Fall 2013 Registration and the Clinical Nurse Leader Summit

Fall 2013 Registration

Fall 2013 registration is open for all admitted domestic students. Below are some important deadlines for fall registration.

• Wednesday, July 3
• By this date, please pay all outstanding balances of $500 or more from summer and previous semesters in full to avoid registration cancellation.
• Friday, August 9
• This is the due date to pay fall 2013 and prior fees and to make first payments under the Installment Payment Plan (IPP).
• Wednesday, August 14
• You may be subject to fall 2013 registration cancellation if you have not paid the balance of your student account or made your first IPP payment by this date.
• Sunday, August 18
• Fall open registration ends on this date. Students may be charged late registration fees to register after this date.

Clinical Nurse Leader Students Present at National Conference

Five of The University of Toledo’s Clinical Nurse Leader Students (Chelsea Condon, Sarah Dillon, Lauren Snyder, Tandy Szabo and Kimberly Vriezelaar) took part in the 2013 Clinical Nurse Leader Summit of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing in New Orleans earlier this year.

The students presented on a project involving the “Let’s Move” initiative begun by First Lady Michelle Obama. Their project was titled “Clinical Nurse Leaders at the Forefront Guiding Health Behaviors in Prenatal Care and Pediatrics with a Focus on Childhood Obesity Utilizing the National Initiative ‘Let’s Move’ With Foundation in Pender’s Health Promotion Model.”

The College of Graduate Studies would like to congratulate all of the students who took part in the Clinical Nurse Leader Summit.

Go Rockets!

Updates from the College of Graduate Studies

Spring 2014 Applications

Interested in applying for a graduate program in Spring 2014? The online graduate application to start in January 2014 is available at http://apply.utoledo.edu. Please consult our application deadlines page or the department website for more information. For a list of additional required materials, please see our admission guidelines page. Application questions may be directed to graduateonlineapplication@utoledo.edu.

Changes to International Admission Requirements

English Proficiency Requirements

Starting with Spring 2014 applications, Graduate Admissions will no longer be accepting IELTS scores to fulfill the English Proficiency Requirement. International applicants will now need to provide a TOEFL score of 80 IBT, 550 PBT, or 213 CBT to fulfill this requirement. Scores must be reported to The College of Graduate Studies by the ETS testing service.

Bank Statements

Graduate Admissions will no longer be accepting letters from an applicant’s bank to fulfill the bank statement requirement. Bank statements must show a statement of accounts (sometimes referred to as a passbook), be dated within six weeks and must have a current balance showing sufficient funds. Statements received at the time of application will not be accepted.

More information on both of these requirements can be found on the admission guidelines page of our website.

Campus Visits

Interested in visiting The University of Toledo? We’d love to show you around! If you would like a campus tour or to speak with someone regarding the admissions process, please contact Corey Sampsel, Graduate Orientation & Enrollment Specialist, at Corey.Sampsel@utoledo.edu.

In the email, please include the following information:

• Full Name
• Area (Program) of Interest
• Previous Education
• What day or days would you be available to visit?

Corey will be happy to arrange a visit for you.

Go Rockets!

Health Science Programs Provide Professional Development Opportunities

The College of Graduate Studies is proud to highlight recent professional development opportunities of some health science graduate students at UT.

Nursing Students Participate in a Medical Mission Trip to Nicaragua

Several Master’s students in the College of Nursing took a medical mission trip in March to set up mobile clinics to provide medicine, vaccines and screenings to the inhabitants of Leon, Nicaragua.

Britteney Stanton, Kelly Jackson, Stephanie Blanchard, and Stacy Swanson also conducted research on the roles women now play in family life and health care in Nicaragua. Rica Davis, Lina Barakat-Boraby, and Davis Bothe studied the impact of education on cervical cancer screening. This group provided educational sessions on general health and cervical cancer and analyzed the resulting number of women seeking cervical cancer screenings.

For the full story on this experience, please see the UT News article.

Doctoral Student Helps Burn Victim as Part of Capstone Project

Emily Fahrer, an Occupational Therapy doctoral student, recently spent a month in Bucharest, Romania working to help rehabilitate a 16-year-old burn survivor. She worked with an organization called “The Door” as part of her capstone project. For this project, students may do a case study, develop or modify a program/course relating to occupational therapy.  Although Emily had only two weeks instead of the usual two months for her project, she found it to be a holistic learning experience.  The trip not only increased her knowledge of occupational therapy, but also her exposure to the gypsy culture and Romanian alphabet. Ms. Fahrer’s case study is the first from the OT program to be completed internationally.

For more information on Ms. Fahrer’s experience, please see this article in the UT News.

Medical Physics Students Present for American Association of Physicists in Medicine

Nine graduate students in the Medical Physics program recently presented papers at the Great Lakes Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine during their spring meeting in Ann Arbor.

Doctoral student, Gregory Warrell, was awarded third place for his oral presentation on “Experimental Evaluations of the Thermal Properties of a Novel Thermo-Brachytherapy Seed for Treatment of Solid Tumors”. Presentations were assessed based on the categories of scientific content, innovative research idea, candidate’s knowledge of the subject and effective delivery, among others. Mr. Warrell was awarded a certificate and $150 award

The College of Graduate Studies encourages and supports students in experiential learning opportunities.  Congratulations to all the above participants for their research and international outreach experiences.

Go Rockets!

U.S. News Ranks Online Graduate Engineering Program One of the Best for Veterans

With Memorial Day fast approaching, the College of Graduate Studies is happy to announce that The University of Toledo’s online M.S. in Engineering program was ranked one of the best online graduate engineering programs for veterans by U.S. New & World Report. The program came in second nationally.

