Graduate Education Week 2008

In 2006, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed a proclamation declaring that the state would designate a week every April to celebrate the accomplishments of graduate students and raising awareness of the benefits of an advanced degree. This year’s Graduate Education Week will take place from April 14–19 and Mizzou is hosting a variety of events to mark the joyous occasion:

Getting into Graduate School: the Basics & Getting into Graduate School: Making Your Application Stand Out

Tell all of your friends who aren’t in grad school to attend these two events, held on April 14 and 15 in Memorial Union S304 and Memorial Union N222/223, respectively. These seminars will help prospective graduate students to better understand the benefits of an advanced degree and how to get into graduate school.

Graduate School Open House

Come see where all the behind-the-scenes graduate school action takes place on April 17 from 3-4:30 p.m. in 210 Jesse. Learn who’s really responsible for tuition waivers and graduate student insurance—it can’t hurt, right?

Adventures in Education

This fun event, held from 9 a.m.–2 p.m. on Saturday in Jesse Hall, includes interactive exhibits put on by graduate students that engage kids in the exciting world of advanced education. Exhibits this year include Colors of Chemistry, where kids can make their own slime, African Masks & Fabric Printing and What Happens When Cells Freeze? There will also be FREE tiger stripe ice cream!

Other events on campus

In addition to the Graduate School’s Adventures in Education Fair, there are other (non Graduate Education Week-related) events across campus on Saturday, April 19. The School of Veterinary Medicine will also be holding an open house that includes a petting zoo, the Budweiser Clydesdales and a scavenger hunt. Additionally, there will also be a Physics & Chemistry Open House that will include fun experiments for kids, demonstrations of science equipment and recipes for cooking with chemistry!

The Graduate School encourages you to get involved with Graduate Education Week, if only to give yourself a pat on the back for contributing some great research to the world of advanced education!

Make a Life List

My dad recently finished a 500-mile bike race—an impressive feat, to say the least. In addition to being proud of his great accomplishment, this got me to thinking: what goals would I like to accomplish in my own life? Not broad goals, such as having a career I love and a family, but specific goals like completing a 500-mile bike race. What, I wondered, would I put on my own life list?

Having a life list inspires you to accomplish things you wouldn’t otherwise do—you may think snorkeling in the Great Barrier reef would be lovely given the chance, but if you put it on your life’s to do list, you’re more likely to take the action needed to realize that goal.

WebMD has a good article on setting attainable life goals and the benefits of doing so. Read this article from the New York Times to learn about the increasing popularity of “Life Lists” (and the impending movie about two cancer patients who set off to accomplish the goals on their own life lists).

After you’ve read a little about what life lists are and why you should have one, get to work on your own. I’m in the process of writing mine right now. I’ve also picked out which goal I’ll tackle first: running a marathon. So here’s to living life to to the fullest (and here’s to me completing that marathon next year)!

Photo courtesy of Flickr user wili_hybrid.

Tailgating Trivia for the New Football Season

It’s that time of year again: school is in full swing, the weather is (somewhat) beginning to cool off and football season has begun. It’s time to tailgate. Whether you are a football fanatic or a casual fan, tailgating is a tradition that few people miss—in fact, it’s one of my favorite things about fall and the beginning of a new school year.

So where did tailgating originate? According to The American Tailgater Association, the first tailgate occurred at the first football game between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869. Students gathered to eat, drink and socialize prior to the game. Bill Simmons, a columnist for ESPN.com, had a more humorous take on the origins of tailgating in a recent article in which he wrote, “Seriously, there had to have been one guy in the '40s or '50s who said to his buddies, ‘Hey, what if we show up early for the game, park the car, bring an Igloo of beer, and we'll just hang out in the parking lot, listen to music and make fun of each other until the game starts? ’ And everyone else was, like, ‘Wait, that's a great idea! That might work!’ Shouldn't this person be identified and properly deified? He's the Jonas Salk of drinking in public, right?”

It’s not as clear when the first tailgate at Mizzou occurred, but chances are it wasn’t too far after the first MU football game was played in the spring of 1890.

