VCU Sociology Graduate Student Wiki

Welcome the department's graduate student wiki! This is a living, breathing document for all things SOCY grad student.  This wiki serves as your primary graduate student handbook. In the wiki style, you are invited to make constructive edits to the material listed on this site. Current faculty and graduate students are all editors on this wiki. If you are unable to edit for any reason please reach out to socygrad@vcu.edu.

We ask that you honor the basic structure of the pages and only update with new and important information that is useful to new and continuing students.

Health and Basic Needs Resources

(from Victor Chen's syllabi)

I urge any student experiencing personal difficulties that may affect their performance in class (including mental health issues, trouble affording groceries or housing, or challenges related to Covid) to reach out for support. Below are some resources.

24/7 crisis support:

▪         VCU University Counseling Services: If you are experiencing a mental health emergency and want to speak with a crisis clinician, call 804-828-6200 day or night. To schedule an appointment, call 804-828-6200, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; counseling.vcu.edu, uccounseling@vcu.edu; University Student Commons, 907 Floyd Ave., Suite 238

▪         National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: (800) 273-TALK / (800) 273-8255 (en español: 888-628-9454), suicidepreventionlifeline.org

▪         Crisis Text Line: Text "START" to 741-741, crisistextline.org

▪         EmpowerNet Hotline (24/7, domestic or sexual violence): (804) 612-6126 (call or text), empowernetva.org

Food/housing insecurity:

▪         Hunger Hotline run by Feed More (Richmond area food bank and community kitchen): (804) 521-2500, feedmore.org/find-food/help-for-today

▪         Ram Pantry (VCU’s volunteer-run food pantry): (804) 828-4514, dos.vcu.edu/services/ram-pantry; rampantry@vcu.edu; University Student Commons, 907 Floyd Avenue, 1st Floor, Room 121

▪         Homeward (homeless services in greater Richmond region): Homeless Connection Line (804-972-0813), or see their “Street Sheets” for local services, homewardva.org/get-help 

Also, please see the links in the Managing stress section of the university’s syllabus statement (http://go.vcu.edu/syllabus), which I have pasted below:

Students may experience situations or challenges that can interfere with learning and interpersonal functioning including stress, anxiety, depression, alcohol and/or other drug use, concern for a friend or family member, loss, sleep difficulties, feeling hopeless or relationship problems. There are numerous campus resources available to students including University Counseling Services (804-828-6200 MPC Campus, 804-828-3964 MCV Campus) which provides brief therapy treatment, University Student Health Services (MPC 804 828-8828, MCV Campus 804 828-9220) and the Department of Recreation & Well-Being (RecWell) (804-828-9355). 24 hour emergency mental health support is available by calling (804) 828-6200 or utilizing the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (dial 988).

Emergencies

Staying Safe During an Active Shooter Event

Editing these pages

Faculty and students should feel free to edit or add to this site (https://sites.google.com/vcu.edu/socygrads) in order to provide others with information or resources. All faculty and graduate students have the ability to edit these pages (if not, contact a faculty member, all of whom are able to give you editing privileges; they should follow the instructions below on how to make someone an editor). 

To edit a page, make sure you are logged into your VCU Google account and then visit the page you wish to edit. An Edit icon should appear in the lower right-hand corner of the page. Otherwise, go to sites.google.com and log in with your VCU Google account. If you have been added as an editor on the site, you should see it listed below or in the menu option for Sites (if not, ask a faculty member to be added as an editor). Important note: The editing view for this site is different from the reading view and a bit more difficult to navigate; you should go directly to https://sites.google.com/vcu.edu/socygrads if you want to read content on the site. Also, any edits you make to the site will not go live until you click on the Publish button at the top of the page.

Google has a tutorial for adding content to a page. If you want to add a new section of content to a page, double-click on the place where you want to add that section, and then click on the Tt (text) option. A new text block will be created, which you can then move up or down by clicking and dragging on the dotted bars to the left of the text block. Note that there are different options for normal text and headings that you can select in the drop-down menu when editing text. You can embed videos or Google Docs or Sheets by clicking on the Embed and Drive options, respectively, which are located in the right sidebar (under the Insert tab). Remember that any edits you make will not go live until you click on Publish at top.

Making someone an editor on the site

To give a faculty member or student editing privileges, click on the Edit icon in the lower right-hand corner of any page of the site (as described above, make sure you are logged into your VCU Google account). Click on the Share icon at the top of the page. In the Add people and groups field at the top, enter the email address for that person. Make sure Editor is selected in the drop-down menu. In the text box below, write a message for the person to let them know they have been given editing privileges. Then click on the Send button. They will be added as an editor on the site.