To qualify for the ranking, schools and their programs needed to meet several criteria:

• Institution must:
• Be certified for the G.I. Bill
• Participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program
• Pledge to consider granting academic credit for military training
• Offer flexibility for distance learners taking courses at several schools
• Programs must:
• Be 100% online
• Be ranked in the broader U.S. News 2013 Best Online Education Programs rankings

The unique challenges that military service brings (moving from base to base, easing back into civilian life, etc.) make finishing a degree a difficult endeavor for some veterans and service members. The MS in Engineering program’s ranking shows the commitment UT has made to assisting veterans with that transition.

For more information on resources available to military veterans and service members, please visit the Military Service Center website.

Go Rockets!

Spring 2013 Award Recipients Announced

The College of Graduate Studies is delighted to announce the three 2013 graduate student award recipients who were recently recognized at the last Graduate Council meeting for AY 2012-13.

Robert R. Buell Memorial Achievement Award: Nneka Mbah

The Robert R. Buell Memorial Achievement Award is presented to a graduate student in any college who best exemplifies scholarly excellence in the physical and biological sciences, has maintained a genuine interest in the social sciences and humanities, and plans a career in education. This year’s recipient of the $1,000 award, Ms. Nneka Mbah, is a 2^nd year doctoral student in the Department of Biochemistry & Cancer Biology in the College of Medicine and Life Sciences. Her research with Dr. Bill Maltese seeks to gain a better understanding of the molecular basis by which a new class of drugs kills cancerous brain cells by “methuosis”, a non-conventional mechanism. Her long range plans center on returning to Nigeria to bring knowledge of biomedical research to her home country.

Helen M. Fields Memorial Achievement Award: Hasmik Chakaryan

The Helen M. Fields Memorial Achievement Award is presented to a graduate student with an excellent academic record in the field of English or Education. This year’s recipient of the $1,000 award, Ms. Hasmik Chakaryan, is a 3^rd year doctoral student in the Counselor Education & Supervision program.  She is advised by Dr. Nick Piazza and is an active social justice and human rights advocate. She has spent time in Mexico training the staff of eight orphanages in basic counseling skills, and has presented her research on aspects of mental health in Egypt, Armenia and the Ukraine.

Robert N. Whiteford Memorial Scholarship: Ateka Akbar Contractor

The Robert N. Whiteford Memorial Scholarship is presented to a graduate student to assist in research for their thesis, project, or dissertation and further the student’s professional development. This year’s recipient of the $400 scholarship, Ms. Ateka Akbar Contractor, is a 3^rd year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology. Her research with Dr. Jon Elhai focuses on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with a particular focus on the link between PTSD and depression. She has studied patient populations that include the Ohio National Guard and trauma victims from India. She also has served as a teaching assistant in the Department of Psychology.

These students, and the other many nominees, are to be congratulated for their pursuit of excellence in their research endeavors.

Go Rockets!

UT Graduate Students –International Recognition

Graduate students from UT doctoral and master’s programs regularly present their research at national and international conferences and garner awards. Two recent examples are highlighted this week. 

English Master’s Students Present at International Conference

Six M.A. students from the UT English graduate program recently traveled to San Jose State University (California) to present their research at a conference entitled “Steinbeck and the Politics of Crisis: Ethics, Society and Ecology” that focused on John Steinbeck -the American writer and Pulitzer and Nobel prize winner- for his body of work that included Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men.

Steinbeck Center director Nick Taylor told UT News, “We had paper proposals from all over the world, so the students were competing with scholars from India, Japan, Europe. One of our goals with this conference was to regenerate the ranks of Steinbeck scholarship, and thanks to [Dr.] Tom Barden, [UT Professor of English,] we are well on our way.”

Congratulations to the students presenting at the conference: Laura Delucia, Zachary Fishel, David Hartwig, Felicia Preece, Jamie Renda and Juliana Restivo.  

Environmental Sciences Ph.D. Candidate Awarded Great Lakes Scholarship

The International Association of Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) recently awarded an IAGLR Scholarship to Carson Prichard, a UT Environmental Sciences doctoral student. This award is one of two IAGLR scholarships given to two promising Ph.D. students whose dissertation research is likely to make a significant contribution to the understanding of the Great Lakes. Mr. Prichard’s project on Environmental DNA detection and quantification: a new test for Great Lakes native and high-risk invasive fish species has earned him a $2,000 scholarship and a one-year membership in IAGLR. He will be recognized in June at the 56^th annual Conference on Great Lakes Research in West Lafayette, Indiana. Congratulations to Carson on this recognition!

The College of Graduate Studies is proud of the achievements of these and other graduate students who actively engage in the scholarship of their discipline by participating at national and international meetings.

Go Rockets!

Department of Kinesiology Graduate Student Symposium

The Department of Kinesiology at The University of Toledo will be holding a Graduate Student Symposium on Friday, April 26, 2013 in the Health Science & Human Services Building (Multipurpose Room 1711) on UT’s Main Campus. The symposium is an annual event designed to facilitate the dissemination of current research activities within the discipline of Kinesiology, while acknowledging the efforts of our students, and future professionals within the field.

The symposium will feature seven different oral presentations and nine different poster presentations on a variety of topics. The symposium presentations will be followed by lunch and awards, and will conclude with a keynote address by Dr. Tim Butterfield, ATC. Dr. Butterfield is an Assistant Professor at The University of Kentucky whose research area is muscle mechanics (specifically strain-induced muscle injury and the plasticity of skeletal muscle). Dr. Butterfield’s keynote address is titled: “From hare to allometry: can massage accelerate recovery of function in strain-damaged muscle?”

A full list of oral and poster presentation topics, along with abstracts for each presentation, may be found in the “News and Happenings” section of the College of Graduate Studies website.

Go Rockets!