Student Newsletter - November 2022

Welcome to the CCAS Graduate Student Newsletter! Designed to keep you up to date with news and events, policies and processes, and all things for CCAS graduate students!

Graduate Student Newsletter Archive

NOVEMBER 2022

The Student Services Team is here to advise, guide, and provide you with resources to aid in your success, as well as help you navigate university policies and procedures. Our office is located in Smith 118, and we are open during normal business hours on Monday – Friday from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. On Thursdays, we are open until 6:00 pm. You can schedule a virtual, phone, or in-person appointment with your Student Services Coordinator and Career Counselors.

For our November Newsletter, we have the following topics:

Fall 2022 Graduation Deadline

The deadline for all degree seeking and certificate students to apply for Fall 2022 graduation is November 15. All students who plan on completing their requirements in Fall 2022 need to apply to graduate through GWeb. Students must be registered in order to apply to graduate.

Spring 2023 Registration

Spring class registration begins November 10! Review the Schedule of Classes as you prepare for course registration. Important dates for Spring 2023 registration can be found on the Registrar’s website. We encourage you to follow the tips below for successful spring registration:

Work with your Director of Graduate Studies to identify potential spring courses that align with your academic plan.
If you would like to register for a course outside your department, you should seek approval from the respective department. Example: A non-Data Science student interested in completing a Data Science course must receive permission from the Data Science department.
Interested in a consortium course? Please be mindful of the January 20th registration deadline.
If you wish to take a leave of absence, please submit the leave of absence form.
Clear any holds, including transcript holds, that may prevent you from registering. To view your holds:
- Log in to GWeb
- Click on the "Student Record and Registration" folder
- Next, click on "Student Records Information Menu"
- Finally, click on "View Administrative Holds"
If you will complete your degree requirements in Spring 2023, then also apply to graduate in GWeb after you register.

Fall 2022 Reminders

Important Reminder About Official Transcripts

All new students who have not submitted official transcripts as required in their letter of admission should do so before registration begins this month. These documents were due at the beginning of the Fall 2022 term. A hold has been placed on your record and it will prevent you from registering for Spring if all required transcripts are not received. The College’s Policy on official transcripts required as part of the admissions process is available on our Official Transcript Requirements page. We accept transcripts via mail, secure e-delivery, or in-person, provided the document(s) are still sealed in the original envelope from your institution. Please plan ahead to deliver these documents before registration opens.

Paper Mail

If mailing your transcripts please send them to:

The George Washington University

Mail Service L101

CCAS Office of Graduate Studies

2025 F Street, NW

Washington, DC 20052

Digital

We also accept transcripts sent via a secure e-scrip delivery service to [email protected]. An email from a school representative is not secure, and is not acceptable as official.

Hand Delivery

If you hand deliver your transcripts in their original unopened envelope(s), please deliver them to the CCAS Office of Graduate Studies in Smith Hall 118.

Current Address

Please ensure that the current mailing address the University has on file for you is correct. You can view the address and make changes in GWeb.

Direct Deposit

If you have an award which contains either a GA salary or fellowship stipend, we recommend signing up for direct deposit for your convenience. Information on the sign-up process is available on the Human Resources website.

Academic Policy Resources

Students are responsible for adhering to CCAS and University policies and procedures relevant to the pursuit of their graduate degree, including those published in the University Bulletin, the CCAS Bulletin, and in the CCAS Graduate Student Handbook.

ETD Deadlines

PhD Students:

November 11 - Submit the Dissertation Examination Defense Form

November 21 - Pre-clearance by CCAS - Completed in 2 steps:

DegreeMAP reflects all degree requirements completed except the dissertation and dissertation research courses
Attended an ETD dissertation formatting/publishing workshop

December 1 - Dissertation defense deadline

December 5 - ETD form due and submit final, approved, post-defense, electronic dissertation to the ProQuest site

December 9 - Final, approved dissertation containing all post-defense revisions and required formatting is approved by Library ETD administrator

Master’s Students:

December 2 - Submit ETD Access Approval Form and upload final, approved thesis to ProQuest

December 9 at 5:00 pm - Submit all requested formatting revisions and receive the approval of the Library ETD Administrator

The Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society

The George Washington University invites nominations for 2023 induction into the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society. Named for the first African American to earn a doctorate from a U.S. university (Yale, Physics, 1876), the society recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate.

