Announcements

Come and join us for UConn’s 3MT competition final this Thursday evening

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After a year hiatus due to Covid, UConn’s 3MT competition is back, bigger and better than before.

We cordially invite you to join us this Thursday at 6-7pm EDT where 11 graduate student finalists will compete for the opportunity to represent UConn on the global stage. Please feel free to forward the following link (which contains the info to join the event) to your undergraduate and graduate student populations as well as interested staff and faculty. Come and cheer on the finalists! https://mailchi.mp/uconn.edu/youre-invited-to-support-uconns-3mt-finalists.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Onwards!

Stuart P. Duncan PhD DMA

Message from Payroll: Welcome, Graduate Assistants, to UConn Fall 2021

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The first GA payment will be on August 27, 2021 and will be prorated for the pay dates between 8/23/2021 and 8/26/2021 (4 days paid with the first check). UConn pays bi-weekly (every two weeks).  Payroll-Calendar 2021.pdf  The second pay day is Sept 10, 2021 and every two weeks thereafter for the full biweekly stipend payment (10 days paid).   

 

Keep in mind, your graduate assistant payments will vary depending on whether or not you elect health insurance GA-health-insurance/, if you elect to join the GEU-UAW union and pay union dues, or sign up for payroll fee bill deductions graduate Fee Bill-payroll-deduction.  General deductions do not begin immediately (with the first payment) so keep an eye on your pay statement to see the various deductions.  The first deductions for insurance premiums and Bursar’s fee bill deductions will be on 9/24/2021 so mark your calendars and review your pay stub if you signed up for these deductions. Your tax withholdings will be deducted from your first GA payment. 

 

The Rec Center Relief reimbursement payment will be paid in the second payment of September on 9/24/2021. Please refer to the GEU-UAW contract for more information on this relief payment. 

 

NEW HIRE GAs:  Once your payroll record has been set up and the fall semester has begun on 8/23/2021, you can log into Employee Self Service (ESS) portal as of 8/24/2021 (https://ess.uconn.edu/) to manage your personal data such as tax withholdings, name changes, address changes, and setting up or changing direct deposit accounts. Payroll’s direct deposit is separate from the Bursar’s direct deposit and should be entered separately through ESS. Also, ESS is where you will go to view your biweekly pay stubs and print out your year-end W2 when it’s available. If you prefer to upload your tax and direct deposit information prior to 8/24/2021, please use these links to send your documents securely:    

 

NEW HIRE GAs:  Your first payment will be mailed to the address that was listed in Student Administration (SA) at the time your payroll record was created. Therefore, if you have relocated and your address is different than your SA address you must let me know prior to 8/13/2021 so I can update the payroll system for your first payment. Updating your address in SA will NOT update Payroll-CoreCT. You must email your local address and write LOCAL ADDRESS in the Subject line to gena.twarz@uconn.edu. International GA’s who did not have a US address at the time your payroll was set up will have the first payments mailed to the Payroll office. As soon as you have a US address email gena.twarz@uconn.edu with your valid home/mailing address. 

 

RETURNING GAs, or GAs that were previously employed or are currently active at UConn on Student Labor, Special Payroll, or any other UConn payroll (or any other state agency) and were receiving a direct deposit payment – you do not need to submit a direct deposit form. If the existing direct deposit is a valid account, you do not need to do anything. If you are currently active on a UCONN payroll you can log into Employee Self Service ESS and make changes to your address or direct deposit if needed. If your prior direct deposit account is no longer active, please email gena.twarz@uconn.edu as soon as possible so your first payment does not go to an inactive account. 

