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May, 2008 Dear Incoming Students: It is hard to believe that the first Summer session is less than a month away. As April showers have brought lovely May flowers to the campus of Boston College, we are all looking forward to seeing you in Campion Hall. This is a very exciting time to be coming to the Lynch School. Aside from our national ranking improving from 22nd to 18th in the country, the Lynch School has had one of the strongest applicant pools in many years, with our students particularly rich in academic research, work experience, and most importantly committed to the societal good and continued growth in their field. Now, some of you will begin classes in the summer, but the vast majority are beginning in September. We are very fortunate to be in the process of welcoming incoming students from all over the country and the world who share common bonds of interest in humanity and scholarship. There are always a few frantic moments when preparing to begin a new graduate program, but wonderful experiences await you. We are particularly sympathetic to students who have recently been admitted. Don’t worry—everything will fall into place, and there is a team of people in the office to help you to complete the transition from admission to enrollment. Although we rely upon the web to provide information about programs of study, courses, and the academic calendar, we still like to welcome our incoming students in a more traditional way. Please feel free to stop by the Office of Graduate Admission, Financial Aid and Student Services Campion Hall, Room 135 at any point during the summer with whatever questions you may have. (We also have free coffee and candies if you just want to stop by and say hello, too!) ADVISEMENT If you have any inquiries about course selection or registration, please call us at (617) 552-4214 and we will provide you with the advisement you need. Faculty are not always available during the summer months, so the Office of Graduate Student Services is able to serve in the advisement role. The faculty look forward to meeting with you in the academic year to provide you with mentorship about the field and the profession. The first order of business in the first month of the semester will be to complete a Program of Studies. You and your faculty advisor or an advisor in the Office of Graduate Student Services fill out the Program of Studies, sign it, and submit it to your department office for the signature of the Department Chair. Once the Department Chair signs it, the form comes to the Office of Graduate Student Services in Campion 135, where it is placed in your file. If you need to make a change in the program of studies, there is a process for doing so. The Program of Studies is used to clear you for graduation, so it is important to make sure it is up-to-date with any changes you have had approved by your advisor. REGISTRATION If you have not yet registered for classes, it is important to do so in the coming weeks. Please email us at <lsadmissions@bc.edu> if you are having any difficulty. If you are registering for fall semester classes, you have plenty of time but Summer Session I begins May 14th. As the summer progresses, one of our Student Services advisors may contact you and assist you with registration and course selection. One of the most common blocks to student registration is the immunization form. While there is a grace period until the end of September for getting the full immunization records in, the meningococcal virus vaccine—or a waiver form—must be submitted before you can register for Fall classes. If you choose to waive it, you can download the waiver form from the University Health Services page at http://www.bc.edu/offices/uhs/ and fax it to Health Services at (617) 552-1671. PRACTICUM OFFICE ASSISTANTSHIPS! For those who have experience teaching (2 plus years is desirable) at the K-12 levels, there are still assistantships available in the Office of Practicum Experiences and Induction. Please email your resume directly to Melita Malley at malleym@bc.edu. The compensation is typically 15 credits of tuition scholarship plus a stipend. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT TEACHING Please contact Melita Malley also if you are interested in doing your student teaching abroad. OTHER FUNDING Please check the Financial Aid Handbook available online. This is a great resource for funding, listing available assistantships and internships across the campus and beyond. I will be keeping the Financial Aid Handbook up to date, deleting old entries and adding new ones, and will do so through the summer. Also, the Graduate Student Life website maintains an assistantship listing of Funding Options and can be accessed at: http://www.bc.edu/offices/gsc/financial/assistantships.html MURRAY GRADUATE CENTER GRADUATE ORIENTATION FOR ALL INCOMING GRADUATE STUDENTS AT BOSTON COLLEGE We are very fortunate to have the Murray Graduate Center at Boston College. Associate Dean for Graduate Student Life, Katie O’Dair, works to provide a home away from home for all 5,000 graduate students on campus to gather, share ideas, work together, or enjoy some down-time. Graduate students from various schools are engaged in a good deal of collaborative work across disciplines, and the Murray Graduate Center is often the site of discussions that open opportunities for such work. The 2008 Campus-Wide Orientation program is usually held the week before classes start. A few highlights are:
