GRADUATE STUDENT ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Office Space
The School provides office space to graduate students mostly in cubicles in Deering and Murray Halls. Some offices are in other buildings such as Hitchner and the Environmental Science Lab. If you serve as a TA (Teaching Assistant), you must have such office space for meeting students. Keys to the offices in Murray, Deering, or Hitchner Halls are available from Mak Hallam (Makayla.hallam@maine.edu) in the main office. Please give Mak Hallam in the main office your cellphone number so we can reach you or any urgent matters.
Activate your UMaine email account as soon as you can. All important University information about your appointment, pay, etc., will be sent to that account. Give your E-mail address to Mak Hallam as soon as you receive an UMaine account.
Contact information for school faculty and staff is listed on the SBE website.
PHOTCOPYING
Photocopying uses the PaperCut system which will send your photocopy job to the UMaine cloud and it can then be printed from any printer accessed by your Maine card or with your UMaine login. Any photocopying for courses in which you serve as a TA or are taking is charged to the “UMaine Employee “ Account. Copying for your own research is covered by the “UMaine Research” account. Personal photocopying should be charged to your personal account.
TRANSPORTATION
The University provides free bus service between the campus and outlying
towns on The Bus’s routes (Orono, Old Town, Veazie, Bangor). You need to show your student ID when boarding The Bus. The main departure point from campus is at the back entrance to the Memorial Union, at the traffic loop; buses leave for Veazie and Bangor at approximately 30 minutes past the hour and for Old Town and Stillwater at approximately 45 minutes past the hour. Bicycle lanes are marked on the local roads. A bike path through the University Forest between campus and Old Town provides an route to University Park (married-student housing) and Old Town. For commuting by automobile to campus, you will need to register with the Parking Services office (DTAV Community Building) to obtain a parking decal. To obtain the appropriate decal, you need to wait until you receive an email that your appointment has gone through.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Paychecks will be direct deposited into your bank account. The School is committed to providing support for the duration of your degree program, typically 2 years for a student in an M.S. program and 4-5 years for a student in a Ph.D. program. You may want to change the type of support you have by applying specifically for certain University Research Assistantships, for example, or for national assistantships and fellowships or for assistantships funded through grants to individual faculty. Because of the requirement that Ph.D. candidates have teaching experience, all such students may serve as a TA at some point. Information on available fellowships and assistantships is posted regularly on the Graduate School website.
COMPUTER FACILITIES
The campus uses a secure wireless internet called Eduroam. You can connect personal
computer, phones and other devices. Please contact IT (207-581-2506 or help@maine.edu) with any problems connecting to Eduroam. Computer clusters for general student use are available at Fogler Library. For printing posters (for scientific meetings, for instance), Printing Services on campus will print posters for a charge. There are a number of online services as well.
TRAVEL SUPPORT
Funds for traveling to scientific meetings to present thesis research are available through grants from the Graduate Students Association, the Alumni Association, and SBE Graduate Travel Awards which are applied for early in spring semester.
SEMINARS
The School of Biology and Ecology sponsors an invited speaker to present a seminar to students, faculty, and staff every week throughout the Fall and Spring semesters. These visiting scientists expose us to current research in a diverse array of subdisciplines. The seminar program is a high priority for the School, as we consider it an important forum for intellectual exchange and an enriching component of graduate-student education. Graduate students are expected to attend the Friday afternoon seminars (3:00 pm; refreshments available just before 3 pm), but we also encourage you to participate in any other meetings with the speakers. You may request an one-on-one meeting with a speaker by contacting that speaker’s host.
The School Seminar Committee works with faculty and students to put together the program each semester. Faculty and graduate students are encouraged to suggest speakers to the committee. We require graduate students to assist with the hosting responsibilities for seminar speakers by getting and setting up refreshments for the seminar. All graduate students are expected to attend School seminars unless they are taking or teaching a course at that time. Attendance at relevant seminars in other departments is also encouraged; particularly relevant may be those in School of Marine Sciences, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences., Chemistry, and Mathematics. As a rule of thumb, if you attend one seminar a week during regular academic sessions, in or outside the School, you are meeting
expectations.
motorpool
You may be asked to drive a University motor vehicle as a TA or research assistant. To sign up for a vehicle or to participate as a secondary driver, you will need to provide a copy of your driver’s license to the Facilities Management Motor Pool Office. Forms for doing this are available online on the Motor Pool website. You should take the driver safety class (a short, one-online program)