Fall 2024 PhD Program Updates
September 3, 2024
Welcome back everyone to the first official day of classes for the fall 2024 semester! Here are some brief updates for members of the PhD Program, summarized with links below for ease of navigation.
As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or support needs, or if you have kudos you’d like to share with the wider program!
Wishing you all an excellent start to the academic year, and thank you for all that you do to support the students and this community of scholars and practice.
Warmly,
Rae
1. New PhD Cohort!
We welcomed 6 new and dynamic PhD students to the program during orientation last week. Hailing from (or with roots in) the U.S., Malawi, Ghana, and Egypt, each of them brings an important perspective and set of lived experiences that will inform their work here in the program. I am super excited about this cohort – if you haven’t had a chance to meet them yet, I encourage you to introduce yourself!
Pictured from left to right: Elestina Gondoloni; Rawan Ebrahim; Raymond Akorlatse; Judy Peña; Robin Walsh; Karen Meade
2. Save the Date: UMass Nursing PhD 5 Campus Conference – Tuesday, Sept 17
This annual conference will be held in 2 weeks on Tuesday, September 17, at the UMass Medical campus in Worcester and online. We’ve asked faculty to please cancel classes on this date so students can attend the conference. Please save the date! As always, students & faculty/advisors are encouraged to carpool to the Worcester campus (unless you are attending online). All materials including an event flyer & directions can be found here: 5 Campus Meeting Fall 2024
a. Registration: Please register for the conference by Sept 12 at the following link: https://bit.ly/3XqFXyS
b. Student & Alumni representatives: This year PhD candidate Khadijat Adeleye will represent current doctoral students on the graduate student panel, and alum Dr. Nellipher (“Nellie”) Lewis Mchenga will represent our campus on the alumni panel. Please come to hear their experiences & cheer them on!
c. Seeking Faculty volunteers for Networking-On-The-Fly (In-person and Online!): Join us for an opportunity to share your research and scholarly initiatives with PhD Nursing Students at the UMass 5-Campus Nursing PhD Student and Faculty Forum. We will have a 60-minute session starting at 1:30p, in which students will move to a new faculty person every 5 minutes to hear about their primary research interest and scholarly initiatives. This is an opportunity for students to expand their networks and for faculty to potentially identify students with like interests. If interested and able to participate please send your name to Ling Shi (Ling.Shi@umb.edu) by September 9th and indicate if you will be in person in Worcester or online via zoom for this session. Provide 2-3 sentences highlighting your research interests.
3. Reminder: PhD Program Staff Contact
As a reminder, the PhD program assistant is now Dorian Pariseau (DPariseau@UMass.edu). Please update your contacts to ensure Dorian is your primary staff contact. Lynn Yovina, who was previously in this role, is no longer with the college although she continues to receive emails from our department (!!) so your assistance in making this update is greatly appreciated!
4. PhD Advisor Handbook
Since last year we’ve continued to build upon our Nursing PhD Student Advisor Handbook! You can access these materials via OneDrive at:
5. Graduate School Mentoring Workshops
The Graduate School continues to offer its research mentor workshops – now in 2 varieties!:
· Research Mentor Training (next training starts 9/27!)
· Culturally Aware Training (next training expected around January)
These trainings are strongly encouraged (and required for some advisors of students on particular types of funding support, such as REAL Fellows). Learn more about upcoming trainings and their dates here: https://www.umass.edu/graduate/resources-faculty-and-staff/research-mentor-training
6. Travel Grants
The Graduate School has significantly reduced its disbursement for travel funds to individual programs. That being said, we have a vested interest in our doctoral students’ success and want to see them present their work, whenever possible. At present, requests for travel assistance will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, as our budget allows. We cannot guarantee travel support but we will continue to do what we can, where we can, as equitably as we can. As always, if there is a grant or other funding to support a students’ travel, we strongly encourage students to pursue those options first, as this frees up what funding we do have for students who lack access to such options, and those who face significant financial hurdles related to travel. Last year allocations of this nature did not typically exceed ~$350 per student who received funding, which is a ballpark for what it costs to sponsor student attendance at ENRS. Students who wish to apply for travel funding should send their requests to me, with a brief explanation (500 words or less) of the conference & budget breakdown (what the funds will be used for), the nature of the presentation(s) to be given (poster/paper/panelist/etc), any other support the student will receive from the advisor or other sources to underwrite their travel, and/or any travel scholarships or other funds the student has applied for to underwrite these costs. (Please note: additional sources of support such as advisor support or applications for travel scholarships are viewed favorably!!).
7. Nursing PhD Program Website
MANY of our common forms, information, links and resources can be found at one one-stop-shop website. Please be sure to bookmark this address!!:
https://sites.google.com/view/umass-nursing-phd/home