The Bouchet Society seeks to develop a network of preeminent scholars who exemplify academic and personal excellence, foster environments of support, and demonstrate a commitment to advancing diversity, inclusion, access, and equity in the academy.

Detailed descriptions of the required application materials and submission process can be found on the CCAS Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society page. The nomination deadline is December 9, 2022 at 5:00 PM.

2023 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition

The CCAS Office of Graduate Studies is excited to announce that we will be hosting the 5th Annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition on February 22, 2023, co-sponsored with the School of Engineering and Applied Science! Registration is open through December 16, 2022.

Career Corner

All CCAS graduate students have access to two dedicated career counselors to help with resumes, cover letters, networking, interviewing, and many other areas. (Note: The Trachtenberg School and Data Sciences program have their own dedicated career counselors.) Wendy Wright and Paul Binkley are now available to meet one-on-one by scheduling a time in Handshake. More information on the services available to CCAS graduate students can be found on our Career Services website and via email at [email protected].

Career Spotlight: Interviewing

Interviewing for any job or internship can be very stressful. Regardless of the type of interview (e.g., phone, virtual, or in-person) or the style of interview (e.g., asynchronous, one-on-one, group, case, or behavioral), taking the time to prepare is critically important. One way to do that is to do a virtual mock interview using the Interview Prep online system available via Handshake. Along with a large number of training materials, Interview Prep records students’ answers to questions they choose that can be saved or shared with others.

Another great way to prepare for your interview is to participate in Interview Madness taking place Tuesday, November 15, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CCAS Career Counselors will be available on Zoom all day for individual 15-minute interview prep sessions to discuss interview strategies/approaches and practice answering questions. For more information, visit the event page and register for an appointment on Handshake.

One tip for effectively answering interview questions is to use the STAR method. Interviewers are often looking for answers that give a complete, focused picture of a candidate's experiences. The STAR method will help you do that.

Situation – Begin with a brief description of the situation (who, what, where, when, and how). Be as specific as possible to give enough detail to understand without providing too much information.
Task – Explain the task or goal toward which you were working. Highlight any challenges or constraints you may have faced (example: deadlines, costs, uneven distribution of work, etc.).
Action – Describe the specific actions that you personally took to complete the task. Highlight the action steps as well as the competencies you learned (leadership, organization, problem solving).
Result – Finish by sharing the result(s) and focus on: What happened? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? What would you change? If possible, include numbers to quantify results.

Professional Headshots Now Available at the Center for Career Services

All students can now get professional-quality headshots with the new professional headshot booth located in the Center for Career Services on the fifth floor of the University Student Center. A professional headshot is a window into your personal brand. It is often your first impression when featured on your social media profile and is a must-have on sites like LinkedIn. A professional headshot allows you to portray the professional version of yourself to prospective employers and can help you to stand out from other job seekers. For more information and to schedule an appointment to take your professional headshot, visit the Career Services Professional Headshot Booth page.

Navigating Your Federal Career: Expo for Students, Interns, and Recent Grads

November 9, 5:30-8 p.m.

This event is sponsored by the Partnership for Public Service and is open to students, interns, and recent grads of all academic backgrounds. Food for participants will be provided too! This is an opportunity to learn about the wide range of federal jobs and internships and get practical tips on how to launch a career in the federal government. Dr. Anthony Fauci will provide opening remarks about the importance and impact of public service. Panel discussions will cover the unique benefits of working in government, share the perspective of federal employees under 30, address racial equity efforts at agencies, and cover the tangible benefits of service. For more information and to register, visit the Navigating Your Federal Career Expo event page in Handshake.

Professional Relationship Building

November 9, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
A professional relationship is an interpersonal connection between two or more people in a place of business. Professional relationships are usually more formal than relationships that exist outside of work. The importance of building these connections are always stressed, but usually never taught the strategies on HOW to build them.

Join Emily Crum, GSEHD's Senior Career Counselor, to learn about approaches, strategies, and how to build lasting professional relationships. Register for the Professional Relationship Building event on Handshake.

Women in Global Careers Roundtable

November 11, 4:30-7:00 p.m.

Sponsored by the GW Center for International Business Education and Research (GW-CIBER), this meeting will be held in Duques Hall Room 150. Register for the Women in Global Careers Roundtable.

