March, 2007 Newsletter

Monthly eNewsletter
March 2007

In This Issue

Everyday Excellence
Meet Ph.D. student Jessica Geier

Featured Graduate School Resource
Learn what the Professional Development and Community Engagement Program has to offer

Spotlight on Faculty
Meet Professor Chandra Bhat

Out in the Real World
Burnt Orange Productions feature film debuts at SXSW

Tips and Tools for Success and Survival
Helpful tips for healthy lifestyle

Getting a Life
Spend your spring break at the SXSW festival in Austin

................................................

Congratulations to these members of the UT graduate community:

Graduate Coordinators Debbie Coleman (Radio-Television-Film) and Kevin Carney (English) married in mid-February.

Christine Chang-Schneider (Psychology) and Hani Freeman (Psychology)
Winners of the 2006-07 Liberal Arts Graduate Research Awards

National Academy of Engineering (NAE) elects three UT professors as members:
Dr. J. Strother Moore (Computer Science)
Dr. Simon Lam (Computer Science)
Dr. Stelios Kyriakides (Aerospace Engineering)
Read the article

Dr. David Lambert (director of UT's McDonald Observatory)
is awarded the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship

Katalin Hausel (MFA Studio Art 2006 graduate) and
Michael Osborne, (MFA Studio Art 2006 graduate)
Awarded prestigious 6-month fellowship at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, a residency program for emerging artists in Stuttgart, Germany

Paul Greisemer (Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mathematics) won the 2007 GAIN paper competition.

.................................................

Supporting Graduate Education

.................................................

Key Graduate Dates and Events

More Dates and Events for Spring 2007

Dates

Date	Event
March 22	Last day to apply for a graduate degree
March 22	Workshop for Graduate Advisers and Graduate Coordinators, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m., Santa Rita Room at the Texas Union

Workshops

Date	Event
March 6	Dissertation and Thesis Writing
March 20	Designing Your Career Outside of the Professoriate
March 28	Meet and Greet Skills for Those Who'd Rather Not

Events

March 8: International Women's Day. Women in Engineering (WEP) is having an open house to celebrate

.....................................................

Suggestions

If you have opinions on other topics that you would like to see offered in these newsletters, we would love to hear them. Please send ideas to
kmabley@mail.utexas.edu

Message from the Dean

Welcome to the second issue of GradNews—a monthly e-newsletter for The University of Texas at Austin (UT) Graduate School community. This month, I am pleased to tell you about an exciting event being hosted by President William Powers and myself at the Thompson Conference Center. On March 30-31, over 400 undergraduate students from Texas colleges and universities will attend the second annual Lone Star Graduate Diversity Colloquium.

The Lone Star Graduate Diversity Colloquium is a collective effort of Texas colleges and universities to expand the pool of prospective graduate students for recruiting purposes. By encouraging under-represented minorities and women currently enrolled at Texas colleges and universities to stay in Texas to complete their graduate education, this program strives to realize the vision of expanding educational opportunities to fulfill the promise of a diverse society. Master’s and doctoral degree granting institutions of higher education from across the state of Texas will visit UT Austin to recruit from this pool of talent.

Here at the university, we believe strongly in the value of a diverse campus community. This university has long been an intellectual gathering place for people who are seeking knowledge, friendship and new perspectives. Our campus has gained great strength from the richness of its many voices. As a world-class institution of higher learning, we are committed to expanding those voices, to welcoming even more cultures and ideas and to making educational opportunity available to all.

This event will benefit all graduate education within the state of Texas, including The University of Texas at Austin. Should you have the opportunity to interact with our visitors within your department or elsewhere on campus, please welcome them and share your thoughts and insights about the value of a graduate degree from UT Austin.

Warm Regards,
Victoria E. Rodríguez
Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies

Everyday Excellence

Excellence occurs every day in graduate education at UT Austin. Everyday Excellence highlights a UT graduate student and features his or her thoughts on the meaning of a graduate degree.

Over the snow days at the beginning of this semester, Jessica (Jess) Geier finished her dissertation in Educational Administration. She is now interviewing for jobs and preparing for her defense. Jess has been involved in many campus organizations, including serving as co-chair of the Graduate Student Assembly for 2005-2006.

Featured Graduate School Resource

This month's featured Graduate School resource offers graduate students the opportunity to advance their skills and bring themselves and their work out into the community. Professional Development and Community Engagement (PDCE) within the Graduate School supports and encourages graduate students in becoming leaders and innovators in their disciplines and in their communities. PDCE offers graduate students in all disciplines the opportunity to enhance their professional skills and make an impact through its courses, workshops, and internships.

Spotlight on Faculty

Dr. Chandra Bhat from the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Department at UT is the winner of the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award for 2007. In this issue he discusses the research he and his graduate students do on the ways people travel within cities. Read Full Text >

Out in the Real World

Burnt Orange Productions logo Burnt Orange Productions, the for-profit production company of The University of Texas Film Institute (UTFI), is having its feature film "Elvis and Anabelle" debuted at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival on March 10. UTFI is based in UT's College of Communication and works closely with the Radio-Television-Film Department. Since its founding in 2003, UTFI has become an important testing ground for new work within the Austin film community.
http://www.burntorangeproductions.com/

Getting a Life

South by Southwest is here again in its full glory of music, films, panels, and traffic jams. The festival lasts from March 9 - 18 which coincides with Spring Break. Utter mayhem and outstanding music for the price of a (nonrefundable) badge, which can be ordered online or paid for in person at the Austin Convention Center during the days of the festival. Despite the initial sellout, more wristbands should become available.

Tips and Tools for Success and Survival

Money in a Pinch

UTemps offers long-, short-, and very short-term temporary employment for UT students. If you are wondering how to fund that last-minute spring break trip, go to:
http://www.utexas.edu/hr/prospective/utemps.html

Stress Relief

The MindBody Lab (SSB, 5th floor) offers a self-paced and no-appointment-needed place to better understand the sources of physical and emotional stress and to learn techniques for alleviating stress. Techniques include: Abdominal Breathing, Imagery, Mindfulness Meditation, Self Healing, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, and Biofeedback.
http://cmhc.utexas.edu/mindbodylab.html

March, 2007

Monthly eNewsletter March 2007