GradUCon Conference Deadline Monday, January 10!

The deadline for GradUCon will be Monday, January 10. Register online here.

GradUCon is THE conference designed for current graduate students in the arts and sciences, and recent alumni of graduate programs at the University of Chicago. This conference includes expert panels on a variety of topics related to graduate student life, as well as personal and professional development.

The GradUCon conference will take place on Friday, January 21. Learn more about GradUCon here.

OMSA Graduate and Professional Student Orientation

All programs take place at 5710 S. Woodlawn Ave

OMSA Lunch and Open House
Friday, September 17 from 11:30am – 12:30pm
Join us for lunch at 5710 and learn more about OMSA.

OMSA Student Panel and Dinner Reception
Friday, September 17 from 4:30pm – 7:00pm
Come hear what current graduate and professional students have to say at the student panel. Then meet and mingle with graduate and professional students, faculty, and staff at the dinner reception.

Welcome (Back) Reception
Monday, October 4 from 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Come and socialize with OMSA as we welcome new and returning students in the College as well as graduate and professional students. Explore 5710 and learn more about OMSA as we share our goals and calendar of events for the upcoming year.

Deadline Approaching for Uncommon Fund!

Apply to the Uncommon Fund!
Deadline: Friday, January 22.

The Uncommon Fund is a $40,000 pot of money that allows all students (undergrad and grad) to submit proposals for ANYTHING. This includes events, capital improvement projects or anything else you can imagine! We are looking for creative, innovative and unique proposals. BE CREATIVE!

Application

Due to the high level of applicants, the grant process takes place in two rounds. Only grants selected for a second round will need to fill out part two of the application. All grants will be evaluated by a selection committee. Applicants that are selected for a second round will be able to present to this committee before the committee makes its final selections.

The first rounds consists of:

I:Summary Sheet
II: Project Abstract Please include a Title and a Project Abstract in 250 words or less.
III: Financial Summary Attach an itemized budget.

The second round includes a complete project narrative and additional attachments.

Should you have any questions regarding the application, or the process, please send an email to uncommonfund@gmail.com. Below is a list of important dates:

1/22/10 First Round Applications Due: 5:00 PM
1/25/10 Committee Meets: First Round Selections
1/26-1/29/10 Notification of Second Round Projects
2/14/10 Second Round Applications Due: 5:00 PM
2/14-19/10 Independent Reviews by Committee
2/20/10 Committee Meets: Project Presentations [10:00 AM-5:00 PM]
*2/22/10 Committee Meets to select Grant Recipients
2/26/10 Grants Announced by Friday, 2/26/10

Guest Blogger: Meghan Hammond

I am the Assistant Director for Graduate Student Affairs, which is a central office that supports the graduate student career through the administration and management of fellowships, grants, and academic exchange programs and enhances the graduate student experience through the development and coordination of workshops, communications, services, and programs such as Graduate Student Orientation and the Family Resource Center. We are located in rooms 224, 225, and 227 of the Administration Building, and have an open-door policy: walk-ins welcome! We have a listing of fellowships databases available online, including opportunities specifically for students of color. We work closely with OMSA and other student services offices to connect you with resources that will enable you to make the most of your time at the University, and would love to meet with you one-on-one to discuss your research interests and how best to find resources to support your work. You can also follow us (“UChicago Graduate Student Affairs”) on Facebook—we’d love to have you all as fans!

Faculty of Color Panel with Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, Robert Gooding-Williams, Matthew Briones, and Kenneth Warren

Just added: Matthew Briones and Mario Small!

Matthew Briones is an Assistant Professor of American History and in the College. His areas of interest include comparative race relations, Asian/Pacific Islander American history, and African American history. His current projects include “Acts of Repossession: Internment, Interracial, and Ideological Counterpublics from the Popular Front to the Cold War” and work on “the Manilamen,” 18th-century Filipino immigrants who settled in Louisiana.

Mario Small is a Professor of Sociology. His areas of interest include urban poverty, inequality, culture, networks, case study methods, and higher education. His current projects deal with urban conditions, organizations, and networks.

On Monday, OMSA and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture will host professors Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, Robert Gooding-Williams, and Matthew Briones as well as Deputy Provost Kenneth Warren at 5710. They will engage in a conversation about the experience of scholars of color and share their journeys to their present positions at the University of Chicago. They will also discuss topics including obstacles faced by scholars of color, isolation affecting scholars of color, stereotyping of research conducted by scholars of color, and sources of personal motivation.

A little about the panelists:

Kenneth Warren is a Professor in the Department of English and the Deputy Provost for Research & Minority Issues. His focus is American and African American literature from the late nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century. His books include Black and White Strangers: Race and American Literary Realism and So Black and Blue: Ralph Ellison and the Occasion of Criticism.

