• Learn to recognize when you’re feeling anxious and stressed! Make it a practice to check in with yourself every hour or so. Do your muscles feel sore and tense? Have you been jumping from item to item on your to do list without getting anything done? Is your heart pounding? You certainly may be anxious. Now that you recognize it, take a moment out of your day to relax and do something nice for yourself.
• Just breathe! Anna Nalick had it right; deep breathing benefits both your mind and your body. Practicing deep breathing for five minutes a day can have a demonstrable impact on your mental and physical health. Make sure to take those breaths in for a slow count of 4, hold for 1 second and then breathe out for a slow count of 5.
• Schedule, schedule, schedule! Now that you’re in graduate school, it’s likely that you’re juggling the demands of academia, a personal life, and a job or two (or four), scheduling can help to keep you on track. They key to scheduling is to find what works for you. If you’re a techno-savvy computer science guru, a Blackberry might be just the ticket to keep your busy life on track. For the less technically-inclined, a paper planner and a pencil work just as well. They key is to schedule your time before- hand. You’ll feel less stressed knowing where you have to be and when, and you’ll be able to judge at a glance whether you have time to take on additional responsibilities.
• Break larger tasks into smaller ones! Anything might seem insurmountable if you tell yourself you have to do it all at once. Mount Everest cannot be scaled in one shot, nor can theses be written in one all-nighter. Make small, manageable goals that are specific and reasonable. For example, writing 5 pages of your lit review is a manageable and specific goal that is much more reasonable then sitting down to write the entire thing! After you’re finished, pat yourself on the back for a job well-done.
• Learn to say no! As a newly minted graduate student, it will probably feel simultaneously flattering and daunting that so many people are asking for your time. Learning to prioritize the important things and saying no to things that you do not have the time or energy to manage is an important skill that will serve you well both personally and professionally.
• Exercise! Research studies have demonstrated time and again that exercising has many of the same effects in the brain as certain anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medications. So, start training for that marathon now! Wait! That’s not small and manageable! Did you catch that? It’s not necessary to run 10 miles or hit the gym for an hour; simply taking a brisk, 20 minute walk can do wonders for your mood.
• Avoid the avoidance trap! The more anxiety provoking something is, the stronger our natural inclination to avoid it is. The longer you avoid it, the stronger your belief that you will not be able to cope with the situation becomes, and the scarier it feels. Take baby steps to break the avoidance cycle. Walk down that hallway that you’ve been avoiding because you’re afraid of running into your advisor, pay one bill from the stack, then push yourself a little further next time, maybe even duck your head into your advisor’s office and say hello!
• Don’t go it alone! The long hours of often solitary work that are part of graduate school can feel very isolating. Connecting with others is important to maintaining a balance in your life and will also improve your mood. Join an on-campus activity, organize a weekly lunch or dinner for your lab or even just pick up the phone to say hi to a friend.

It’s also important to realize that some anxiety and stress related symptoms may require professional attention. If your anxiety and stress are significantly interfering in your life, if you’re having significant difficulty sleeping or eating or if you believe you would benefit from talking to a professional, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at UCSD is available to you. CAPS offers groups for students who are interested in learning to cope with anxiety, to set and meet goals and many more. Call 858-534-3755 for information about scheduling an individual appointment or visit http://caps.ucsd.edu/#students to find out information about groups that are being offered this quarter.

You are invited to join us in this endeavor. We would work with you in the areas of your expertise as we proceed with our study, including incorporating your research interests where appropriate. SSI will ensure that you will receive regular communications about our activities, and be invited to join us as appropriate. For example, we will be holding technical seminars for inventors and entrepreneurs to present their ideas and explore how they might help us meet our goals.

We will be holding a kick-off event on October 12 from 4 pm – 6 pm at the UCSD Faculty Club’s Atkinson Pavilion, with faculty and students from many departments on campus. There will be short presentations on the overall water crisis, and on the challenges faced by our campus.

The agenda for October 12 is below:

4 pm
Informal networking reception among faculty, students and outside partners

4:30 pm
Presentations from Vice Chancellor of Resource Management and Planning Gary Matthews, SSI Director Professor Paul Linden of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, and Dr. Michael Dettinger from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

If you are available, we would welcome you to join this event. Please RSVP to Michelle Session at msession@ucsd.edu or call (858) 822-2521.

On the schedule this year:

• Open House with UCSD Women in Higher Education Programs and Organizations
• Negotiation Workshop for Science and Industrial Careers
• Seminar with Entrepreneurs in Biotech

If you’d like more information about GradWiSE and WiSE or would like to participate in the events, find us at the Student Organization and Resource Fair (Wednesday, 9/23, 4-6pm) or email gradwise@ucsd.edu

Sports available this quarter include:

***** Indoor Soccer (coed)
***** Volleyball (mens, womens, coed)
***** 3-On-3 Basketball (mens, womens)
If you are interested in playing soccer, volleyball, or basketball this coming quarter, please email Megan at mscott@ece.ucsd.edu by Thursday, September 24th and provide the information listed below (in green).

