Goals

The primary goal of your departmental programming is to provide your incoming graduate students with a clear understanding of what their professional and academic lives will be like as graduate students in your department.

The departmental program is an opportunity to:

• introduce new students (including part-time and non-funded) to members of the faculty, continuing graduate students, and support staff;
• familiarize students with departmental procedures and facilities;
• provide students on assistantships with information regarding their assistantship responsibilities;
• provide students with information about their teaching assignments, the professors they will be working with, and to acquaint them with research responsibilities; and
• share information concerning academic requirements and registration information.

Deadlines

April 24, 2^nd DL Meeting
Submit a draft Departmental Programming and your first letter to your students to your GradSTEP coordinator. The draft must be initialed by your Graduate Coordinator or appropriate department contact. The draft must indicate the time and location of your first departmental meeting with incoming students (see bullets below for room reservation assistance). Unless your department requires your new students to arrive on campus earlier in the summer, the first meeting should be held on Monday, August 18^th at 10:30am.

• to schedule the use of a classroom or meeting room within your department you will make these arrangements with your graduate secretary.
• If you need to request a room that is not within your department you will need to contact Event Planning at 372-9000.
  
  Please note that any charges for rooms or equipment in the Union must be charged to your department, not GradSTEP, so be sure to clear these with your department secretary first.

May 22, 3^rd DL Meeting
Submit 2 copies of your final Departmental Programming and draft of your second letter. The final schedule must be signed by your Department Chair or Graduate Coordinator!

June 12, 4^th DL meeting
At the June meeting we will be assembling packets of information to be distributed to your Graduate Coordinator, Graduate Secretary, Department Chair, and any late admitted incoming students. Each packet will include the GradSTEP Sessions Guide and pre-registration instructions, a copy of your departmental programming schedule, and the second letter to your students. These materials will also be available online.

Final Departmental Programming Schedule Must Include

• The time and location of your first meeting on Monday, August 18th;
• The date, time, and location of each departmental activity for the week.
• List key participants in each activity (i.e., faculty, staff, continuing graduate students). A handy checklist is provided for you later in this section.

NOTE: Any changes you make in your final Departmental Programming plan after it has been submitted MUST be approved by the Department Chair and Graduate Coordinator and submitted to Barbara Peck as soon as possible. All changes must be submitted prior to August 4th.

A template for your departmental program schedule is available for downloading from the GradSTEP webpage.

DO NOT FORGET! Give a copy of these packets to your Graduate Secretary, Graduate Coordinator, Department Chair, and any faculty or guests that you have scheduled.

Where to start?

1. Download the template from the web or use a design of your own selection.

2. Review your department's 2007 departmental program schedule for activities to include or revise

3. Meet with Your Program Coordinator as soon as possible to:

• Discuss departmental programming goals.
• Find out specific training/testing activities required by your department.
• Find out when your new students arrive on campus (some departments start their students as early as June).
• Determine how and when your students should register for their fall semester classes.
• Discuss assistantship assignments.
• Determine how departmental activities will vary for students carrying different assistantship assignments (teaching, research, administration).
• Schedule activities for non-funded and part-time students.
• Find out as much as you can about your students backgrounds and experiences.

4. Obtain Feedback

If possible, contact last year's Development Leader and gather feedback about previous programming. Some departments have end of the week evaluations, review them if available.

5. Solicit Ideas

Solicit ideas from Development Leaders in other departments, from graduate students in your department, and department faculty. Think about what types of departmental activities were especially helpful to you when you went through GradSTEP; also think about what would have been beneficial but was not included in your departmental programming. Try to incorporate these ideas into your Departmental Programming schedule.

6. Review the on-line Departmental Programming Activities Guide

A helpful Departmental Programming Guide is available online. The guide is organized with each day titled according to its suggested programming theme. Overall, the topics are not intended to represent steadfast solutions. Rather, the suggested topics are meant to be flexible -- to meet the needs and special interests of each department. The aim of this guide is to enhance department-level programming by synthesizing information from past GradSTEP participant evaluations, graduate assistant experiences, and instructional supervisor interviews.

