weeks and eleven states, we visited more than 40 schools.

I didn’t find a great burger —although I managed to find a couple of okay ones, but I did meet some great students:

• the aspiring novelist in Spearfish, South Dakota;
• the social worker who took time from her lunch break for coffee with me in Duluth, Minnesota;
• the history buff in Mayille, North Dakota whose dream is to someday work for the National Baseball Hall of Fame;
• the self-professed lab geek in Ogden, Utah—you know you want to live behind a microscope and you know how to get from Weber State’s campus back to the interstate (thanks!);

and many others. I can’t wait to get on the road again next year. Maybe I’ll run into some of you again!

Now, I’m back in the office and back home in Grand Forks. We’re getting ready for a new group of students coming in January. Never a moment’s rest!

Share your best winter tips for our new students

Graduate students at UND come from places far afield including every state in US and over 40 countries. Each year, we have questions from students who ask about our winters and the best places to find clothing, tips for traveling and getting around town. We decided to put together a “Winter Survival Guide” for newcomers. On this web site, students can learn more about the challenges and opportunities for living in our region.

Yes, winters are cold, but this also provides some “You can’t do THAT in California!” moments, too. Public ice skating, cross-country skiing, building snowmen…you get the idea. We have also provided some winter weather health and safety tips, as well as places to consult in case of a winter storm.

We would like to hear from you, too. Do you have a great winter tip? Leave a comment and we’ll add it to our Winter Survival Guide web site.

The Graduate School announces call for 2010 Summer Doctoral Fellowship applications

The Graduate School at UND is pleased to announce the availability of Summer Doctoral Fellowships of $5000, plus a waiver of tuition, to support doctoral students who will spend full time on their dissertation research in the summer of 2010.

To be considered for a fellowship, the student:
1. Must be enrolled as a UND doctoral student during the 2010 Spring Semester.
2. Must not be graduating in August 2010.
3. Must not hold a concurrent financial award for the summer without Graduate School approval.
4. Must be committed to spending full time on the doctoral dissertation for a two and one-half month period, May 16 – July 31, 2010.
5. Must register for at least six credits in the 2010 Summer Session, normally in 999 or 996 (or a maximum of one class other than research or dissertation credits in unusual circumstances).
6. Must have an approved Proposal of Dissertation filed in The Graduate School.

Interested students should carefully read the application guidelines and checklist. The deadline for completed applications is January 15, 2010. Best of luck!

International student body

Figures were released recently from our Office of International Programs showing the statistics of our international academic community on campus – that is our undergraduate, graduate and scholars/faculty – the great news is that UND is showing record numbers. For The Graduate School, international students make up approximately 10% of our student body. I thought it would be interesting to compare the data provided for our on-campus students with our web site metrics and inquiry data. Call it “gazing into the proverbial crystal ball” to see from where our future international students might come.

According to the report from OIP, the top 10 countries which send graduate students to UND include India, Canada, China, Cameroon, Nepal, Iran, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Ukraine. When I compare this list against the top 10 countries that visit our web site, it shows a very similar picture – with the exception of Japan and Saudi Arabia over South Korea and Sri Lanka which appear as a very close 13th and 14th on our list.

It is quite a different view, however, when we analyze our inquiry data – that is, countries from where students are inquiring about our graduate programs . China, India and Canada remain as the big three. But others include Pakistan, Indonesia, Chile, Nigeria,Vietnam, Ghana and Hong Kong. It will be interesting to review our international student body in the Spring and next Fall. Will we see new countries at the top of that list, and as a result, a shift in our international makeup?

Call for applications – 2010 Summer Research Professorships

The Graduate School announced this week the call for applications for the 2010 Summer Professorships. These awards help to support faculty research during the summer semester to ensure their scholarship or research projects continue their momentum. Oftentimes, faculty are also able to support graduate students who assist with their projects whether it is in the field, the library or the lab.

In the past few years, The Graduate School has supported faculty research across the campus including the departments of Biology, English, Teaching & Learning, Chemistry, Psychology, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, History and more. Many have presented their research at professional conferences as well as our own annual Scholarly Forum.

We are excited to put out the call for applications again and thrilled that we can continue to support the great research and scholarship at UND. Interested faculty can click here for the criteria and application form.

Matt returns from California and samples In-N-Out

Hello to all of our faithful readers of The Graduate School blog. I recently returned from sunny California where I had the opportunity to participate in Whittier College’s Graduate and Professional Fair and host an information table at California State Polytechnic University. Both of these schools are located in southern California near Los Angeles. I know that might seem like a long way from home but, as soon as I set up my table, student’s started coming over, and they were taking serious interest in The Graduate School at the University of North Dakota.