 

Finally, for NEW hire GAs, if your SA account does not have your valid social security number, and consequently Payroll will not have your valid SSN, you need to update both the Registrar’s Office and Payroll with your valid SSN. DO NOT EMAIL your SSN or copy of your card to Payroll or the Registrar’s office. Instead, use the following links to update your SSN:   

  • Follow the instructions on the Registrar’s Biographical Information Update Request form (fax#860/486-0272; In-person office hours as of 8/16/21; or arrange to send via filelocker.uconn.edu). Do not send your Social Security Number in an email.   
  • Please send Social Security card to Payroll through OneDrive:  Upload SSN here  

  

Be well and best wishes for a successful year, 

Gena 

 

Gena Twarz 

Graduate Assistant Payroll Manager 

Gena.twarz@uconn.edu  

Payroll Department 

343 Mansfield Rd, Storrs, CT 06269-1111 

Available to Speak via Teams:  https://email.uconn.edu/what-is-microsoft-teams/ 

fax: 860/486-4296 

International TA Orientation – registration open

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Good afternoon,

Registration for UCAELI’s online International TA Orientation on August 9th is now open. Please see the below message from UCAELI for more details and share with your grads as appropriate.

The deadline to register for the August microteaching test is July 27th. More information about testing and the testing schedule can be found here.

***
Who needs to attend ITA Orientation on Monday, August 9?
ITA Orientation is intended for international TAs who have never taught in the United States. International TAs with teaching experience from another university in the United States are welcome to attend, but their attendance is not required. Students who have been screened for TA via the microteaching test, waiver interview, or UCAELI proficiency assessment are strongly advised to attend. Students who have not been screened for TA but planning to are also invited to attend.

Please visit the ITA website, www.ita.uconn.edu for more information.

If you have any questions, please email Ana Colón at register-ucaeli@uconn.edu.

Important Information for Graduate Students Studying Outside the U.S.

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We are aware that travel to the US from some parts of the world is still difficult and that some of our international students may be considering whether to enroll in courses from their home country this fall. If the student will be engaged in research, their work may be subject to export control laws, which are federal regulations governing the sharing and use of certain information, technologies, and commodities overseas. I am writing to let you know that graduate students, whether domestic or international, who will be outside of the US for most or all of the semester and who anticipate enrolling in a course that is outside of the standard education abroad program content (e.g., GRAD 5950/6950/5999/6999, an independent study, or a departmental research course) should obtain approval before finalizing their fall enrollment. In some cases, export control review will be required for enrollment in these courses. Export control review can take several weeks—we advise that students plan with this timeline in mind. If a student proceeds without prior approval and export control review reveals a significant concern, they may need to withdraw from the course in question. If they are required to withdraw, there could be financial implications, including only a partial return of tuition according to the university refund schedule, a requirement to return a portion of any financial aid they received, or both.

To obtain approval, the student should contact graduatedean@uconn.edu with the following information:

  • Field of study
  • Proposed course enrollment (catalog number and course name)
  • Brief (one-two sentences only) summary of research topic
  • Country of citizenship
  • Country where courses will be taken/research conducted abroad
  • List of any special equipment/computer hardware/software that is not commercially available to be used while abroad

Remote Work for GAs and Tuition Remission

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Colleagues,

I am writing with guidance about graduate assistants working while outside the U.S.

Remote Work

GAs provide vital teaching and research service to the University, and some of this work might be possible remotely. GAs who are here in the U.S. are able to work remotely, provided they have supervisor approval and that the responsibilities of the position can be completed from the remote location. Last year, the University made a one-time exception to allow a limited number of GAs to work from outside the U.S. during 2020/2021 because of the exceptional hardship associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. I anticipate that the University will require all GAs to be in the United States to hold an appointment in Fall 2021 and beyond.

The employment, labor, and tax obligations to which GAs are subject when outside of the U.S. are those of the country from which they are working, even if they are working on behalf of an employer like UConn that is located in the U.S. In some cases, accepting a paycheck from UConn could expose an individual to personal liability and potentially significant consequences in the country where they reside. As a result, the University has determined that graduate students must be here in the U.S. in order to work as a GA and are expected to remain in the U.S. for the duration of their appointment. (Please remember that GAs have a right to 10 days off for a 1-semester appointment or 20 days off for an academic year appointment. With the approval of their GA supervisor, a GA could leave the country before the end of their Fall appointment and return after the beginning of their Spring appointment, treating the days outside the U.S. as time off.)