7. Here are some ideas that other DLs have used in the past:

Monday (10:30-3:30)

• Be sure to include your part-time and non-funded students. They may be next in line for an assistantship and are still a part of your department so keep them involved.
• Conduct an informal "ice-breaker" session to give students a chance to get to know you and the other students and faculty in your department. Barb has a book called "More Games Trainers Play" that has some great ideas.
• Personnel introductions
• Give an overview of the week's events
• Discuss any special testing requirements and when students should register for classes.
• Inform students about how to: obtain parking permits, where are the good parking locations, obtain office keys, access MyBgsu to view their pay checks, locate computer labs, access the Student Rec Center, get tickets for sporting events, locate Instructional Media Center, locate Stampers for Post Office and duplication services.
• Arrange for tours of department offices and your building, campus, downtown BG.

Tuesday (12:00 - 5:00)

• Schedule a meeting with the Department Chair and Graduate Coordinator(s) to welcome the students, discuss departmental procedures and requirements. Outline rules, regulations and policies.
• Discuss any "unwritten" rules and regulations.
• Meet with the department's support staff and clarify office procedures (arrange for office assignments, obtain supplies, keys, etc.).
• Distribute and explain materials such as departmental student handbooks.
• Begin detailed TA / RA/ AA training -- conduct a group discussion about assistantship responsibilities or schedule individual meetings with the faculty member to whom TAs/RAs will be assigned.
• Conduct testing or class registration or set up individual meetings with faculty advisors to discuss course selection. Students must be registered for their classes no later than Wednesday of GradSTEP week!!  Also, remind students that they need to have their I-9 completed in the Graduate College by Wednesday or their paycheck will be delayed.

Throughout the rest of the week

• Set up individual meetings with faculty members to discuss research interests, responsibilities, and opportunities.
• Meet with returning graduate students and discuss life as a graduate student, workload, course requirements, study strategies, etc. General Questions & Answers period.
• Arrange a micro-teaching session to help students get a feel for being in front of the class. This should be geared specifically for teaching in the student's discipline. A guide for conducting a micro-teaching session can be found here. These work best when the professor that will be working with the TA or RA is also present.
• Plan activities with other department's development leaders so group members become acquainted with graduate students from different disciplines (i.e., a brownbag lunch on interdisciplinary or professional organizations).
• Plan an informal social event and invite all department members and continuing graduate students (coffee hour, wine and cheese reception, party, dinner meeting). Any costs associated with such activities are the responsibility of the hosting department. Please check with your department secretary for budget information before making any catering arrangements.
• Plan activities that will be beneficial to both funded and non-funded students.  Also, make sure to include training and activities for students with different types of assistantships - not just teaching.

Finally

• Conduct an end-of-the-week survey to gather information about the success of the week and your departmental programming activities. Ask students for suggestions for next year's programming.

Things to pay attention to when putting the schedule together

1. Pay attention to the times available to the departmental programming

It is important to our participants that you schedule departmental activities during GradSTEP week only during those times that do not conflict with the GradSTEP sessions. This is to ensure that participants will not run into any difficulties in completing their University requirements of 12 session hours.

On Friday, August 22nd, 9:00 - 10:30 AM, all DLs are to attend a debriefing meeting in 201 of the Union to go over the events of the week, to verify attendance for students in your department, and to discuss any concerns or comments regarding the DL training meetings.

If you run into any problems with scheduling around University sessions please contact Kyle Holody at 372-8566 or Barbara Peck at 372-7714.

Some departments meet with their students prior to GradSTEP week. These activities may be included on your departmental program schedule. However, on the dates of August 19, 20, and 21, please do not schedule departmental activities during the designated GradSTEP session times.

2. Review GradSTEP Sessions

Before finalizing your departmental programming, review GradSTEP sessions. The preliminary GradSTEP sessions list will be posted on GradSTEP's website by May 22.

If your department is scheduling training on the same topic as a GradSTEP session make sure to notify your students not to sign up for those specific sessions in the morning and encourage them to sign up for something different. For example, Human Subjects full training is offered as a GradSTEP session so this will free up time in your departmental schedule. If you require your students to obtain this training please be sure to let them know to register for this GradSTEP session in your second letter or email.

3. Use this handy checklist to mark off items as you develop your departmental schedule.