While I was at Whittier College I talked to several students who were interested in our doctoral History program, as well as our Psychology and Forensic Psychology programs. I talked at length with two students who were very curious about our Art Department and the MFA degree, something I can identify with. The next day at Cal Poly Tech I was very fortunate to have a table outside, in the main student common area. It wasn’t hard to be out in the sun, talking to students, answering questions, and getting to know people. There were a lot of information requests for our programs in Chemical Engineering, Social Work, and Applied Economics. Of all the students and faculty who I talked with, they all made me feel very welcome.

Thank you, Whittier College and California State Polytechnic University, for having me on campus and allowing me to visit with you. I hope to be back soon.

On the Side…

Some of you might have read my brief burger review in my earlier post about my visit to Montana. Well, that has initiated a quest/challenge to find The Greatest Burger Ever, a mission I’m glad to be a part of. Before I left for California I was told by several people that I absolutely had to eat at an In-N-Out Burger, supposedly, they have “the Best” fast food burgers in LA.  I called up a friend of mine at Cal Poly, Mr. Noam Hart, and he took me to the nearest In-N-Out Burger. Well, it’s a very honest fast food experience; the bun is a bun, the meat is meat, the vegetables are the appropriate color, and the fries are fried.  I can’t say it’s the best burger I’ve ever had but it wasn’t the worst either. So the quest continues, maybe I’ll find the Greatest Burger Ever in Milwaukee, WI next week.

If anyone is traveling around the Ontario, CA region and needs a taxi, ask for James with Yellow Cab, he’s the best driver ever. This is not a challenge to find the best driver ever, just a testament to reliable service. (Matt Anderson)

INBRE Annual Symposium for Undergraduate Research

I’ve found a certain wide-eyed excitement when I talk to students that are considering The Graduate School. They’re about to enter into a new and exciting part of their education. They’re thirsty for learning, and they realize that graduate school is like drinking from a fire hydrant.

On Thursday, I spent the afternoon at the 2009 North Dakota INBRE Annual Symposium for Undergraduate Research. About a hundred undergraduate students from across the state came to Grand Forks to present the research they’d been working on. OK, so I didn’t always understand the chemical compounds, gene expressions or cytoskeletal proteins, but I did understand the enthusiasm these students were gaining for the academic life. (Evan Nelson)

INBRE Symposium

It was a pleasure to speak with these students, and to see faculty from state-wide universities speaking with these students, too. I think that these students got a taste of what graduate study is all about: entering a conversation with experts from around your state, your country, your world. Yes, that’s a huge conversation, but it’s also a part of the excitement.

Grad Stories

I’m working a new initiative for to bring a student voice to prospective students as well as current students and The Graduate School alumni. While it is in its early stages I hope to show you a sneak preview in the coming weeks. One of the most fun parts of gathering stories is interviewing students and asking them about their experiences. So far I have had the pleasure of talking with students from the arts, sciences, education, aerospace and engineering. In the coming weeks I will seek out students from nursing, and some of our medical school programs.

While they each have their individual story there are common themes that appear to thread them together. One of these is the importance of having a strong support network, whether at home, in their department or in their community. Another is the need to build a good relationship with their advisor. And finally, each has talked with me at length about the variety of opportunities they have been able to take advantage of that has helped them broaden their experience and networks.

I am only beginning to scratch the surface. What I hope will happen is that once our grad stories begin to circulate is that it will become self generating. That is to say, that others will want to share their own stories, how they discovered UND and what they would like to share with new students. I will also begin speaking with graduate faculty about their research, scholarship and opportunities for graduate students. So, watch for updates and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter where we’ll give you the proverbial “heads up” when we release another Grad Story. These will also be given a feature position on our web site.

The Great Burger Challenge Is On

Recently, our own Matt Anderson laid down the gauntlet with a review of  the McCormick Café in Billings, MT in which he claimed to have had “the best hamburger and fries ever.”   I have decided to issue a challenge to The Graduate School to see if someone can top Matt’s claim of finding the “best hamburger ever”.

Last weekend, while attending a meeting of the Western Association of Graduate Schools in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, I visited Hudson’s Hamburgers.   Founded in 1907, this is the ultimate in griddle-cooked burgers and by definition is a “Hamburger Restaurant.”  The menu: hamburger, cheeseburger, pie.  Pickles and onions are optional and condiments consist of ketchup, spicy ketchup and mustard.   Too bad if you like fries, they don’t sell them.   Odd for Idaho, but they also don’t accept credit cards.   The burgers are pressed and cooked to order and in my opinion are among the best.   Highly recommended!

Where is your favorite burger?