Freshmen right out of high school are not the only students starting classes at IU next week. Many master’s and doctoral students are also new to the Bloomington campus.
The Graduate Mentoring Center became partners with the Grad Grants Center and the Social Science Research Commons and played host to a resource fair Monday for graduate students to display a variety of resources available to them as IU students.
“We want to show these students that there are immense resources at this University,” said Maria Hamilton Abegunde, director of the Graduate Mentoring Center and visiting lecturer of African American and African Diaspora Studies.
Ten different resource groups on campus gave presentations on their respective programs. Student amenities were presented to the graduate audience by the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Counseling and Psychological Services, GGC, Graduate and Professional Student Government, Indiana Statistical Consulting Center, IU Health Center,Office of Research Integrity, SSRC, the GMC and Writing Tutorial Services.
The resource fair was set up to facilitate one space having as many resources available to students as possible.
This included both services that students can take advantage of when struggling with research and studies, in addition to programs and resources that can assist them in other times of need. Physical, emotional and psychiatric health services were all presented as resources available to all students.
Each program had a 30-minute time slot to present the separate programs to the audience and a representative to explain the specific services they offer. Some displayed PowerPoint presentations and others spoke to the students as a whole for the duration of the time slot.
The fair took place in the SSRC in Woodburn Hall. The fair will continue Wednesday and Friday, presenting the same resource programs as Monday’s opening fair for students unable to attend the previous sessions.
“I am happy to have the opportunity to see all of the programs this school has to offer,” Kristin Otto, first-year doctoral candidate, said.
Otto, being new to campus, said she felt this fair gave her the opportunity to see all of her academic resources combined as one, in addition to the benefits of a large university.
The three centers that sponsored the event used the individual websites, the graduate school website, list serves, the IMU and social media to advertise the event to the students.
Roughly 30 graduate students attended the fair Monday.
“We don’t want you to reach your end and not know your resources,” Abegunde said. “The journey of grad work doesn’t have to be lonely.”