Virtual Government & Non-Profit Career Fair

November 18, 1-4 p.m.

The virtual Government & Non-Profit Career Fair is an exciting collaborative event between George Washington University, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Delaware to educate students from all majors and academic backgrounds about nonprofit and government organization career paths within their field of study. Students can also submit their resumes to selected employers between October 28-November 28. Employers will be looking at resumes on a rolling basis. Therefore, the sooner students submit the better. Students do NOT need to attend the fair to participate in these resume drops. For more information and to register, visit the Virtual Government & Non-Profit Career Fair page in Handshake.

National Park Service (NPS)/Purposeful Growth Institute, NPS Business Plan Internship Info Session

November 21, 12-1 p.m.

What if you could use your skills and expertise in strategy, operations, policy, and finance to promote the sustainability of America’s most beautiful and culturally significant sites?

What if you could spend your summer outside of the confines of a traditional office, tackling unique problem sets with creativity and autonomy?

What if a summer internship could provide powerful hands-on experience balancing multiple stakeholders and making mission-critical recommendations to anchor a career in consulting, public service, and beyond?

Join the Purposeful Growth Institute, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service (NPS) and the facilitator of the NPS Business Plan Internship (BPI), for an in-depth look at this Summer 2023 opportunity.

Together, we'll work through a sample problem set, offering you a glimpse of a "day in the life" of a BPI consultant. Purposeful Growth Institute staff will also be available to answer questions you have about the program and application process. For more information and to register, visit the NPS Business Plan Internship Info Session page in Handshake.

Job Search Strategy for International Students Webinar

November 24, 3 p.m.

Interstride is hosting this workshop that will introduce international students to well-established processes for positioning themselves to execute a focused and successful U.S.-based job search. Attendees will learn how to efficiently target companies that sponsor H-1B visas and hire international students; build and expand their network in the American context with LinkedIn searches and informational interviews; and make meaningful connections with employers. Attendees will take away a four-step framework to optimize their job search game plan and effectively network to get their foot in the door. Register for the Job Search Strategy for International Students Webinar.

Upcoming Student Events

Please note the following November events. To view future events, please visit the Current Graduate Student Events page.

How to Prepare a Successful Ph.D. Application	November 10, 1:00 PM
Interview Madness	November 15, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Ph.D. ETD Workshop	November 17, 3:00 PM

Lerner Health and Wellness Hall Reopens

GW’s Lerner Health and Wellness Center reopened to students on Monday, October 31, after completion of extensive work on its heating, ventilation, and cooling systems. Lerner access will be limited to students for the remainder of the fall semester. Faculty, staff, and community members with paid memberships will be invited back to visit our facility later in the academic year.

To enter the building, students must present their GWorld Card at the Welcome Desk.

Hours of Operations from October 31 - December 22 are:

Monday - Friday: 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Sunday: Noon - 8 p.m.

Note: Lerner will be closed on Saturday, November 5 and during Thanksgiving Break. Spring semester hours will be announced in December.

Various physical well-being opportunities, such as group fitness classes and intramural sports, returned to the Lerner building the week of October 31:

Group fitness classes will continue to be held at various days and times. Fill out the Group Fitness Interest Form to sign-up for the weekly email of classes.
Registration for intramural sports league play for November’s volleyball league, and December’s Dodgeball and Spikeball leagues are in process. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Club Sports participants - your club president will continue to be in touch with you about practice, games, and other activities.

Additional Operations Notes:

West Hall Gym on the Mount Vernon campus will remain open for all students for the remainder of the fall semester. In the spring, West Hall will be available for residential students only.
Sunday, October 30, was the last day for free/open basketball play at St. Patrick’s School, as it returns to Lerner on Monday, October 31.
Sunday, October 30, was the last day Lloyd gym at Mount Vernon campus will be open for use on the weekends.

Breaking Bread

Breaking Bread is a weekly space organized by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement that aims to bring students together over a meal and facilitated discussion to explore relevant social issues at GW and in broader society. Dinner is provided!

The next events will take place on the following dates:

Wednesday, Nov 16, 2022 at 05:00PM
Wednesday, Nov 23, 2022 at 05:00PM

All students are invited to join with an openness to learn, engage with different perspectives, and gain a better understanding of ourselves and each other. To learn more, please reach out to [email protected].