Thus concludes the short lesson on the history of tailgating. Now that you know, you’ll be able to more fully appreciate tailgating and its traditions during the current season. You can also read more about the history of MU football, learn about MU’s “green” tailgating initiative, or buy tickets to an upcoming Mizzou game.

Mizzou-RAH!

Career Fairs on Campus

I have a confession: I am a chronic career fair abuser. Not that I attend numerous career fairs, but I’ve discovered that I’ve been making some fatal errors at the fairs I do attend. For the serious job seeker, career fairs are not to be approached with a “let’s-just-see-what’s-here” approach. Doing research on the companies you’re interested in, as well as positions and programs at the company, is vital for getting useful information from a company representative. The point of a career fair is to make contact with your companies of interest, so in subsequent communications you can reference your contact from the fair. It essentially gives you an “in” when you go through the formal job application process later on. Learn about other ways to get the most out of a career fair here.

After you learn how to avoid the mistakes I’ve been making, attend some career fairs. Although most career fairs on campus are program-specific (meaning you can’t attend if you are not in that major), there are two big ones coming up that are open to all MU students. The Business Career Fair, held on September 21 at the Hearnes Center, is one of the largest on campus and has over 100 companies hiring for a wide variety of positions. The College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources also has a large fair, held on September 26 at the Student Rec Center. Register for the CAFNR fair and learn about program-specific career fairs at HireMizzouTigers.

Still not convinced a career fair is a time-worthy event? Read this article from Business Career Services on why you should attend a career fair.

Public Transportation in Columbia, Mo.

As a recently car-less citizen of Columbia, Mo., I have been thoroughly testing the public transportation in our fair city during the past few weeks. If you live near a City of Columbia bus route (or can easily bike to one — all the buses have bike racks), I would definitely recommend looking into using Columbia Public Transportation for your commute to and from campus.

Price

Especially now that gasoline prices are climbing, taking the big blue bus to campus is an economically sound choice. Students with a student I.D. card ride for half-price. Here’s the current breakdown of options for students who can show I.D. (Prices are current at the time of publishing; check the City of Columbia site for up-to-date prices.):

• One-way trip: $0.25
• 7-day student pass: $2.50
• 25-ride pass: $5.00
• 30-day unlimited ride pass: $10.00

Purchases for one-way trips can be made with correct change on any City bus, and all passes can be bought at Wabash Station during business hours.

Routes Near Campus

All routes but two in the Columbia system stop at Wabash Station, Tenth and Ash Street (the main location for transfers), which is a 15-minute (or so) walk from Jesse Hall. In addition, the red, gold, brown and orange lines all have stops somewhere on campus. All route information can be found online, and physical maps can be picked up at Wabash.

Myth Busting

Several thoughts were keeping me from taking the bus before, and now that I’ve done it, I realize that they were unfounded. Reliability was one issue, but in my two weeks taking public transportation to and from campus for work, the buses have never run more than five minutes late. They are clean, and I feel safe during the ride. In addition, the drivers are generally nice and helpful.

A Few Downsides

Perhaps because so many college students take their cars to school and never take the bus, the City Transportation system does not generate enough cash to keep most routes running after 6:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, or at all on Sunday. This can pose a problem for those who work late in the labs or need to meet on campus in the evenings for group projects. For this reason, many who live car-less in Columbia require a bicycle (don’t forget to register it) or a scooter.

For those (like me) who are new to public transportation, planning the routes to take and accepting the extra time involved, as opposed to taking a personal car, takes some getting used to. But with my mp3 player in hand, I’ve managed to acclimate myself to the slightly slower pace of the bus system.

More Information

• City of Columbia Public Transportation (including ParaTransit)
• MU Parking and Transportation
• PedNet: Columbia Pedestrian and Pedaling Network

Little-known things you can purchase on campus

Speaking of ice cream, which you can purchase on campus (See “I Scream, You Scream” post), there are also a couple of other cool campus establishments of which you should be aware.

The Mizzou Meat Market (insert joke about the name here) is operated by students in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and combines traditional learning with hands-on, entrepreneurial experience. The Meat Market carries various cuts of beef, pork and lamb that are all USDA approved. Located just east of the corner of College Avenue and Rollins Road (Eckles Hall, for those of you familiar with that edge of campus) the Mizzou Meat Market accepts traditional methods of payment as well as—drum roll, please—student charge!

