SASgov Weekly 2/14/2012

SASgov Weekly 2.14.12

I. SASGOV

1.      SCRABBLYMPICS!! Feb 24, 6-9pm in Amado Recital Hall (in Irvine Auditorium, 34 & Spruce).  Form teams of 4 from your department.  Wear team uniforms!  Snacks and drinks. THERE WILL BE A PRIZE of fancy dinner for all 4 members of the team at Bibou, one of Philly.com’s TOP FIVE RESTAURANTS.

         Teams of 4 should register before Feb 10: email Gabe Sessions at gsess@sas.upenn.edu subject line SCRABBLE ME.

2.      Full Circle: From Penn Student to Penn Faculty Career Spotlight: Salamishah Tillet, Ph.D., C'96, G'04, Assistant Professor of English and Africana Studies: Tues Feb 21 at 6pm in Fisher-Bennett Hall Rm 401!

Come hear about Dr. Tillet’s path to teaching in the very departments in which she majored as a student at Penn. Learn how she found her interdisciplinary academic focus, which issues are drawing her much sought-after commentary so far in 2012, and what response she has received since interviewing Gloria Steinem as part of the December 2011 TEDx Women conference.  In 2003, Salamishah and her sister, Scheherazade Tillet, co-founded A Long Walk Home, Inc., a nonprofit that uses art therapy and the visual and performing arts to end violence against girls and women.

Dr. Tillet has appeared on CNN and NPR and is a regular contributor for the Washington Post magazine, The Root. In 2006, Ebony Magazine named her one of America’s top 30 Black leaders under 30 years old. Co-sponsored by Makuu and Umoja in honor of Black History Month.  Please register here now!

3.      Do you tire of lugging your belongings all over Van Pelt?  Do you wish you didn’t have to pack everything up each time you need to step away?  SOLUTION: The library has purchased a dozen Moby units--lockable mobile storage units--that are available for graduate student use in Van Pelt.  Yours for the year, the Mobys live in a newly-renovated study area on the north side of the third floor.  Store anything you want in them, and wheel them anywhere you want in VP!  At the end of the day, return your Moby to its sleeping place in the corral and tuck (lock) it in safely until morning.  To reserve a unit, visit the Van Pelt Circulation Desk.  This is an experiment and all Moby users will be offered a survey at the end of the semester!

4.     Are you interested in presenting your science research to the other science programs at Penn?  The Biomedical Student Research day-long Symposium is your chance!  Posters or oral presentations welcome.  Fri April 13 1-7pm (5-6:30pm is reception!) in the Biomedical Research Building Auditorium/Lobby.  4pm keynote address from Penn alum Dr. James Chung MD/PhD ’95, ’01.  Prizes for talks and posters!  Please register or submit abstracts here, deadline March 16.  Email questions to Shaun O’Brien at obriens@mail.med.upenn.edu.

FOR STUDENTS WITH CHILDREN

5.     Emergency Backup (child) Care is once again available from the FRC!  Full-time students and eligible post-docs with children can receive a maximum of 5 days of backup childcare in 2012, appropriate to use whenever your childcare responsibilities will interfere with your ability to complete academic work and training.  Available in your home, 24hrs, 7 days a week.  Min 4 hours, max of 7 hours, you pay $5 an hour (and $16/hr for each hr over 7).  (care is provided by Parents in a Pinch, Inc.)

II. Graduate Student Center

1.      What’s a great pair?  A wine and cheese pair!  DiBruno Brothers Cheese Emporium expert coming to teach you how to pair this glorious duo at the GSC THURSDAY Feb 16 5:30-7pm.  Get your $10 ticket on sale at the GSC now!  Limit 2, bring 21+ id.  More event info here.

2.     Workshop on the basics of the art of crochet!  FRIDAY Feb 17 1-2:30pm.  Get your $5 ticket at the GSC now!  Limit 1.  Upcoming:Basics of Knitting Fri Feb 24!

3.     Apply to be a TA trainer!  Super competitive, but you stand to gain a $1400 and the gratification of a good deed well done.  Deadline Feb 24.