Funding/Employment Opportunities

Diane Bernstein Fellowship in Child and Youth Advocacy

Deadline: Open until filled

Ideal candidates are either undergraduate or graduate students who are interested in gaining real world experience conducting original research and data and policy analysis, supporting public education and community engagement efforts, and working directly with young people and their families to help drive these efforts. They will be paired with a member of our staff for hands-on work and will also receive a $3,500 stipend.

A full summary of the fellowship, along with a link to apply, is available on the Diane Bernstein Fellowship in Child and Youth Advocacy website. The spring semester fellowship runs from January 23 through April 7, and applicants who are not accepted for the spring may be considered for next year. We encourage interested parties to apply as soon as possible.

Knowledge in Action Career Internship Fund (KACIF)

Spring Semester Deadline: November 15, 2022

The GW Career Services Council established the Knowledge in Action Career Internship Fund (KACIF) to encourage GW students to pursue high-quality unpaid internships that foster career exploration and enhance their academic program, while reducing the financial challenges associated with unpaid internships.

The Knowledge in Action Career Internship Fund (KACIF) Spring 2023 application period is fast approaching! The application will open on Tuesday, November 1st and close on Tuesday, November 15th.

Facilitated by the university's Career Services Council and funded through the generous support of alumni, parents, and other donors, KACIF provides grants ranging from $750 to $3,000 to GW undergraduate and graduate students pursuing domestic and international internships that are necessarily unpaid.

Interested students can go to the KACIF website to review more information, including eligibility requirements and application instructions. Applications will be accepted through November 15, 2022. In order to get funding into successful applicants’ hands by the start of their internships, there will be NO application deadline extensions.

Critical Language Scholarship (CLS)

Deadline: November 15, 2022

The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) is a fully-funded overseas language and cultural immersion summer program (eight to ten weeks) for American undergraduate and graduate students. The program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. Students of diverse disciplines and majors are encouraged to apply. You must be a U.S. citizen to be eligible for this opportunity.

Languages:

No Prior Study Required: Azerbaijani; Bangla; Hindi; Indonesian; Persian; Punjabi; Swahili; Turkish; Urdu
One Year of Study Required: Arabic; Korean; Portuguese; Russian
Two Years of Study Required: Chinese; Japanese

Summer 2023 Paid Internship with the Federal Government

Deadline: November 27, 2022

Managed by the Partnership for Public Service, the Future Leaders in Public Service Internship Program helps bring diverse young talent to government and offers students the opportunity to apply their educational training to work at a federal agency. The program is actively recruiting its summer 2023 cohort to join the Department of Transportation and the Department of Commerce as paid interns. Undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from across disciplines are welcome to apply. The deadline to apply is November 27, 2022.

The Partnership for Public Service is hosting two Virtual Information sessions on the following dates. More information and registration is available on the Partnership for Public Service website.

Thursday, October 6, 5-6 p.m.
Monday, November 14, 12-1 p.m.

Office of Evaluation Sciences Fellowship

Deadline: January 11, 2023

The GSA Office of Evaluation Sciences (OES) is accepting applications for the 2023 Fellowship. All fellowship positions will be remote and location flexible within the United States. Fellows will serve at least a one-year term, with availability to serve additional years preferred.

OES is a team of interdisciplinary experts that works across the federal government to help agencies build and use evidence. We partner with federal agencies to answer priority questions with rigorous evaluation methods and administrative data. We design and conduct impact evaluations of programs and evidence-based program changes. To date, OES has completed nearly 100 impact evaluations with dozens of agency partners.

Our evaluations, in collaboration with agency partners, span areas such as increasing environmental protection, supporting equitable delivery of the American Rescue Plan, improving public health outcomes, and increasing educational opportunity. Join the OES team if you are interested in working closely with key decision makers in government and evaluating promising interventions at a national scale! Learn more about the OES Fellowship.

Annual Fellowship and Federal Details: Team members work alongside agency collaborators to make concrete recommendations on how to improve government and evaluate impact using administrative data. You can share any questions you have with the OES team by emailing [email protected].

There will also be two office hours in December to answer any questions you may have about our team, work, or the application process.

Thursday, December 8, 2022 2:30-3:30 pm EST: Register here
Tuesday, December 13, 2022 1-2 pm EST: Register here

Updated November 17, 2022

Graduate Student Newsletter Archive