From the Registrar

Fall 2020 Enrollment & Important Dates

• September 16: Add deadline
• September 18: Last day to register without a late registration fee

Checking Registration Status and Holds

To check your registration status, log into Student Essentials and view your “Registration Status” at the top of the page. If you are registered, your Registration Status will state “Registered” with a green checkmark. If the green checkmark is not present there may be a hold on your record preventing registration. There are several types of holds that may be placed on a student’s record. Holds that prevent university registration require immediate attention. Click on “more information” for complete details including steps on how to resolve a hold.

Course Enrollment Reminder

All research master’s and Ph.D. students have been automatically enrolled for 12 credits in a research course by the Graduate School each academic semester. Below are the GRAD courses and the population each is used for.

• GRAD 9010 Graduate-Level Research – pre-candidacy Ph.D. students
• GRAD 9011 Doctoral Dissertation Research – post-candidacy Ph.D. students
• GRAD 9012 Master’s Thesis Research – research master’s students
• GRAD 9000 Non-Degree Study – non-degree students
• GRAD 8000 In Absentia – in absentia students

Students should enroll in field-specific research course offerings with their faculty during the Add period in addition to the GRAD course. At the end of the Drop period the Graduate School will adjust the number of credits in the GRAD course to balance to a minimum of 12 credits. The credit hours for the GRAD course cannot be adjusted prior to this and the course cannot be dropped.

Report Behavioral Compact Concerns Through Online Form

The Cornell Compact Compliance Team (C3T) is asking all members of the Cornell community who observe violations of the Compact and want to report them to the C3T to do so using the online reporting tool.

Severe, pervasive, and/or repeated violations that could have long-term consequences for a student are forwarded to the Office of the Judicial Administrator (OJA). The OJA uses a highly structured process that includes a full right of appeals.

Upcoming Events and Resources for New Students

Upcoming Transitions Workshops – Learn about mentoring, funding, time management, responsible conduct of research, and navigating relationships.

• Getting the Mentoring You Need and Want in Graduate School: Wednesday, September 9 at 10:00 a.m.
• Maximizing Your Every Minute: Thursday, September 10 at 4:00 p.m.
• Understanding Doctoral Funding at Cornell: Monday, September 14 at 4:00 p.m.
• Serious Scholarship and Responsible Conduct of Research: Thursday, September 17 at 10:00 a.m.
• Navigating Relationships and the Environment as a Graduate or Professional Student: Monday, September 21 at 4:00 p.m.

Upcoming Big Red Barn Graduate and Professional Student Center Events – Attend a social mixer and take part in icebreaker activities to meet new and current students. All events will be online.

• Virtual Crafts: DIY T-Shirt Bags: Thursday, September 10 at 9:00 a.m.
• Virtual Origami Night: Wednesday, September 16 at 8:00 p.m.

New Information in the Orientation Hub

• Not Anymore Program – Interpersonal violence prevention program. Required for all students.
  • Note: On the Account Set Up page, you should see your name and NetID. To verify, click “Create Account”. Then, begin the program.

Additional Resources

• Graduate School Orientation Hub
• Cornell Library’s Orientation Website
• Cornell Health Fall 2020 Programming
• CTI Teaching Assistant Online Orientation

Please note: To view Orientation materials on Canvas, you must first activate your NetID.

Visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The Lab of Ornithology, located at 159 Sapsucker Woods Road in Ithaca, offers a variety of trails for visitors to explore. Guests can visit the Lab of Ornithology website for more information on bird identification, outdoor activities, and navigating trails.

Photo by Associate Dean Jan Allen.

Two Doctoral Candidates Named Borlaug Scholars

 
Jenna Hershberger and Ella Taagen, doctoral candidates in plant breeding, are among 10 graduate students nationwide who’ve been selected as National Association of Plant Breeders Borlaug Scholars.