4.     Learn more about becoming a GA for the undergraduate College Houses at the Graduate Associate Information Session Wed Feb 29 at 5PM in Grad Center Rm 305. More info and application here.

5.     How to get the Most out of the Flower Show Tues Feb 28 4-5pm in GSC Rm 305
Register here!  The Philadelphia Flower Show is fabulous, but can be overwhelming.  Master Gardener Bernadette Moyer will help you navigate the show and some of the special offerings you might otherwise miss.

6.     WAIT THERE’S MORE: GAPSA is selling discounted tickets to the Flower Show for $15 each at the Grad Center beginning Feb 23 at 1pm (limit 4)!

7.     Discounted tickets to Voice and Piano Duet at the Kimmel Center (260 S. Broad St) Feb 28 8-9:30pm!  Come hear Baritone Eric Owens accompanied by Craig Rutenberg on the piano.  Works by Schumann, Schubert, Debussy, Ravel, and Wagner.  Get your $5 tickets now at the grad center!  Limit 2.

8.     Supportive Therapy Group for Non-Traditional Students: from CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) for help balancing life and work.  To learn more email vwils@upenn.edu or riverada@upenn.edu.

These happen EVERY WEEK, which makes them ALL THE BETTER:

9.     Writing and Meditation Mondays Mondays 10-12pm and 1-4pm at the Grad Center Rm 305. Register here.

10.     Meditation Circles Mondays 12-1PM, Grad Center Rm 305.  Register here for 1 or 15!

11.     Teaching Workshops!  8 seminars co-sponsored by Center for Teaching and Learning!  This week:  Helping Struggling StudentsTOMORROW Wed Feb 15, 1:30-3pm, Grad Center Rm 305.  Next week:  Using In-Class Writing to Foster Engagement Tues Feb 21 12-1:30pm GSC Conference Rm.

12.     Writing a Grant Proposal? Peer-to-peer mentoring for free! If you’d like to mentor, give your advice and be paid $50!

13.     Mentor A Penn Undergrad help an undergrad prep, apply and succeed in grad school!

14.     Language Chats

       German every other Thursday, 3:30-4:30 in rm 302.

       Japanese Wednesdays 3-4pm rm 302

       Spanish Fridays 2-3pm rm 302

       English Thursdays 5:30-6:15pm rm 302

FOR STUDENTS WITH CHILDREN

15.    Family Resource Center Suite 240 Houston Hall 3417 Spruce St open M-F 10am-3pm.

16.    Family Yoga Series!  Beginning THIS THURSDAY, and will be Thursdays beginning Feb 16 and until March 1, 3-4pm at GSC 305.  A 3 week series with yoga for parents and children’s yoga and infant massage techniques. A three-fer!  Please register here.

17.     February Brunch & Play Date!  Sat Feb 25 10:30-12noon at Grad Center Common Room, 3615 Locust Walk.  Please Register here for crafts, games, and other activities that are guaranteed to entertain. Enjoy a complimentary brunch and a chance to meet and talk with other graduate students with children.

18.     Weekly Snack Time & Play Date Thursdays 10:30-11:30am; Family Resource Center, Suite 240 Houston Hall.  Meet other parents, socialize with your children and enjoy activities for all ages! We provide free snacks and drinks for the kids and coffee for the parents!  Pleaseregister here.

19.    Learn and Practice English Lessons for Students/Postocs, Spouses/Partners with Kids Mondays 1-2pm, Family Resource Center Suite 240 Houston Hall. Bring your kids for English language lessons!  All levels are encouraged, but please register in advance.  Parents will receive an English language proficiency questionnaire that should be returned before the start of class.

20.    Student Parent Mentoring new or expectant parents? Navigate being a scholar and parent with help from others who’ve been there.  Register in link above^.

FYI: The Grad center offers free meeting space, free coffee (bring your cup!), wireless computing, book swap, info on funding, employment, educational policies, student groups, notary services, resources and programs to students with children, and Philly events!