***** Flag Football (mens, womens, coed)
***** Team Tennis (coed)
***** Dodgeball (coed)
If you are interested in playing football, tennis, or dodgeball this coming quarter, please email Bernadette at villaluz@ece.ucsd.edu by Thursday, September 24th and provide the information listed below (in green).

***** Name
***** PID
***** Phone number for roster
***** Sport(s) you are interested in playing
***** Whether or not you are okay with being a captain

Remember, this is as no cost and is a great way to meet other graduate students in a fun and friendly environment!

Thanks,
ECE Graduate Student Affairs

In response to feedback to the recent Graduate Student Survey administered by the Office of Graduate Studies, the UCSD Express to Success Programs is offering a new 9-week seminar designed specifically for graduate students. This free non-credit seminar will cover a range of topics to help graduate students prepare for presenting their work in a variety of settings, including conferences, job talks and poster sessions. Register for this program online at http://ets.ucsd.edu/registration by Friday, October 2nd at 4pm. For more information, visit the UCSD Express to Success Programs at http://ets.ucsd.edu or call (858) 822-0181.

Most of our consultants use this position to supplement their current TA appointments and generally do not work more than approximately 5% - 8% during a typical quarter.

If you are interested in applying for one of these TAC positions, check the information on the following link. We will arrange interviews with qualified candidates as soon as the application materials are received. If you would like additional information before you prepare your application materials, please call CTD at 858.822.1992. If you have exceeded your support time limits, we regret that we will not be able to consider you for this position.

For more information, please see: http://ctd.ucsd.edu/services/ta_consultant/index.htm

Proceeds from this event will benefit the San Diego Saints Youth Hockey Club, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing opportunities for boys and girls of all backgrounds to play the sport of ice hockey.

A portion of the proceeds will also benefit Outdoor Outreach, a program which empowers at-risk and underprivileged youth to make positive, lasting changes in their lives through comprehensive outdoor programming.

Event info:
San Diego 10K Summer Run
August 29, 2009
7:30 am
Lake Murray Reservoir, La Mesa, CA
www.sandiego10krun.com
San Diego Saints Hockey Club (www.sandiegosaints.com)
Outdoor Outreach (www.outdooroutreach.org)

Cost:
$30 before August 17, includes t-shirt and goody bag
$30 after August 17, no t-shirt included and goody bag not guaranteed
$35 day of race, no t-shirt or goody bag included

Visit event website for more information or search for this event on www.active.com

Department of Childhood Studies
Rutgers University, Camden

The graduate students of the Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University, Camden invite submissions for papers and poster presentations for their first formal graduate student conference on April 9, 2010. Graduate students from all disciplines who are engaged in research relating to children and childhood are encouraged to submit proposals.

The field of childhood studies engages in both theoretical and empirical study of children and childhood within historical, contemporary, interdisciplinary, multi-cultural, state, national, and global contexts. Each combination of perspectives provides new insights into the lives of children and the families, cultures, and societies in which they are embedded. The interdisciplinary nature of the field is one of its greatest strengths and the core of its remarkable potential for scholarly advancement, but also leaves the field open for exploration and interrogation, and its borders difficult, if not impossible, to define.

The Exploring Childhood Studies conference proposes defining Childhood Studies by “doing” childhood studies; the conference will explore the field by offering explorations within it. We seek papers from all disciplines that keep childhood as a construct, children as a category, or the child as a real living human as their central focus, providing critical thought and insight while locating them in different contexts, fields, and ideologies.

In keeping with what we believe is the essential interdisciplinary nature of Childhood Studies, this conference seeks to be interdisciplinary itself. We seek proposals from all disciplines–education, literature, economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, law, political science, history, criminology, philosophy, medicine, religion, film studies, and cultural studies–as well as interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary scholarly work.

The range of open topics within this field is as broad as the contexts of the experiences of children and childhood: war, health, rights, gender, poverty, wealth, policy, ethics, popular culture, globalization, school, family, home, sexuality, community, and representations in all modes of fiction. The field of Childhood Studies itself is open to interrogation.

Selected papers will be grouped into panels that may be based around discipline, theme, or perspective, but will demonstrate the common grounding of the papers in their mutual exploration of children and childhood studies.

Paper presentations should be limited to 20 minutes in length. Please send 250-word abstract for paper or poster presentation (specify which) and cover letter with name, current level of graduate study, affiliated university, and email address to m_modica@vfcc.edu. Include the words “conference abstract” in subject line, and include name on the cover letter only.

