DACOR Graduate Fellowships for the Study of International Relations

DACOR (Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired) is offering grants of up to $10,000 toward tuition for a master's degree program related to international affairs. American citizens who plan to attend graduate school in the 2010-2011 academic year are eligible. For additional information, please call the Dean of Studies Office (212-854-2024) to set up an appointment with Dean Runsdorf at your earliest convenience.

Opportunity: Personal Statement Workshop with Dean Schneider

Beginning this coming Friday, November 13, 3:00-4:00pm, Dean Schneider will be offering a workshop for seniors applying to graduate and professional schools.

If you'd like to attend, please send an email to Ms. Katrina Baker (kbaker[at]barnard.edu). Please give your full name and your Barnard email address, and be sure to note the type of graduate program to which you're applying. The workshop, which will take place in Milbank 227, will run for several consecutive Fridays.

First session:
Friday, November 13, 3:00-4:00pm
Milbank 227

Panel: "Egg Donation: A blessing or a business"

The Hughes Science Pipeline Project (HSPP) at Barnard College, in collaboration with the Office of Career Development, presents a panel discussion:

Egg Donation: A blessing or a business
Monday, November 16, 5:30pm, James Room (Barnard Hall, 4th floor)

The esteemed list of invited panelists:

• President Debora Spar
• Kitty Kolbert, Director, Athena Center for Leadership Development
• Valerie Estess (Barnard alumna), co-founder and Director of Research, Project A.L.S. 
• Dr. Nicole Noyes, MD, NYU Fertility Center
• a current Barnard student representing the voices of her classmates

Barnard and Columbia students, faculty, and friends are invited to attend, and refreshments will be served.

Opportunity: Lucyle Hook Travel Grants for the Senior Thesis

Lucyle Hook Travel Grants (probably in the $100 to $500 range) are available to support travel-related research for the Barnard senior thesis.  Proposals are due Monday, November 9, 2009.  Interested students should call the Dean of Studies Office to make an appointment with Dean Runsdorf.

For information on other scholarship opportunities, please view our booklet:  Selected Scholarships & Fellowships 2009-2010.

Opportunity: BC/CU Rape Crisis/Anti-Violence Support Center Seeks Peer Counselors, Advocates, and Educators

The Barnard/Columbia Rape Crisis/Anti-Violence Support Center (RC/AVSC) has volunteer positions available for students interested in serving as Peer Counselors/Advocates and Peer Educators. Training will occur this fall, and interested students are urged to apply as soon as possible.

If you...

• are motivated to help put an end to sexual violence
• want to gain experience in peer counseling and advocacy skills
• want to help make Barnard College and Columbia University a safer community
• would like to gain professional facilitation skills
  

...then please consider being part of the program.

To apply to be a Peer Counselor/Advocate or a Peer Educator, please stop by the RC/AVSC office at 112 Hewitt Hall, the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Program office at 301 Lerner Hall, or download an application from the website: http://www.health.columbia.edu/docs/site-utils/jobs.html#volunteer. If you have any questions, please e-mail La'Shawn Rivera, Program Coordinator, at lr2520[at]columbia[dot]edu.

Fellowship: Luce Scholars Program Information Session

Seniors:
You are invited to join a Luce Foundation representative for an on-campus information session about the Luce Scholars Program:

Thursday, October 1, 2009
2:30pm
202 Hamilton Hall

The Luce Scholars Program “represents a major effort by the Henry Luce Foundation to provide an awareness of Asia among potential leaders in American society.” Each year the Program provides stipends, language training and individualized professional placement in Asia for approximately 18 young Americans. It is geared particularly toward young leaders whose experiences of Asia are limited, and who otherwise might not have an opportunity to come to know Asia.

Only seniors and alums are eligible to apply for the Luce Scholars Program, but all Barnard and Columbia students are welcome to attend the information session. Barnard students who may want to apply should schedule an appointment with Dean Runsdorf.

Opportunity: Become an Academic Fellow (Tutor)

Information from Adjua Starks, Dean for Academic Assistance: 

The Dean of Studies Office currently is seeking peer tutors for the Academic Assistance Program, which provides academic assistance to Barnard students experiencing difficulty in specific math, science, foreign language and economics classes. 

If you have... 

• two hours per week to devote to tutoring students 
• a good grasp of a subject matter and the ability to communicate it in a clear manner 

...then you might qualify to be an Academic Fellow! 

Perks: 

• You’ll feel the satisfaction of helping a fellow student through a rough academic patch. 
• You’ll be paid $15 per hour. 

If you think you could excel as an Academic Fellow, please print and fill out the Tutor Packet and return it to the Dean of Studies Office AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so that we can try to pair you with a tutee right away! For more information, please visit http://www.barnard.edu/dos/support.html; call the Dean of Studies Office at 212-854-2024; or email Adjua Starks, Dean for Academic Assistance, at astarks[at]barnard[dot]edu.

Fellowship: The Harriman Institute at Columbia University

The Harriman Institute at Columbia University is continuing its undergraduate fellowship program, which is open to Barnard College, Columbia College, and General Studies students. This program is designed to provide research support on a competitive basis to juniors and seniors who have a serious interest in the post-Soviet and/or East-Central European regions. It is expected that students will use the fellowship to assist them in researching and writing the senior thesis, or to complete an equivalent major research project.