III. GAPSA

1.     The much awaited GAPSA Student Group Database for 2011-12 is now available for download through our website!  Many thanks to all the administrators and GAPSA members who contributed to this fantastic resource.

2.     Are you considering applying to a consulting firm?  Penn Graduate Consulting Group (PGCG) will be hosting their first case practice session of the '12 spring semester on THURSDAY Feb 16 5-7pm in Williams Hall Rm 321.  Please RSVP by e-mail.

3.     Are you in a relationship?  Does your significant other have a job?  THEN THIS APPLIES TO YOU: "Dual Career Couples: Maintaining Relationship Sanity".  TUESDAY Feb 21, 5-6:30pm: hosted by GAPSA and CAPS at the GSC Rm 305.  Worry about getting jobs in the same place?  Concerned over demanding careers?  Heather Hersh, Psy.D presents strategies on how to maintain sanity in your relationship.  Career Services will be there for a Q&A too. Snacks from Cosi.  Please RSVP.

4.     Penn Med Music on Call, a student music group founded last year, is seeking a cellist interested in playing chamber music with other graduate students.  If this describes you, please contact Elise Chong or Rena Zheng.

FUN AND NOW:

5.     Happy Hour at ALFA-bar (1709 Walnut)!  Two free drinks and meet new people on THURSDAY Feb 16 7-9pm.  Free for you, $5 for your one non-penn-grad friend.  Bring your 21+ and penn i.d.

6.     Time for the Vagina Monologues annual performance!  THURSDAY Feb 16 8-9:30pm, Law School, Rm Gittis-1.  Buy your $5 ticket every day this week between 11:30-1:30pm in The Clock at the law school.  $7 at the door.  All proceeds support female survivors of the earthquake in Haiti and to the Philadelphia-based organization Women Against Abuse.  We'll be selling baked goods before the performance, and the show is BYO!

OF CAMPUS RELEVANCE

7.      Annual Wharton Health Care Business Conference.  Feb 16-17.  Hyatt at the Bellevue, 200 S. Broad (Broad and Locust).  Get your $50 student ticket here.

8.     Service volunteer opportunity: Penn Med and Penn undergrad students began running Service Link last January at Sayre Health Center, where volunteers assist Sayre’s patients to secure non-medical determinants of health.  2 two-hour blocks per month requested of volunteers--Questions and RSVPs, please email (whether you made the training day last weekend or not!) servicelinkatsayre@gmail.com.

9.     Toiletry Drive one week left!—bring your donations to 3815 Walnut Street (SP2's research building), the Caster Building (3710 Locust Walk), or the Graduate Student Center. 

10.    Former Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Marwan Muasheron will speak on "The Arab Awakening: One Year On."  WEDNESDAYFeb 22 4:30pm at the Law School rm G12.

11.     South Asia Studies colloquium series presents Matthew Sayers (Religion and Philosophy, Lebanon Valley College), "Feeding the Dead at Gaya: From the Buddha’s Enlightenment to a Modern Pilgrimage Site".  February 23, 12-1pm in Williams 816.

12.     Dental School's annual STOPLIGHT PARTY!  Wear RED – you’re already taken but you’re open to friends; wear YELLOW – it’s complicated, and give the all-clear if there’s no risk for arrest; wear GREEN – you’re single and ready to mingle!  More details TBA.  Emailmpereira@dental.upenn.edu or straussg@dental.upenn.edu with questions.

13.     Want to watch Wharton students make fun of themselves? Save the date for "Wharton Follies" on February 24-25 at 7:30pm.

14.     Fourth year dental students are taking their licensing exams in March.  Their preparation? Giving you free (dental) screenings! Including free radiographs, free head and neck, and possibly free treatment pending eligibility!  What’s up!  If interested, contact Marni atglick.marni@gmail.com or (410) 236-7586.

