Special: Election-related Events and Information

Post-Election Events Just for Graduate and Professional Students and Postdocs

The 2020 U.S. election cycle has been historically divisive. Many people, including graduate students and postdocs, suffer from elevated stress, concern, and anxiety. The Graduate School and our partners are offering programs to support the mental health and well-being of community members during what continues to be an extraordinary and unprecedented time.

Post-Election Mental Health Check-In

Join us for conversations about personal and community impacts and discuss strategies that support mental health.

• Wednesday, November 4 at 4:00 p.m.
• Thursday, November 5 at 10:00 a.m.
• Friday, November 6 at 12:00 p.m.

Coping with 2020: Resiliency for International Scholars

Monday, November 9 at 11:00 a.m. — Register

Best practices for prioritizing your health and well-being, understanding the importance of community, and discovering how to strengthen your resiliency.

Other upcoming sessions include:

• Back to Basics: Self-Care 101 Refresher (November 16)
• Strategies for Managing Post-Election Anxiety – Individually and Collectively (November 19)
• CAPS-led Workshop – Understanding and Maintaining Motivation (November 20)
• The Importance of Meaning-Making During Uncertainty (November 30)
• It’s Complicated: Family and Friends and Differences (December 4)

Learn more and register.

Campus-wide Election Events

Elect and Reflect: Meditation and Reflection for Election 2020
Special online support spaces on November 3 & November 4

Feeling anxious about the election? Throughout Election Day and the following day, “Let’s Meditate” guides, CURW Chaplains, and members of the Dean of Students team will host 15-minute online reflections/meditations to help you calm anxiety, find comfort, and support your mental and spiritual well-being.

Special Wellness Workshops: Coping with Election Week

The upcoming election is stressful for many of us. Cornell Wellness is hosting daily events to help you cope with physical, mental, and emotional strain during the first week of November.

Workshops will include:

• Meditation for Riding Out the Storm: Tuesday, November 3, 9:00 a.m.
• De-Stress Desk Stretches: Wednesday, November 4, 12:00 p.m.
• Meditation for Acceptance: Thursday, November 5, 12:00 p.m.
• Compassion Meditation: Friday, November 6, 1:00 p.m.

Additional Events 

• What Happened and What’s Next? An Analysis of the 2020 Election: Thursday, November 5, 7:00 p.m.
• Post-Election DACA Debrief: Friday, November 6, 4:30 p.m.
• How Students Can Get Involved and Make Meaningful Changes: Thursday, November 12, 7:00 p.m.

For a complete listing, visit Cornell’s events calendar.

Resources

For teaching assistants:

• IDP 2020 Election Guide: Best practices when discussing emotionally heavy topics that impact differently across social identity groups
• Teaching during the U.S. Election: One page resource from the Center for Teaching Innovation

For all students:

• Cornell Votes Canvas Course: Non-partisan information about the U.S. election

News

Over 50 Students Recognized at Fourth Annual Dean’s Scholars Pinning Ceremony

In a typical year, Dean’s Scholars gather for an in-person pinning ceremony. New scholars line up, side-by-side, and wait for continuing scholars to adorn them with the pin presented to all Dean’s Scholars.

This year, the process worked a little differently. Students received their ceremonial pins by mail and, on the evening of October 21, joined a Zoom meeting where they were formally recognized as Dean’s Scholars as they pinned themselves.

Read the full story

New for Grads

Updates for Fall/Winter Travel

As you plan for the Thanksgiving and winter holidays please carefully consider whether travel is safe or wise this year. COVID numbers are surging in many parts of the U.S. and the world. Students who plan to travel MUST register their plans with Cornell via Daily Check and comply with all New York State and university requirements for return. Consider the following factors before making your plans:

• Will your travel have any impacts on your academic or assistantship duties? Discuss your plans with your advisor. Have a back-up plan in case your return to campus is delayed by travel restrictions or other disruptions.
• Know the New York State requirements for re-entering the state. Most travelers will need to fill out the traveler health form and complete 14 days of quarantine (changed to 10-day quarantine on 1/6/21) or use the newly-announced process for testing out of the 14-day quarantine (changed to 10-day quarantine on 1/6/21) by taking one test before travel and a second negative COVID test after four days of quarantine.
• Before returning to campus, you must have two negative COVID surveillance tests after your travel.
• Check out these new FAQs on the fall end-of-semester checklist.

End-of-Semester Checklist

All students – whether remote or living in the Ithaca area – must complete the end-of-semester checklist no later than 11:59 p.m. on Friday, November 13. If your plans change you can sign back into the checklist and update your records accordingly.

The form will be open to edit until November 29. An FAQ has been added to the Daily Check portal with more information about the checklist.

Spring 2021 Research Travel and In Absentia Status

The Graduate School will consider requests for essential spring-semester research travel. All requests for research travel must be made using the General Petition form. Students who are approved, and who wish to travel to an international destination, must also register trip travel with the Cornell Travel Registry.

