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GPSO E-Newsletter: October 3, 2013

In this Issue:

Upcoming GPSO Events: First Friday, Graduate Funding Workshop, Bowling Night

Welcome! GPSO's New Programming Coordinator

Funding Available: Fall International Awards

Advice: Top 10 IU Technology Tips

Guest Article: How a Government Shutdown Would Affect Academe

GPSO plans your weekend!

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Upcoming GPSO Events

First Friday - TOMORROW

The GPSO Assembly will be meeting tomorrow from 3:30-5pm in Woodburn 100. All are welcome!

We will follow up with our October First Friday Social Hour at The Tap. RSVP on Facebook so we order enough delicious Jimmy Johns!

 

Graduate Funding Workshop - October 8

Are you applying for grants this semester? Would you like advice tailored to applications for fall GPSO Travel and Conference Grants?

Come check out a joint workshop presented with GradGrants from 6:30-8pm on Tuesday, October 8 in Wells Library 043. Topics covered will incorporate both internal and external funding application processes. RSVP on Facebook, and feel free to email gpsopr@indiana.edu with specifics or for more information.

 

GPSO/BGSA Bowling Night - October 9

GPSO joins up with the Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA) to bring you an evening of bowling at the IMU Back Alley on Wednesday, October 9 from 7-9pm. Make some friends, bowl some frames, and enjoy free food from IMU Catering!

Please RSVP on Facebook.

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Welcome to GPSO's new Programming Coordinator!

Kevin Miescke joins the GPSO in his second year of a Doctor of Music degree in French Horn performance at the Jacobs School of Music. When his time at IU is complete, he would like to teach at the college level and play professionally with an orchestra. Last year Kevin worked with Project Jumpstart, a career development and entrepreneurship program in the music school, where he helped his fellow students expand their social and professional viewpoints. He hopes to continue this as the Programming Coordinator with the GPSO in the coming school year.

Kevin grew up in Lake Tahoe, CA and enjoys spending his free time outdoors running, biking, skiing, hiking, camping, or just relaxing in the sunshine.  He hopes to see you at the next GPSO event!

Check out Kevin's profile and meet the rest of the GPSO executive committee online!

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Funding Available: Fall International Awards

Below are deadlines, brief descriptions and links for Gates Cambridge, Luce, DAAD, and Critical Language Scholarships. Contact Paul Fogleman (pfoglema@iu.edu) with inquiries.

Gates Cambridge

For students from outside the UK for graduate study (including PhD) at the University of Cambridge: http://www.gatescambridge.org/

No campus deadline. National deadline is October 15.

Luce Scholarship

For language training and individualized professional placement in Asia for graduate students in Master’s and professional degree programs:  http://www.hluce.org/lsprogram.aspx

Campus deadline is October 15. National deadline is November 1.

(DAAD) German Academic Exchange Service

Supports graduating seniors and all levels of graduate students for study or research in Germany in a broad range of disciplines: https://www.daad.org/scholarship

Campus deadline is October 21. National deadlines are November 1 (Arts) and November 15 (Academic).

Critical Language Scholarship

Available for intensive summer language institutes overseas in critical need foreign languages: http://www.clscholarship.org/about

No campus deadline. National deadline is November 15.

 

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Top 10 IU Technology Tips for Students

University Information Technology Services (UITS) provides many helpful resources to IU students! Have you taken advantage of...

  • IU Box?
  • cloud storage?
  • IUanyWare?
  • IUware?
  • IT training and Lynda?
  • UITS Support Center?
  • Ask IU?
  • IU Mobile?
  • UITS Student Ambassadors?

Check out the Top Ten Technology Tips for details on how UITS can help you!

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Guest Article: How a Government Shutdown Would Affect Academe

By Kelly Field, Paul Basken, and Jennifer Howard; via The Chronicle for Higher Education

If Congress fails to reach agreement on a stopgap spending bill and the government shuts down on Tuesday, the impact on colleges, students, and university scientists would be minimal, at least at first.