Deferring Admission

Incoming graduate students to whom departments offered a graduate assistantship in Fall 2021 and who are unlikely to be able to arrive by the start date of their appointment are strongly encouraged to defer admission to a later date or to take advantage of the tuition remission option described below. Students may request a deferral through the Accounts & Forms area of their Application Status page. The request will then be routed to the program for review and approval. Please consult The Graduate School (gradadmissions@uconn.edu) with any questions regarding the deferral process.

 

Tuition Remission

The University will allow any graduate students that would be graduate assistants in Fall 2021 and are unable to arrive in the U.S. to enroll in courses without a tuition charge. Students who received tuition remission last year will be eligible for tuition remission again. Departments who want to offer this option must make it available to all GAs who would have held an assistantship in Fall 2021 and are unable to come to the U.S., and they should provide The Graduate School with a list of those students (name and 7-digit Student ID) and a copy of the student’s GA offer letter at graduatedean@uconn.edu by August 15th. Students receiving tuition remission are still personally responsible for remitting their student fees according to the deadlines published by the Office of the Bursar.

If you have any questions, please send them to graduatedean@uconn.edu, and we will respond as quickly as possible.

Kent Holsinger

—

Kent E. Holsinger
Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor
Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of The Graduate School

3MT Competition 2021

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The Graduate School is excited to announce this year’s 3MT competition, to be held virtually on Thursday 12 August, 6-7pm (EDT) with a submission deadline of Friday July 30.

As you will note from the email below, we are offering graduate students the opportunity to attend short training sessions over the summer, to prepare for the competition; however, this year we are also adding an option for departments to have a custom virtual session specifically designed for your students. We would set up a time that would work for you and your interested graduate students and then tailor the content to your field / subject area.

If you are interested, please send me an email by the end of May so we can start working out specifics.

Please feel free to forward the information below to your graduate students or staff/faculty that might be interested in being a part of UConn’s competition!

Onwards!

Stuart

Stuart P. Duncan PhD DMA

Director of Fellowships, Outreach, and Programming

The Graduate School, University of Connecticut

Pronouns (He/Him & They/Them)

Graduate Dismissal Process

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At the end of May, the Department Head, Director of Graduate Studies, and faculty advisors will receive a list of students in their program who have failed to maintain the required minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 and/or who have received a grade of “D+,” “D,” “D-,” “F,” or “U” in any course. We will assume that the advisor’s intention is to continue the student unless the advisor or department specifies that the student should be dismissed. If the student should be dismissed on the basis of failing grades or low GPA, the dismissal recommendation should be submitted to graduatedean@uconn.edu no later than June 16, 2021. If the student will be continuing graduate study, the advisor should work directly with the student to create a mitigation plan for their academic performance.

If there is a student who is subject to dismissal based on other dismissal criteria (the full list can be found herein The Graduate Catalog), the department must notify The Graduate School that the student should be included in the formal dismissal process for Spring 2021. To do so, the advisor should email the following information to graduatedean@uconn.edu:

·       the student’s name

·       student ID

·       rationale for dismissal

·       the advisor’s understanding of the student’s academic plans (e.g., Will the student be exiting the university? Does the student plan to discontinue their current program and enroll in another UConn program?)

Please note, The Graduate School only notifies students that they have been dismissed—we do not notify students that they are subject to dismissal. Students notified of dismissal will have ten business days from the date The Graduate School sends them a formal dismissal letter to submit an appeal of the dismissal.

As a reminder, graduate students do not have the option to place courses on Pass/Fail or Pass/W-Audit for Spring 2021. All recommendations for dismissal should be submitted to graduatedean@uconn.edu by June 16, 2021.

Best,

Megan Petsa, M.A.