Students who wish to be considered for in absentia status for the spring 2021 semester may contact Graduate School Student Services at gradstudserv@cornell.edu.

Daily Decision Expands Low-cost Parking Options

Transportation Services piloted the Daily Decision program in August 2020, giving commuters access to low-cost, short-term options to meet occasional parking needs. This program, using the Parkmobile app, provides community members greater flexibility than a traditional annual or semester permit, coupled with the convenience of contactless self-service.

Due to the overwhelming requests from faculty, staff, and students, we have expanded the program to additional parking lots. This expansion allows commuters to manage their mobility needs based on their work and class schedules, the weather, personal circumstances, or other factors that may change from one day to the next.

Less expensive Parkmobile zones include University Avenue, Teaching and Research Barns, Dwyer Dam Lot, B Lot (Vet College), Peterson Lot (Tower Road), Morrison Lot (north), and Alumni Field. View the map for a list of lots and corresponding prices.

Visit the Daily Decision page to learn more about parking options, prices, and locations, and visit Parkmobile.io to download the app, create an account, and park.

Let Your Voice Be Heard

Mental Health Review – Deadline for Feedback Nov. 8

All members of the campus community are invited to provide feedback on recommendations outlined in the Final Report from Cornell’s year-long Mental Health Review. Community members can help prioritize recommendations as well as enter feedback to inform changes made to the academic and social environments and clinical services at Cornell. The feedback form is available until midnight on Sunday, November 8.

Inclement Weather Policy – Deadline for Feedback Nov. 5

All faculty and TAs are asked to review this Draft Inclement Weather Policy for F20 and S21. Comments can be posted on that webpage and should be received before Thursday, November 5.

Code of Conduct – Deadline for Feedback Nov. 17

The University Assembly (UA) is requesting feedback from the Cornell community on proposed revisions to a new Student Code of Conduct; the deadline for submitting feedback is Tuesday, November 17.

Students and Alumni

Alumnus Spotlight: Aaron Joiner, Ph.D.

Aaron Joiner, Ph.D. ’20, is a recent alumnus of the biochemistry, molecular, and cell biology program at Cornell, from which he holds a doctorate. Having successfully defended his dissertation over Zoom, he will be going to UC-Berkeley for a position as a postdoctoral researcher.

Read the full alumnus spotlight

Interested in what other alumni have accomplished since leaving Cornell?

Check out our alumni spotlights, Q&As with former students about their current work, experiences, and skills learned at Cornell.

Kudos!

Doctoral Candidate Awarded Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellowship

Cameron Mailhot, a doctoral candidate in government, has been awarded a Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellowship from the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) for his outstanding dissertation on Peace Processes: “Blueprints for Peace: International Missions, Domestic Commitments, and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding Reforms.”

Cornell Team Wins Second Place in Launchpad Startup Weekend Competition

Food Postal Service, an initiative that aims to recycle food waste and covert it to biogas more efficiently, won second place in a Launchpad Startup Weekend competition. The team included Cornell doctoral candidate Elvis Cao, doctoral student Xu Liu, and senior Danielsen Bernadel.

Psychology Doctoral Student Receives Jenessa Shapiro Graduate Research Award

Mikaela Spruill, a doctoral student in psychology, was selected as a 2020 Jenessa Shapiro Graduate Research Award recipient by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

Doctoral Candidate Receives Award for Dissertation Proposal

Piyush Anand, a doctoral candidate in management with a concentration in marketing, received the 2020 INFORMS Marketing Science Society Dissertation Award for his dissertation proposal: “Smoke and Mirrors: Impact of E-Cigarette Taxes on Underage Social Media Posting”. This dissertation award recognizes the best doctoral dissertation proposals on important topics in marketing science, and Piyush will be honored during the 2021 ISMS Doctoral Consortium preceding the Marketing Science conference.

Doctoral Alumna Featured During #BlackinCardioWeek

Stephanie Lindsey, M.S. ’13, Ph.D. ’16 was featured during #BlackinCardioWeek for her work on cardiovascular development and pediatric cardiology. Lindsey is a postdoc at Stanford University and incoming assistant professor at the University of California San Diego.

Cornell Team Wins First Place at She Has a Deal Pitch Competition

Team Datcher of the Cornell Baker Program of Real Estate won first place in the inaugural She Has a Deal (SHaD) Hotel Investment Pitch Competition on October 24 sponsored by Marriott and Hilton. Team members included Joanne Angbazo, M.P.S. (R.E.) ’20, Kristen Collins, M.P.S. (R.E.)/M.R.P. ’20, and Lera Covington, M.P.S. (R.E.)/M.R.P. ’20. Their winning proposal was an adaptive reuse autograph collection hotel project in downtown Detroit.