Agnes Lugo-Ortiz is an Associate Professor of Latin American Literature in the Center for Latin American Studies. Dr. Lugo-Ortiz’s focus is nineteenth-century Latin American literature and nineteenth- and twentieth-century Caribbean cultural history. Her books include Identidades imaginadas: Biografía y nacionalidad en el horizonte de la guerra (Cuba 1860-1898). Her current book-length project is “Riddles of Modern Identity: Biography and Visual Portraiture in Slaveholding Cuba (1760-1886)." She has authored various essays on the interconnections between queer sexualities, gender and anti-colonial politics in twentieth-century Puerto Rico.

Robert Gooding-Williams is a Professor of Political Science and in the College. His areas of interest include Nietzsche, Du Bois, Critical Race Theory, African-American Political Thought, 19th Century Continental Philosophy, Existentialism, and Aesthetics. His books include Zarathustra's Dionysian Modernism and Look, A Negro!: Philosophical Essays on Race, Culture, and Politics. He also edited or co-edited Reading Rodney King/Reading Urban Uprising, The Souls of Black Folk (Bedford Books Edition), and "100 Years of The Souls of Black Folk" (Public Culture, Spring 2005).

Diversifying Faculty in Illinois Fellowship (DFI)

The Diversifying Faculty in Illinois Fellowship (DFI)  is a great funding opportunity for full time students of color in pursuit of a PhD, Master’s and terminal Master’s degree. If you intend to teach or serve in an administrative capcatiy at an Illinois educational institution after you complete your degree, then this is a great prospect for you!

The purpose of DFI is to increase the number of underrepresented faculty and staff in Illinois institutions of higher education and higher education governing boards. The goal of DFI is to increase the number of minority full-time tenure track faculty and staff at Illinois post-secondary institutions (two- and four-year colleges and universities). You must be a resident of Illinois (with an educational degree earned from an IL educational institution) or be a registered voter and have lived in Illinois for a period of at least three years.

OMSA Graduate & Professional Student Resources

OMSA is continuing to develop and enhance our resources that cater to the needs and interests of graduate and professional students. One improvement we have made this year is to alternate the time of our programs during the day time and evening hours to allow for students with varied schedules to attend programs of interest. We would love to hear from you with ideas and suggestions! We hope you will join us at:

Quarterly Social October 28, 12:30pm
Quarterly Mixer October 28, 6:30pm
Faculty of Color Panel November 9, 6:00pm
Diversity in the Workplace November 5, 5:00pm at the Quadrangle Club
Diversity in Academe Coming up in Spring Quarter

More socials, mixers, and events are coming up in Winter and Spring Quarter. Please check our events page often.

Graduate and Professional Student of Color Orientation

Greetings to all incoming graduate and professional students of color! We are very excited to welcome you to the University and to help introduce you to the OMSA community and family.

This Friday, OMSA will host three events for our Graduate and Professional Student of Color Orientation: an open house and information session, a student panel, and a reception and social. We hope that graduate and professional students of color new to the University will learn about OMSA and 5710, gain connections and insights from our student panelists, and network and socialize with each other.

All OMSA staff will be present. We are eager to meet you so please come by. Each of us serves and interacts with graduate and professional students in a different way. But all of us are happy to hear your questions or concerns at any time.

You may have received information about our Orientation by e-mail. The Orientation schedule is as follows:

OMSA Graduate and Professional Student Orientation

Friday September 18, 2009 at 5710 South Woodlawn

Open House and Information Session
11:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M.

This session will introduce the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs. Light refreshments will be served. A previous announcement provided an incorrect start time for this event. This event begins at 11:30 a.m.

Panel
4:30 P.M. to 5:30 P.M.

This student panel will consist of returning graduate and professional students of color and will discuss the student experience at the University.

Reception and Social
5:30 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.

Come relax and mingle with graduate and professional students of color from all departments! Hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be served. Please bring the appropriate form of identification.

If you require accommodation to participate in this event, please call us at 834-4672.

Our graduate student panelists will be:

Brooke Sylvester
Biological Sciences Division
Mentor, Chicago Multicultural Connection
OMSA Advisory Board Member

Darryl Heller
Social Sciences Division
Past Mentor, Chicago Multicultural Connection

Genny Castillo
School of Social Services Administration
Student Worker, 5710 South Woodlawn

Jaira Harrington
Social Sciences Division

Klint Jaramillo
School of Social Services Administration
Intern, LGBTQ Programming Office

Mary Adekoya
Humanities Division
Student Worker, 5710 South Woodlawn

Oni Mapp
Biological Sciences Division

See you there!