Director of Graduate Student Administration

 

The Graduate School

University of Connecticut

The Whetten Graduate Center, Second Floor 

438 Whitney Road Extension, Unit 1152 | Storrs, CT  06269-1152

860.486.0977 | www.grad.uconn.edu | Pronouns: she/hers

TAs – English Proficiency Policy

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The Graduate School and UCAELI have collaborated to provide you the following information that will help you ensure your TAs are ready and able to begin teaching in Fall 2021.

 

First, please be aware that TGS and UCAELI do not reach out to TAs directly with information about International TA Orientation or guidance on how to provide proof of English proficiency in order to hold a TA. The reason for that is we don’t know which students fall into the category of international TAs who will have instructional contact duties—only the hiring departments have that information, which means we rely on you to share this information with your students. Below, please find information to help you determine which of your TAs may need to take additional steps in order to teach this Fall along with some language you can share with them. We hope providing this summary for you makes this process easier for you this year!

 

Who needs to provide proof of English proficiency to be a TA?

Prospective Teaching Assistants for whom English is not a primary language must pass an oral English proficiency test regardless of citizenship or visa status. A primary language is defined as a language used to communicate since childhood. Even if English proficiency was waived for purposes of admission, TAs must still provide proof of English proficiency. Information on UConn’s English Proficiency Policy for TA’s and Testing Procedures can be found here.

 

How can I tell if a graduate student to whom we plan to give instructional contact TA duties needs to provide proof of English proficiency? Where can I find an applicant’s official test of English scores?

  1. Log into the Slate reader: https://connect.grad.uconn.edu/manage/reader/
  2. Click on “Applications”
  3. Click on “Search” and type in the applicant’s name, click on the “Display Copy” icon.
  4. Once the application is open, click on the “Test Score” tab to display test results.

Please note: Only review test scores that are “Verified” and not “Self-Reported”. “Self-Reported” are not considered official scores.

  1. For current students, please check the GA Hire Level Report. Students with an approval flag “C” need to provide proof of English proficiency to have instructional contact duties.

 

How can I tell if a graduate student to whom we plan to give instructional contact TA duties received a waiver for their Test of English in their Graduate Application?

Log into the Slate reader: https://connect.grad.uconn.edu/manage/reader/

  1. Click on “Applications”
  2. Click on “Search” and type in the applicant’s name, click on the “Display Copy” icon.
  3. Once the application is open, click on the “Reader Review” tab and review the “Initial Graduate Audit” form. If the applicant has received a waiver, the waiver reason will be provided.

 

How can I tell if a graduate student to whom we plan to give instructional contact TA duties who received a waiver for their Test of English needs additional testing/review with the ITA office?

  1. You can check in “Student Groups” in Student Admin. If the student has a student group called “ENGL” with a comment that they are cleared to teach, then the student is all set. If you don’t see the “ENGL” student group there, then you should contact UCAELI and the student to let them know that the student needs a Waiver Interview. Waiver Interviews are scheduled once a month and the registration can be found on the ITA website. The student and/or the department must complete the Waiver Interview registration form in order for the Waiver Interview to be scheduled. Results are usually available within 1-2 days following the interview.
  2. You can check the GA Hire Level Report. Students with an approval flag “C” do not have the “ENGL” student group described above on their record.

 

How can a TA provide proof of English proficiency? 

There are three main ways:

  1. With a passing TOEFL or IELTS Speaking score
  2. With “passing” or “conditionally passing” the Waiver Interview or UCAELI Proficiency Assessment
  3. By “passing” or “conditionally passing” the Microteaching Test (offered June, August, and January for first time test takers and in November and April for students who have been screened at least once by UCAELI).

 

Students who receive a “pass” or “conditional pass” for any of these screenings are cleared to teach and may be offered a teaching assignment. UCAELI will add the ENGL student group to their record in Student Admin with a comment indicating the student has been cleared to teach and the date they were cleared. Students with a conditional pass have reached the English Proficiency requirements for teaching at UConn. However, they must successfully complete the recommended language support course during the semester immediately following the test. If a department knows and has confirmed that a student’s primary language is English and believes the student does not need to be screened, the department should contact UCAELI. If a student has experience providing instructional contact TA duties at a higher education institution they attended previously, the department should contact UCAELI.