Please visit the Murray Graduate Center home page to access the orientation information as well as a calendar of events and an array of useful information. The website can be accessed at http://www.bc.edu/gsc/ HOUSING If you are having any difficulty with housing, our Off-Campus Housing office is tremendously helpful (www.bc.edu/offcampus). We also have B.C. graduate housing available (www.bc.edu/gradhousing), so there are good options still. THE OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDENT SERVICES The Office of Graduate Student Services in the Lynch School, located in Campion Hall Room 135, serves as the support center for the educational, social, cultural, and community life of Lynch School master’s and doctoral students. The office comprises Graduate Admission, Financial Aid, and Student Services, providing a seamless experience from admissions through graduation and houses the Director of Student Services, the Director of Admission and Financial aid, and the Associate Dean for Graduate Student Services. Associate Dean Arline Riordan oversees the office and serves as an advocate for Lynch School graduate student interests, provides connections for our students with the wider University and professional community, and seeks to foster opportunities for cross-disciplinary dialogue and work among students outside of the classroom. She also oversees the policies governing graduate student life. The Director of Student Services, Jeannette Romeo, is involved with students from the beginning of their life in the Lynch school, from assistance with course selection, facilitation of comprehensive examinations, through graduation clearance and commencement. The Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Adam Poluzzi, seeks students each year whose personal and professional life goals resonate with the goals and values of the Lynch School and works with the financial aid needs and funding of our students. Staff assistants Cynthia Mohammed, Eileen Sullivan, and Patricia Lucente are the marvelous support team that will help to guide you through all aspects of graduate student life. Cynthia and Eileen work primarily with Adam Poluzzi in the admissions and financial aid work of the office and Tricia works most closely with Jeannette Romeo to assure the smooth flow of your academic records at Boston College. We are also fortunate to have four graduate assistants, Matthew Weber, Sheri Tennant, Amy Barnosky, and Jaime Sorge, who also work on your behalf as graduate students. In accord with the mission of the Lynch School to enhance the human condition, the office provides opportunities for our students to become engaged in outreach to the many constituencies in underserved areas with which the Lynch School is engaged. We all look forward to working with you over the coming year and years. ADDRESS CHANGES Please notify us of any changes in email and postal addresses. You should also log on to AGORA. If you do not yet have a username or ID#, you can call us at (617) 552-4214, and we will provide it for you.. It is important to change your address on AGORA as well and to convert or point your current email address to your new B.C. email address. Essential information about your program and important dates travel out through B.C. email only. Incoming students have been arriving this month from all over the world and it has been wonderful to be meeting some students for the first time after nearly a year of correspondence. We look forward to working with you . If for some reason you have not received your official letter yet, please let us know. Sometimes, the local address changes over to the permanent address as students graduate and the letter misses its mark. If we can be of any help between now and your arrival on campus, please do not hesitate to call and speak to me or to one of the members of the admissions staff. Also, please let me know if you have received funding of any sort and the amount. This will help us as we track our incoming students' progress. Don't despair if you have not received funding yet. It is an ongoing process, and we are here to help you. New opportunities arise through the year as grants become funded. Personally, I received my assistantship in late August, as many of my colleagues also did not secure funding until the end of the summer or beginning of the Fall semester. As my two years here at Boston College are coming to a close, I look back with fondness as I have met so many intrepid individuals, from fellow students to faculty and staff while learning so much on my journey. As I said before, this a great time to be a graduate student in the Lynch School and I wish you all the very best as you begin your respective studies. With warm regards, Matthew Weber |
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