Successful candidates may receive up to $2500 to offset their field research expenses in the region, with the expectation that the research will be conducted over the 2009/10 winter break. Fellows will have the opportunity to attend all Harriman Institute events for the academic year, and will be required to present the results of their own research at a public seminar hosted by the Harriman Institute in April of 2010. Those seeking to apply for support for research to be conducted over the summer of 2010 should be advised that the fellowship competition for the summer will held during the spring 2010 semester.

Click here for more information and application instructions.

Save the Date: Family Weekend

Seniors, please share this message with your families:

Save the Date
Family Weekend 2009
October 16-17, 2009

We hope you’ll join us on Friday and Saturday, October 16th and 17th, for Barnard’s annual Family Weekend, which provides a wonderful opportunity to spend time with your daughter and get a taste of life at Barnard. You’ll have the chance to meet some of our outstanding faculty and administrators, see student dance and theatre performances, take a class or two, and visit some intriguing spots on campus.

Please check the Family Weekend website-- www.barnard.edu/fw-- for the schedule of events.

For more information, call (212) 854-2024.

Memo to Seniors: Degree Requirements, Major Advising, Program Filing (9/4/09)

September 4, 2009

TO: All Seniors

FROM: Aaron Schneider, Senior Associate Dean of Studies and Senior Class Dean

SUBJECT: Degree Requirements, Major Advising, Program Filing

While it’s certainly the case that students and advisers can work together successfully in a variety of different ways, I hope we can all agree on a few points.

**Meet with your major adviser. It’s especially important for seniors (and all other students, for that matter) to keep in mind that the process of selecting courses and filing one’s program necessarily involves at least one in-person meeting with one’s adviser. Adviser Online is a wonderful thing-- but (sometimes painful) experience has shown that nothing can or should take the place of a real, live discussion between a student and her adviser. Some productive discussion of one’s program can of course occur via email, but do not let such exchanges take the place of a thorough, in-person conversation. One of Barnard’s most distinctive qualities is the willingness-- indeed, eagerness-- of its faculty members to work closely with students. One of the many ways in which you can take advantage of that opportunity is by visiting your adviser to discuss your academic progress, goals, and program for the coming semester.

**Don’t wait until the last minute to see your adviser. While advisers are encouraged to hold office hours shortly before program-filing deadlines, the only way to make sure you’ll be able to get in to see your adviser is to check her or his office hours well in advance of the deadline. It’s not a good idea to wait until the day of or the day before the deadline, and then just drop in and hope your adviser is available. It’s your responsibility to ensure that you’re able to see your adviser in person.

**Changing advisers: When major advisers go on leave or leave the College for other reasons, departments are strongly encouraged to inform students and then reassign them to new advisers. It’s my hope that by now those of you whose advisers will not be here this semester have been reassigned to new advisers. If your adviser is away and you’d like to ask to be assigned to a particular new adviser, feel free to get in touch with your department. In any event, if your current adviser won’t be here, it’s important that you get squared away with a new adviser promptly. If you encounter any difficulty getting assigned to a new adviser, let me know.

**Resolve transfer credit and audit issues. It’s essential that you take care of all transfer credit (summer, study abroad, e.g.) and audit questions before filing your final programs. To put that another way, it is not ever a good idea to file your last, or even next to last, program with the idea that it, along with some prospective transfer credit and/or audit revisions that have yet to be finalized, will graduate you. It’s always dangerous, especially in the senior year, to assume that certain courses will eventually get approved for the general education requirements. The approval process is, necessarily, not always quick, or easy to predict. In general, your safest bet, by far, is to take courses that have already been approved for the requirements. (A helpful listing of such courses can be found on the Registrar’s web page: www.barnard.edu/registrar. Click on “Course Information”.)

**Review your audit. When you sit down to meet with your adviser, it’s important that you go over your proposed courses not only with reference to your major requirements, but also in the context of all other graduation requirements. That is, it is crucial that you and your adviser make sure that successful completion of your fall and spring programs will indeed enable you to graduate. As questions arise, you and/or your adviser are welcome to contact me. For a summary of the general education and major requirements, you may of course wish to read over the relevant pages in the catalogue. (The general education requirements can be found in the 2009-2010 catalogue, online, under “Requirements for the Liberal Arts Degree”.)

**A few other words of caution:
*If you’ve taken a number of studio art courses over the course of your Barnard career, make sure that you’ve stayed within the limit. (See catalogue, “Requirements…”.)
*If you’re using psychology for the laboratory science requirement, be sure you’ve taken, or will take, lab courses from two different categories. (See catalogue, “Requirements…”.)
*If you’re doing a double major with one, integrating senior project, don’t sign up for the thesis sequence in both departments. (See catalogue, “Requirements…”.)
*If you’re doing a special or combined major, keep in mind that all changes to your major as it was originally approved must be approved by the Committee on Programs and Academic Standing.
*If you earn a “D” in a course you need for the major, and thus need to repeat the course, please note that you won’t receive credit (i.e., “points”) for the course the second time you take it.

I don’t wish to alarm anyone unnecessarily. Most students don’t encounter difficulties; however, when problems do arise, it’s important that we catch them as soon as possible, to increase the chances that you’ll be able to take remedial action in time for graduation. And I also feel that it’s important to define clearly your program-filing responsibilities and the role that your adviser will play in the process. Understanding these responsibilities clearly, fully, and early on, is, certainly, the best way to ensure that problems don’t come up at all. If you have any questions about these or any other issues related to your degree requirements, please don’t hesitate to see me. I’m in 105 Milbank, and our receptionist (212-854-2024) will always have my office hours. (By the way, if you need to email me about anything, please be sure to do so from your Barnard email account.)