 

Who needs to attend ITA Orientation? 

ITA Orientation is intended for international TAs who have never taught in the United States. International TAs with teaching experience from another university in the United States are welcome to attend, but their attendance is not required. ITA Orientation for Fall 2021 will take place on Monday, August 9. Registration will be available one month prior to orientation. Please check the ITA website, www.ita.uconn.edu, for more information.

 

What should I communicate to my incoming TAs? 

The International Teaching Assistant (ITA) services, under the direction of UCAELI, are designed to support students in English language learning for their role as a classroom or laboratory instructor at UConn. All ITAs must meet UConn’s English Language Proficiency Requirement before they begin their teaching assignments. The ITA website, www.ita.uconn.edu, contains important information about UConn’s English Proficiency Policy, registration for language screenings, and ITA Orientation. You should make sure that you have registered for the ITA Orientation and have taken all of the necessary steps to be cleared to teach at UConn. The next deadline to register for proficiency screenings/testing is May 31, 2021.

 

If you have any questions, please contact us using the email addresses below:

Jeannie Slayton: Jeannie.Slayton@uconn.edu

Ana Colón: ana.s.colon@uconn.edu

 

For assistance with finding verified scores in your applications in Slate, please contact gradadmissions@uconn.edu or meg.drakos@uconn.edu. For grad payroll overrides, please reach out to megan.petsa@uconn.edu. To learn more about this, consider attending the Timely Topics session, Graduate Payroll Processes, on May 26 (register here).

 

As a reminder, there are several different orientations offered by UConn that graduate students may want or be required to attend and more information can be found here.

 

Best,

 

Ana Colón, UCAELI

Meg Drakos, The Graduate School

Megan Petsa, The Graduate School

Jeannie Slayton, Global Affairs

 

PostDoc SEED Award 2021 Announcement

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Dear Postdoc community and faculty/staff who work with Postdocs,

The Graduate School is delighted to announce this year’s Seed Award Competition. All details can be found in the attached PDF. The deadline is June 14th 2021. One big change to this year’s process is that instead of funding one project at $2000 and two at $1000, we will be funding three projects at $2000.

Please feel free to forward this message to faculty that work with postdocs. This competition is a great opportunity for P.I’s to support postdocs in furthering their grant writing and research communication skills.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions,

Stuart

stuart.duncan@uconn.edu
Stuart P. Duncan PhD DMA
Director of Fellowships, Outreach, and Programming
The Graduate School, University of Connecticut
Pronouns (He/Him & They/Them)

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship and Conference Participation Awards

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Sent on behalf of Kent Holsinger, Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of The Graduate School, to Directors of Graduate Studies and Department Admins.

***

Colleagues,

At this time of year, The Graduate School typically shares information about how to apply for doctoral travel funds and the doctoral dissertation fellowship. I am writing to let you know that the timing of the application cycles for both of these awards has changed.

 

Conference Participation Award (formerly the Doctoral Student Travel Award)

The Graduate School is committed to helping graduate students achieve their academic, professional, and personal goals during their time at the University of Connecticut. In support of this goal, The Graduate School offers a $750 Conference Participation Award to support students’ ability to present their research at national or international meetings and conferences, including both in-person and virtual events. Applications will be accepted from June 1-June 30, 2021 and, if awarded, the funds will be paid through the student’s Fall 2021 fee bill. The eligibility criteria for this award can be found here.

 

Summer Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship

The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship is transitioning from a bi-annual award to a summer fellowship. The Summer Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship is a one-time $2,000 fellowship and is intended to support the successful completion of the dissertation. Applications for this award will be accepted in February 2022.

As part of this transition, a limited submission cycle will occur in July 2021. This application period will only be open to applicants who will graduate by May 2022. The eligibility criteria for this award can be found here.

 

Kent E. Holsinger
Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor
Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of The Graduate School