Another neat campus establishment is the Culinary Cafe, which is run by the students and faculty of MU’s Hotel and Restaurant Management Program. Although the Cafe isn’t open during the summer months, it does serve quality, themed (“Dinner Tour D'France” and “An Evening in Venice,” for example) meals during the Fall and Spring Semesters in Eckles Hall. Moreover, the Culinary Cafe accepts orders for football tailgates. Just order by 3 p.m. on Thursday prior to the MU game and you’ll be ready to serve a hungry bunch of any size! Student Charge is also accepted for tailgating orders.

So next time you’re looking to have a good time on campus, stop by Buck’s for some Tiger Stripe ice cream, run by the meat market for a little fillet mignon, and place an order for your next tailgating event!

I Scream, You Scream

If you’re anything like me – that is, composed of roughly 65% Oxygen, 18.5% Carbon, 9.5% Hydrogen, and 3.2% Nitrogen - you probably experience a patch of boredom or two over the summer. The shape of summer seems to set about this time every year for me. Faculty become rarer, colleagues keep weird office hours if they keep them at all and the heat seems to slow down everyone’s willingness to do much of anything. Except eat ice cream.

Lucky for you, Mizzou has their very own ice cream shop,Buck's Ice Cream Place. It's run by the good people in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. There is nothing better than enjoying some Tiger Stripe ice cream (or whatever flavor calls out to you) in the middle of the day. Or at the end. Or the beginning. Or all three. Buck’s Ice Cream Place is located on the south side of Eckles Hall.

Get out of your lab, office or whatever academic detention you've signed on for, and get yourself some delicious treats. You've probably earned them.

Quick Guide to Changes at Mizzou

As you’re surely aware of by now, Mizzou is undergoing numerous changes at the moment. Here is a quick guide of the most significant changes, what they mean and what action you might need to take as a result of these changes.

myZou

Almost all of the changes coming about this year are due to Mizzou's new system, myZou. While I won’t debate the system’s merits and shortcomings here, I will let you know how to use the system more easily.

If you’re signing onto myZou for the first time, you’ll need to accept the UM e-consent policy, available on the left-hand side of the screen. Every time you sign on subsequently, you’ll need to click the “self-service” button to the left to see the variety of tasks you can perform in myZou, including viewing of your grades, schedule and MU bill. Be aware that myZou prompts you to re-enter your pawprint and password after a period of inactivity.

Schedule of Courses

When planning out your course schedule for the upcoming semester, you probably use the schedule of courses (SOC). The SOC is no longer available in hard copy anywhere, so you’ll have to do your planning online, also through myZou. The MU Registrar's Web site also directs you to myZou for the SOC. Something I’ve observed as a graduate business student is that certain business courses are not, in fact, found under “Business Administration”, but are rather located under emphasis areas, such as “Finance” or “Management.” I am, regrettably, unfamiliar with other graduate programs, but if your program is similarly organized around various emphasis areas, you may try to search for classes under those areas. I would also put forth that your adviser is more valuable than ever at this time in helping clarify which classes are available and which will satisfy various credits for your particular degree program.

Student ID Cards

All student ID cards will be replaced in August this year. Beginning August 8, your current ID card will no longer work, so you’ll need to pick up your new student ID (not in the ID card office in the Bookstore) in Stotler Lounge, the main area in Memorial Union. You’ll need to bring an ID with you to pick up the card. It’s not entirely clear whether you’ll have to take a new picture and/or pay for the new ID, but it appears that you won’t have to do either. Consequently, you’ll also be getting a new ID number that replaces your old, six-digit number, though it’s also unclear what use this new ID number has.

Thus concludes the quick guide to current changes at Mizzou―I hope it is somewhat helpful. Good luck navigating your way through the new system!

