dphillips

Boston Career Trek: Applications due 2/13

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The Boston Career Trek program begins on-campus and includes a day trip to Boston to meet with Wesleyan alumni at their places of work. Students will have the option to choose from treks in one of six different fields including sales/marketing, tech, health, journalism/media, education and visual arts. More information (including participating employers) is available on Handshake, and interested students should apply by Thursday, February 13.

Additional career trek opportunities this spring include the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, the Global Health & Innovation Conference, the Jackson Laboratory, and the 2020 MIT Sustainability Summit. These opportunities all have an application deadline of Thursday, February 20th.

Summer Session Financial Aid Requests due 2/28

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The Summer Session Financial Aid request form is available now! Request aid by February 28 to receive an award before registration opens on March 6. The request form is in your WesPortal >Course> Summer Session. To be eligible for aid, you must currently be receiving Wesleyan need-based grant funds. International students receiving need-based grant funds may be eligible to receive aid for Summer Session. Need-based grant funds are limited and students also should expect to consider student loans.

Applying for grant aid does not commit you to taking a course. If you think you might enroll in a Summer Session course but you’re not sure, apply for grant aid anyway! The form is very simple and will take less than a minute to fill out. You do not need to resubmit FAFSA or other detailed forms for Summer Session aid – we already have them on file.

A list of classes can be found here.

Financial Aid process:

  1. Request Wesleyan grant aid by February 28 at noon, using the link in your WesPortal.
  2. You will receive an award letter by March 3.
  3. Enroll in your courses online through WesPortal (Courses – Summer Session) beginning March 6.
  4. If you plan to use student loans to pay for your course, please consult with your financial aid advisor to make sure you have enough loan availability to cover Summer Session.
  5. We will continue to accept requests through noon, April 15, and will send out award letters for requests received between Feb 28 at 12:01 pm and noon, April 15 on April 21.

Applications for grant aid will not be accepted after April 15 at noon.

Need-based grant funds are limited and will not meet full need, as Summer Session is an optional term.
If you have any questions, please email Mary Kelly at mgkelly@wesleyan.edu. Thank you!

Fellowships After Graduation

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With graduation coming up in a few short months, many of you are thinking about the future. Did you know that alumni from all academic backgrounds are eligible to apply for several national fellowships? These are fully funded, usually year-long programs that support research, English teaching, graduate study, and professional experiences in and outside of the U.S. Come learn more at this info session on Tuesday, February 4, at 12 noon at the Fries Center for Global Studies in Fisk Commons.

Writing Mentor Applications Due Feb 5

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As many of you know, the Writing Workshop provides students with semester long writing support through our Writing Mentor Program. Students earn .25 credit for meeting with their mentors every week, and these meetings cover a range of topics related to writing from time management, to interpreting feedback, to clarifying sentence structure. If you think you would benefit from a one-on-one writing mentorship this semester, please submit an application by Feb. 5th by noon (see flyer). If you have any questions, please reach out to the Writing Workshop at writingworks@wesleyan.edu.

Senior Voices Professor Nomination Form

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The Senior Class Officers, are working hard to plan an awesome senior week, and want student input for an annual grad weekend event!

Senior Voices is a non-religious and uplifting student-centered ceremony with music, student reflections, and a faculty speaker that takes place the night before graduation. This year it will take place on May 23 at 6pm.

The Class of 2020 gets to decide which professor speaks at this event, and each student can nominate up to 3 of their favorite professors through this form. Whoever has the most nominations will make a speech! (No need to add any explanation for your nomination, we just need names)

Please fill out the following nomination form by February 12!

Have a great semester!
Maximo, Emily, Emilio, Rebecca

2020 Power of Language Conference

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The Power of Language Conference seeks to bring awareness to the many benefits of language learning and to promote the study of languages other than English across campus. It creates a forum to empower culturally sensitive citizens to thrive in the contemporary global environment. This year’s conference will highlight multilingual initiatives inside and outside the classroom. We invite students, faculty, alumni, and members of the community to join us in celebrating multilingualism on Wesleyan’s campus and beyond.

To learn more about what types of a proposals we’re looking for, please visit bit.ly/wespol2020 

The deadline for proposal submission is Saturday, February 8th, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. EST. 

If you have any questions about the conference, please feel free to reach out to me or any of the members of the Conference Steering Committee.

Thesis Writers Spring Writing Support

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This Saturday, January 25th from 9:30 – 4:30 we will be hosting a Winter Bootcamp for Thesis Writers. The day will include timed writing sessions, a workshop on writing and mindfulness, free breakfast and lunch, a thesis journal making workshop, snacks and caffeine, camaraderie, and the option to have individual consultations with Writing Center staff on time management and goal setting. We ask students to register so we can purchase the right amount of food.

Additionally, we are working with the library this semester to provide thesis writers with biweekly write-ins, Sundays from 10am-12pm at the Shapiro Center for Writing and Wednesdays from 8 – 10pm in the Devlin Room in the Olin Library. These write-ins will be staffed by Writing Workshop tutors, and, in addition to caffeine and snacks, will provide thesis writers with consistency and accountability as they work on their projects. As we all know, dedicating two or four hours every week to the thesis writing process is exactly what gets the project done!