15.      Subsidized tickets to the "Van Gogh Up Close" Exhibition @ Philadelphia Museum of Art (2600 Ben Franklin Parkway) for Feb 25, 1pm: 1886-1890: His best time, his worst time.  From Antwerp to Paris and to Auvers, he let emotions drive his "feverish artistic experimentation" until taking his own life in 1890.  Get your $10 ticket (limit 4) starting FRIDAY, Feb 17 at 1pm at the Graduate Student Center. 

16.     Nominate a fellow graduate or professional student for The President's & Provost's Citation for Exceptional Commitment to Graduate & Professional Student Life!  Presented to graduate or professional students upon their graduation from Penn who have been a catalyst for transformative and lasting new developments that have enhanced graduate and professional student life at Penn.  Deadline March 17.  Learn more about how to nominate yourself or another student for this citation.

18.     Crowned Victor: Competition and Games in the Ancient World!  4th annual conference from the Center for Ancient Studies on March 2-3 in Rainey Auditorium & Classroom 2 at the Penn Museum. Competition was a key component of many aspects of life in the ancient world and was found in areas people in the 21st century might not expect.  This conference will focus on the role competition played in society and how it mediated relationships within and between communities.  Friday’s keynote address is from Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona with a reception to follow.  Saturday will be devoted to student presentations on a variety of topics from around the world.  The event is FREE TO ALL.  For more information, please contact the organizers by e-mail.

19.     Calling All Fighters: The 8th Annual Fight Night March 24!  1,500 spectators will watch Wharton, Penn Law and other UPenn students square off against each other in the ring to battle for bragging rights!  We are looking for participants from any and all UPenn graduate programs to represent their schools and classmates in the ring. Preference is for participants with previous boxing experience who are willing to train hard with Penn Boxing this month and next. 

The Challenge: All registrants will be asked to train 3 times a week for 2 months with world-class trainer Clif Johnson and compete on Philly Fight Night against someone of equal size and skill level. 

The Opportunity: Fight in front of +1,400 fans at the National Guard Armory and represent your grad school in Penn's greatest sporting event.  Raise $70,000 for charity.  Kick some ass.  If interested in learning more, please contact Michelle Lee or Ely Kahn.

MONEY SOURCES 4 U

20.     Now accepting applications for Summer 2012 Individual Travel Grants.  Submit yours online: please also reference the newly updated guidelines as many changes have been made to incorporate the new online application.  Deadline April 20.

21.     Apply now to the GAPSA-Provost Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Innovation! This $6,000 fellowship is open to both graduate and professional students.  Deadline March 30.  For more info, please see the GAPSA website.

22.     Professional Student Interview funding newly available!  GAPSA has decided for the first time to establish a regular procedure for subsidizing interview costs for professional students. Please see the GAPSA website/Grants and Funding for more info, deadline 1wk before interview.

23.     Professional Student Research Grant newly available!  A fixed number of research grants will be awarded throughout a pilot period.  Please see the GAPSA website/Grants and Funding for more info, deadline March 14.

24.     Research Students Academic Event Funding: Students coordinating an academic event can receive supplemental funding!  Applicants, in person, are required to describe their target student audience, justify the academic nature of their event and demonstrate their general need of funding.  Info here!

25.     President Gutmann Leadership Award applications open here!  Are you presenting at a conference (domestic or internatl)?  Get reimbursed 50% of eligible travel expenses up to $2,000.  Apply by April 20 for May-Aug travel.

26.     Apply for GAPSA-Provost Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Innovation!  Deadline March 30. 

 HANDY RESOURCES 4 U 2

27.     New Transportation Service!  For a flat rate of $9, a Town Car service will drive you (and up to two friends) at anytime within a 3-mile radius of Penn’s campus.  (as far west as 55th St, 8th St to the east, Cecil B. Moore Ave to the north, and Morris St to the south.)  Call 215-225-5000 (with your Penn card) or www.victorycabco.com/reservations!

28.     Penn Commuter and Parking Survey: for one of two chances to win a free month of parking or $50 gift certificate to the Penn Bookstore and with Urban earphones from the Penn Computer Connection,

 29. HEY CHECK OUT GAPSA ON FACEBOOK