Statz 4 Life

Columbia slows down a bit in the summer, as does our motivation to write truly awesome posts for the legions of adoring Praxis fans. So in the lazy spirit of summer, I thought I'd pass along a youtube link I was e-mailed by a friend in the Psych department. Statz 4 Life - enjoy. Note: This is probably less funny to those of you in the humanities. We'll take care of you guys next time.

This Summer, Why Don't You…

Because the semester is wrapping up and the last thing any grad student needs is study tips (they'd be too late at this point, anyway), here's a light-hearted list of things you should do regardless of your other plans.

…Take a Road Trip

Road trips are a great way to reward yourself after a strenuous week of finals, to get away for a weekend, or to celebrate an accomplishment. Plan a trip to visit one of the literally thousands of festivals around the country taking place this summer, and monitor the stops along the way with the cheapest gas using these five tips from LifeClever, a blog with tips for design and life.

…Organize your Workspace

Whether it is an office on campus, at home, or at another location, chances are it could use some organization. Use your workspace overhaul as an opportunity to make your working and studying hours more productive with these ten tips for keeping your desk clean and tidy from LifeClever. A good workspace could even have positive health benefits—see how to set up a healthy, usable workspace in this post from Lifehacker.

…Destress your Life

This one is particularly useful after a rigorous round of finals or comps. Although few of us are lucky enough to have time off from work and classes simultaneously, there are still things to do that can help you feel mentally refreshed and ready to take on another semester. Texas Women's University offers 52 Stress Reducers by way of this Lifehacker blog post. There is also a stress management clinic at Mizzou run by the Counseling Center and, of course, don't overlook the power of a little self-indulgence (spa treatment or massage, anyone?) here in town.

How to Land an Assistantship or Fellowship

I see assistantships and fellowships as the ultimate windfall. Maybe it's because I love my own assistantship, but it's also nice to receive a tuition waiver and a stipend. It's the ideal situation. So how do you get in on the deal? I'll tell you—but first let me give you a little background.

Definition of Assistantships and Fellowships

Both assistantships and fellowships are appointments given to graduate students for the purpose of professional development and financial assistance. An appointment might consist of teaching, research, or assisting in an array of activities on campus. Students who work 10–20 hours per week (.25 and .50 full time employees, or FTE) at a qualifying assistantship or fellowship receive a tuition fee waiver, and students also receive a stipend for their work.

How to Land an Assistantship or Fellowship

Academic programs generally hand out assistantships to incoming students based on the students' qualifications and availability of positions. However, all is not lost if you're not offered a position upon entering grad school. HireMizzouGrads.com is a good place to search for available assistantships. Asking around is a good idea, too: let your career services, program office staff and faculty know you're looking for an appointment and they'll likely have you in mind if something comes up. I found my assistantship through a journalism alumni list serve (my undergraduate degree is from the J-School), so don't forget to put the word out in your professional networking groups as well.

How to Keep an Assistantship or Fellowship

Of course, it's not a matter of finding a position and cruising on through with a fee waiver until you graduate. There are requirements regarding minimum GPA, academic progress, and a maximum number of semesters you may receive a tuition waiver. Visit the Graduate School Catalog to learn about specific stipulations, as well as benefits, that apply to assistantships and fellowships.

How Much of a Caffeine Fiend Are You?

The phrases “caffeine fix” and “graduate student” go together like PB&J. Want to find out exactly how much caffeine you're consuming? Head over to the Caffeine Database.

Via Lifehacker

PhD Comics: You Are Not Alone

You might have heard of PhD Comics, but if you haven't, you should check it out. PhD Comics are written by Jorge Cham, a former grad student at Stanford. Over the years he's covered almost every aspect of being a graduate student, from the nutty faculty and living on a stipend to the utter insanity of the whole process. A few of my favorites below.

• High School Reunion
• Undergrad Cooties
• Rankings
• Lost Its Funding

New season, new format

Welcome to Praxis: a blog for Mizzou grad students, published by the Graduate School. We’ve decided to try something new with Praxis — instead of creating a new issue of the online newsletter once a semester, as we’ve done in the past, we are switching to a blog format that will enable us to create quicker posts more frequently. We hope you enjoy the new format. We’re excited to keep giving you news and tips that will help you navigate the grad school experience at Mizzou.