For further information about The Exploring Childhood Studies conference, contact: Patrick Cox at ptcox@camden.rutgers.edu or Anandini Dar at anandini@camden.rutgers.edu.

Deadline for submission is October 31, 2009. Accepted presenters will receive email notification by January 10, 2010.

Home to the Department of Childhood Studies and The Center for Children and Childhood Studies, Rutgers-Camden is a leader in the national and international discourse on the state of children and childhood. We are very proud of the fact that Rutgers-Camden is the first and only PhD-granting Department of Childhood Studies in the nation, which has now entered its third year. We look forward to introducing the larger academic community to our fellow students, exemplary faculty and unique program, and to engaging in vigorous and stimulating discussions with our peers throughout academia.

Visit the Department of Childhood Studies here: http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/

Finding the right advisor and maintaining a positive relationship can be one of the most important aspects of your graduate education. Some graduate students believe that problems with your advisor can be fatal to your academic career. Research has demonstrated that the graduate student advisor can have a tremendous influence on the developmental outcome of the graduate student’s personal and professional goals. Additionally, it has been found that graduate students who had favorable mentors in graduate school had more publications, more conference papers, more first authored papers, and were more productive post graduation. Some graduate students “fall” into these very important relationships as a result of automatic assignments, similar research area, or, worst of all, not taking the time to find the best fit. Following are some suggestions to consider in choosing an advisor and subsequently maintaining a healthy relationship.

Choosing an advisor

1. Generate a list of expectations for your advisory relationship.
2. Review your needs and your preferred work style.
   • Look for a good match in your work styles based on your needs in the relationship (e.g. hands on or hands off, bold critiques or nurturing and hand holding).
3. Spend time getting to know the faculty and their work styles.
4. Don’t be in a hurry to settle on an advisor.
5. Hone in on a few candidates and do some research.
   • How long have they been on faculty?
   • What is the average time their graduate students take to complete their degrees?
   • How do advisors feel about graduate students not working on research in their area?
   • How do advisors deal with or perceive time off, vacation, time away from lab?
   • Attend their research seminars and possibly one of their research meetings.
   • Ask if they have TA or RA positions available or ongoing research to get involved with.
   • Read some of their work and some of their students’ work.
   • Audit some of their lectures or an entire class if possible.
   • Talk to other graduate students and look for the preponderance of evidence in one direction or the other.
   • And, any other implicit rules that the advisor has for graduate students.
6. If possible, find an advisor who is doing high quality research in your area of interest.
7. Look for an advisor who will serve as a mentor and as a source of technical assistance.
8. Look for good teaching and communication skills.
9. Identify an advisor who actively markets/champions their students.
   • Introduces their graduate students to visiting speakers.
   • Invites their graduate students to conferences and introduces them to colleagues.
   • Expresses willingness to include their graduate students on grants.
   • Encourages their graduate students to write and submit papers.
10. Remember, it is always possible to change. Not ideal, but possible.

These suggestions may feel tedious and time consuming, however, graduate students who have had negative advisor-advisee relationships would agree that taking the time to choose the right advisor would have saved them countless headaches and immeasurable stress. A structure that has been used in some departments is rotations that give each student a sample experience of working with the advisor. This trial period was helpful with some students discovering they didn’t want to work with faculty whose work they had been attracted to because of the advisor’s style. This sample experience was more difficult to arrange although not impossible in the humanities and social sciences. Serving as a teaching assistant to a professor might provide some of the same results.

Once you have taken the time to find the right advisor for you, half the battle is over. Maintaining a positive relationship with your advisor is an ongoing process. While the relationship may require time you don’t think you have, a positive relationship with your advisor can mean the difference between satisfaction and dissatisfaction with your program. Following are some tips for maintaining a positive relationship with your advisor.

Tips for a positive advisor-advisee relationship

1. Discuss expectations at the outset.
2. Identify goals for your academic career.
3. State and re-state your needs.
4. Take responsibility for the relationship.
5. Attempt to resolve a problem before taking it to the next level.
6. Maintain open communication.
7. Follow up with a written recap of conversations including identified action items.
8. Give each party the benefit of the doubt.
9. Stay solution focused and don’t make it personal.
10. Be aware of the power differential, but do not let it govern the relationship.

Not every graduate student will have a positive relationship with their advisor. Sometimes there is a need for change if the relationship is a poor fit. In the case of a poor fit or a problematic relationship, students can get formal or informal consultation from their department graduate coordinator, other faculty committee members, post doctoral fellows, and/or CAPS staff.

Overall, basic communication and assertiveness skills can be very helpful in managing the relationship with your advisor. Most graduate students never lose site of the power differential in which case the communication and assertiveness can be tempered depending on your comfort level. As stated earlier, however, the power differential does not have to govern the relationship. While this can be an extremely stressful and difficult relationship for some graduate students, most of the time, there is great potential in the advisory relationship.