Lastly, we will offer a spring break bootcamp on March 22nd from 9:30 – 4:30 at the Shapiro Center for Writing following a similar schedule as the Winter boot camp. Registration can be found here.

Upcoming Workshops for F-1 Visa Holders

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Curricular Practical Training (CPT) Workshop 

Thursday, January 30, 5:00-6:00 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
Monday, February 17, 12:15-1:15 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
Wednesday, February 26, 12:15-1:15 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
Wednesday, March 25, 5:00-6:00 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
The four sessions are exactly the same. You only need to attend one. Each session is limited to 20 students. First come, first served. Registration not required.
Intended Audience: Classes of 2022 and 2021 F-1 visa holders who intend to work off-campus in the United States during Summer 2020

Session Description: In this workshop, you will learn: 1) CPT eligibility, 2) a step-by-step guide to registering for CSLP 493, and 3) information about maintain your F-1 status while working in the summer.

Optional Practical Training (OPT) Workshop 

Thursday, February 6, 5:00-6:00 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
Monday, March 2, 12:15-1:15 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
The two sessions are exactly the same. You only need to attend one. Each session is limited to 15 students. First come, first served. Registration not required.

Intended Audience: Classes of 2020 and 2021 F-1 visa holders who wish to work in the United States after graduation

Session Description: This workshop will cover: 1) OPT eligibility, 2) a step-by-step guide to complete the I-765 form, and 3) information about maintaining your F-1 visa status while on OPT.  Please bring: 1) your current and all previous I-20s, 2) your passport, 3) your F-1 visa page (if on a different passport), 4) your most recent I-94, 5) your Social Security Card (if you have one), and a pen with black ink (required by U.S. government).

Optional Practical Training (OPT) Q&A 

Wednesday, February 12, 5:00-6:00 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
Monday, February 24, 5:00-6:00 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
Wednesday, April 1, 12:15-1:15 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
The three sessions are exactly the same. You only need to attend one. Each session is limited to 20 students. First come, first served. Registration not required.

Intended Audience: Classes of 2020 and 2021 F-1 visa holders wish to work in the United States after graduation

Session Description: This is a workshop for students who already attended the OPT workshop and still have questions about the application process. In this session, OISA staff members will answer frequently asked questions such as planning your OPT start date, traveling internationally while waiting for OPT approval and more! Bring your questions to the session.

Life After Wes: Managing your Immigration Status after Graduation

Tuesday, March 3, 5:00-6:00 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
Monday, April, 6, 12:15-1:15 p.m. @ Gorden Career Center
The two sessions are exactly the same. You only need to attend one. Each session is limited to 30 students.Registration on Handshake is required.
Intended Audience: Class of 2020 F-1 visa holders who have plans to attend graduate school in the United States in the future (including after OPT) or depart the U.S. after graduation.

Session Description: This workshop will cover all different scenarios for F-1 visa holders to understand how to manage their immigration status after they graduate from Wesleyan. We will cover: 1) grace period for staying in the United States after graduation without applying for OPT, 2) deadlines for OPT applications, 3) transferring your SEVIS record to a graduate school and 4) answer additional questions you may have.

OPT STEM Extension Info Session 

Thursday, April 9, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 14, 12:15-1:15 p.m.

The two sessions are exactly the same. You only need to attend one. Each session is limited to 20 students. First come, first served. Registration not required.

Intended Audience: Classes of 2020 and 2021 F-1 visa holders whose major is one of the following: archaeology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, college of integrative science, computer science, earth and environmental sciences, economics, environmental studies, mathematics, molecular biology & biochemistry, neuroscience & behavior, physics and wish to continue working in the United States after their one-year OPT.

Session Description: This session is for students who would like to learn more about OPT STEM extension (an additional 24 months of OPT). We will cover OPT-STEM extension eligibility, the application timeline and other essential information about OPT-STEM extension.

Course Withdrawal Deadline Monday 12/2 5pm

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The last day to withdraw from full-semester and second-quarter classes for the Fall 2018 semester is Monday, December 2.  Completed forms are due in the Registrar’s Office by 5:00 p.m. and must include the following signatures: instructor, faculty advisor, and class dean.

If you are thinking about withdrawing from a course:

  • Do use this time to talk to your professors, your advisors, and me about your concerns. If you can’t make my drop-ins, please email me at dphillips@wesleyan.edu or call me at x2757 to schedule an appointment.
  • Do make sure you are taking advantage of all the resources available to you.
  • Do get the signatures of your instructor and advisor on your drop/add form. I cannot sign for either without his or her permission, so please save yourself the trouble of waiting to see me during drop-ins just for me to tell you that.
  • Do not wait until Monday at 4:00 p.m. to see me or you may find yourself waiting in a very long line!

Drop-in Hours: M 2-3, Tu 3-4, W 4-6, Th 11-12, F 2-4