But researchers who depend on government-run archives, libraries, and museums could see their work interrupted, and some university employees whose salaries are paid by the federal government may have to wait for their paychecks.

Student Aid

The shutdown would not disrupt the awarding of student aid or the servicing of student loans, at least in the short term, according to the Education Department's contingency plan. Commercial student-loan servicers and other contractors could continue to work for "some short period of time," but they would have to wait to be paid, and no new contracts would be awarded.

Colleges with government grants could continue their work.

But a lapse of longer than a week could "severely curtail the cash flow" to those colleges with federal grants, according to the contingency plan. Colleges rely on federal funds to pay staff members who run programs for disadvantaged students seeking to enter and stay in college.

The furlough of Education Department staff members involved in making grants could also lead to delays in the awarding of grants to colleges later in the year.

In the event of a shutdown, the department will furlough more than 90 percent of its employees immediately, according to the contingency plan.

If the closure drags on for a week or more, up to 6 percent of the agency's 4,225 employees will be called back to perform "essential" functions, such as providing payments to grantees and administering student aid.

Research Funds

A shutdown would close most operations at the National Institutes of Health, the largest supplier of federal money for basic research at American colleges and universities. Research on the NIH campus, in Bethesda, Md., would be halted, and no new patients would be accepted into the center's medical trials.

But the effect of an NIH shutdown on universities should be minimal because the agency just completed one of its three yearly cycles of grant awards to outside researchers.

Grant applications for the next round are due on October 5, with awards expected to be made in December or January. That means agency officials should have time to catch up if the government shutdown isn't prolonged, said Carrie D. Wolinetz, president of United for Medical Research, an advocacy coalition representing universities and other research organizations.

The NIH's deputy director for extramural research, Sally J. Rockey, sent out a notice last week warning that some grant recipients might have trouble getting access to their money in the event of a shutdown. But such instances should be relatively rare, involving grants having unusual conditions or those affected by some kind of glitch, Ms. Wolinetz said. "That's going to be sort of a bad-luck situation," she said.

Archives and Museums

Aside from the many federal employees who would be affected if the government closed its doors, researchers who depend on government-run archives, libraries, and museums would face disruptions in their work as well.

The Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Archives and Records Administration would close, making some of the country's richest archival, cultural, and scientific collections inaccessible to researchers until Washington reopened for business.

A handful of exceptions might be made for researchers who have "highly time-sensitive" experiments under way or who must provide "ongoing care for research specimens," according to Becky Haberacker, a Smithsonian spokeswoman. For the most part, though, "people would not be allowed to come in and access those collections" during a shutdown.

The National Archives and Records Administration serves thousands of professional and amateur scholars a year. So far this year, about 11,000 registered researchers have made more than 64,400 visits to Archives I, the agency's main building, on the Mall in Washington, and to the repository known as Archives II, located in College Park, Md. Last year the two facilities received almost 75,000 visits from close to 15,000 researchers.

The archives and records agency will continue to process some military records, including those needed for military burials, at its facility in St. Louis, said David S. Ferriero, the archivist of the United States. The agency's Web sites will be up, according to the archivist, but "there will be nobody on the other end" to maintain them.

The Web sites of the National Endowment for the Humanities will also stay up but will not be updated, according to the agency's contingency plan.Grants.gov, the online portal through which people search for and apply for federal grants, including NEH grants, will continue to operate but will have a reduced support staff, according to a notice on the Grants.gov blog.


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GPSO plans your weekend!

October 4 - 6:

  • October 4, 7pm: GPSO First Friday Social Hour (The Tap, free)

  • October 5, 10am: Apple Tasting at the Market (Bloomington Farmers' Market, free)

  • October 6, 1pm or 4pm: Cardinal Stage Company: The Cat in the Hat (Waldron Arts Center, prices online)

 

Nothing look good to you?

Check out the ongoing exhibits featured in the sidebar or visit www.bloomingtonscene.com and www.visitbloomington.com for the full on- and off-campus scoop.

 

Have an event to promote?

Email me at gpso@indiana.edu, and I can help you spread the e-word to our fellow grad students.

Go have some fun!

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