The Borlaug Scholars program aims to enhance the plant breeding profession by providing each scholar with funding to attend the annual NAPB meeting. Each student is also paired with a NAPB member, who serves as their mentor.

Read the Borlaug Scholars story

In-person or Online, Cornell’s Summer Research Internships Prove Successful

The COVID-19 pandemic halted plans to host annual on-campus summer research experiences for undergraduates from institutions across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Cornell faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate student mentors, however, quickly pulled together to shift course and move these programs online, allowing about 90 undergraduates to experience virtual research at Cornell.

The internships aim to introduce eligible undergraduates, many of whom come from backgrounds underrepresented in academia, to the nation’s top research universities. Student participants receive faculty and graduate student guidance over an eight- to 10-week period, during which they perform graduate-level research and participate in professional development programming.

Read the REU story

Eight Motivational Tips for Dissertation Writing

By Elisa Modolo, instructional assistant professor of Italian and director and coordinator of basic Italian language at the University of Mississippi

Writing a dissertation is a grueling process that does not just require academic prowess, an excellent writing style, and mastery of a very specific area of knowledge. It also demands discipline (in setting a writing schedule), perseverance (in keeping that schedule), and motivation (to get the writing done and the project completed).

So, if you need additional motivation in these trying times, maybe a practice I followed when writing my own dissertation can help. I call it Motivational Post-it: a series of brief slogans to write on Post-it notes and put all over your desk or workstation, so you can see them every time you sit down to work.
Read the Inside Higher Ed essay

ProQuest Dissertations Bootcamp eLearning Companions

Completing a dissertation or thesis is a significant effort in the best of times, but especially so as students may be required to work away from research tools and faculty support. ProQuest’s Dissertations Bootcamp eLearning Companions are self-driven digital learning experiences designed to help fill that gap.

Developed in collaboration with Jan Allen, Graduate School associate dean for academic and student affairs, the courses can help graduate students in achieving key milestones on their dissertation or thesis journey. Access these modules.

Hybrid Library for the Hybrid Semester

Cornell University Library will be providing a combination of remote and on-site services for a safe and academically successful fall.
 
Research help and consultations with our friendly and knowledgeable librarians are online, and so is a large percentage of our collections and services. Access to the physical collections and laptops can be arranged for contactless pickup via advance requests.
 
Also coming soon: socially-distanced quiet study seats and academic support rooms by reservation in several library locations and appointments for researchers needing physical access to on-site collections.

As services are being added regularly to our roster, please check our updates and FAQ often and sign up to get email notifications for when updates are added.

Cornell Community Conversation on Race and Labor in America – Discussion of “13th”, the Documentary

September 10, 2020, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. 

The Cornell University community is invited to a discussion of director Ava DuVernay’s award-winning documentary, “13th”. All community members are invited to watch the film (available for free streaming on Netflix and Youtube) prior to the discussion. There will be closed captioning for this event.

The conversation will discuss the film along with the following articles:

• Michele Goodwin: The Thirteenth Amendment: Modern Slavery, Capitalism, and Mass Incarceration
• Ifeoma Ajunwa and Angela Onwuachi-Willig: Combating Discrimination Against the Formerly Incarcerated on the Labor Market

Budget and Personal Finance Resources

• UCLA’s fellowship database (Searchable database for graduate and postdoc funding)
• CashCourse (Customizable information about personal finances)

Alumna Spotlight: Korie Grayson, Ph.D. ’20

Korie Grayson, Ph.D. ’20, is a recent graduate of the biomedical engineering doctoral program. After attending Norfolk State University as an undergraduate, she chose to pursue further study at Cornell due to its welcoming atmosphere, sense of diverse community, and collaborative nature.

Read the full alumna 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 Alumna Awarded AAAS Fellowship

Kristin Hook, Ph.D. ’16, was recently awarded a 2020-2021 Legislative Science and Technology Policy Fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, sponsored by the American Statistical Association and partnering statistical/mathematical societies.