Carnegie Mellon University

Graduate & Professional Student Appreciation Week

2024 Schedule of Events


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The Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs cordially invites our graduate and professional students to attend a variety of events and programming in recognition of Graduate & Professional Student Appreciation Week.  Please explore the full schedule of events below and join us as we celebrate you!  Check with your department for information and/or programming that is department-specific.

*All in-person events will require you to present your graduate student CMU ID.

Monday, April 1, 2024

The University-Wide We ♥ Grad Students Basket Bonanza, featuring Giveaways, Snacks, and Games  
1:00-3:00pm
CFA Lawn (Rain location: Kirr Commons)

Join the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs for a university-wide kickoff to Graduate & Professional Student Appreciation Week and take a chance on one of several raffle baskets full of swag, CMU merch, and more! Come for the raffle; stay for the lawn games and free snacks and beverages. Families and partners are welcome! No registration required.

Grab & Go Snacks with The HUB
9:00am-4:30pm
Warner Hall, Lower Level

The HUB will be offering grab & go snacks during our open hours in honor and appreciation of our graduate students. No registration required.

Academic Self-Care for Graduate Students 
Featuring hot drink bar and artful, creative opportunities!
10am-12pm
Posner Hall 282

Join the Student Academic Success Center as we celebrate Graduate & Professional Students with an opportunity to relax and take a break.  Grab a cup of coffee, tea, or cocoa from our hot drink bar and implement mindfulness techniques through painting, coloring, working with clay, or other creative opportunities we will have available for you.  There may or may not be some fun games of BINGO as well :)!  Meet other graduate and professional students and members of the Student Academic Success Center team while relaxing into conversation with a yummy snack. This time is for you to enjoy some downtime through nourishment of the mind, body and creative spirit and fortify yourself for the end of the semester.  No registration required.

Please email access@andrew.cmu.edu if an accommodation is needed for you to be able to fully participate in this session.  This event is sponsored by the Student Academic Success Center.

 

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Snacks, Swag, and Raffles with Environmental Health and Safety
9:00-11:00am
Wean Commons 2 (outside of the Connan Room)
 
Join Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) on Tuesday for snacks, coffee, swag, and raffles as we celebrate our graduate students.  We will have information on our resources and services and look forward to thanking you.  
 
No prior registration is required for the event.
 
Sponsored by Environmental Health and Safety

Donuts & Democracy Voter Registration Drive
10:00am-12:00pm
Merson Courtyard

Stop by the Donuts & Democracy table in Merson Courtyard for donuts, coffee, and materials on the upcoming Primary Election! We will also have voter registration forms and general guidance and information for voters.

Sponsored by the Graduate Student Assembly

Navigating Insurance and Medical Care: A Health Information Session
3:00-4:00pm
Scott Hall 4th Floor, Large Conference Room

Registration Required

For graduate student appreciation week, GBMES and Women in Biomedical Engineering (BME) are inviting staff from University Health Services (UHS) and CMU Peer Health Advocates (PHA) to organize a health information session. UHS supports a campus culture of health and well-being that provides an open climate of care for all and fosters student success. PHA aims to encourage and support holistic student health and well-being by providing culturally responsive peer-to-peer health education programs and services. 
Topics that will be discussed include:
  • Insurance
  • Finding doctors
  • UHS resources and recommendations
  • CMU resources
The event will also provide light refreshments and giveaways. Please sign up if you are interested in attending! If you have any specific questions for UHS and/or PHA, please also comment in this form. 
We deeply care about our fellow students' health and well-being, and we hope this event will offer helpful resources!
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Dissertation Writing Time
4:00-5:00pmin-person
Registration Required

This hands-on workshop will help you jump start your dissertation writing process.  Participants will receive a crash course in dissertation writing strategies, the opportunity to ask our writing experts questions and guided space to write in a room full of others with the same shared goal!  This workshop is appropriate for graduate students across disciplines at any stage of the dissertation process, but it is expected that participants will come prepared to write and discuss their academic goals.

Learning Objectives:

  • Graduate students will learn writing strategies for making complex research intelligible and managing large writing projects.
  • Graduate students will develop a portion of their dissertation through structured writing time. 
  • Graduate students will receive feedback from writing experts who understand the challenges associated with advanced research.
Please email access@andrew.cmu.edu if an accommodation is needed for you to be able to fully participate in this session.  This event is sponsored by the Student Academic Success Center.

Chair Massage and Aromatherapy in the Mindfulness Room
5:00-7:00pm
Mindfulness Room, West Wing, First Floor

As an expression of gratitude for our graduate students and their contributions, hard work, and talent, we invite you to relax and nourish your mind, body, and soul with chair massage, aromatherapy stations, and light refreshments in the Mindfulness Room. You will have an opportunity to meet other graduate students, make your own sugar scrub and essential oil roller, and enjoy a five-minute chair massage (on a first-come, first-served basis). No prior registration is required for the event.

Sponsored by the Community Health & Well-Being division of Student Affairs

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Grab & Go Snacks with The HUB
9:00am-4:30pm
Warner Hall, Lower Level

The HUB will be offering grab & go snacks during our open hours in honor and appreciation of our graduate students. No registration required.

Open House with Breakfast Snacks at the Eberly Center
9:30-11:00am
Tepper 1308 (first floor, next to the elevators)

Please RSVP for this event

Join us at the Eberly Center for breakfast and coffee, and learn about our grad programs and services! Members from all of our teams (Teaching Consultants, Assessment, Learning Engineers) will be present to talk about how they can support you in your development as instructors and TAs. We will also have activities for you to enjoy at your tables while you eat.

 

 

Time Management for Graduate Students
3:00-4:00pm, via Zoom
Registration Required

Graduate students frequently have to balance multiple roles each week or even each day. As you figure out how to balance all of these roles, it is important to incorporate time management strategies to be able to manage your time effectively for maximum productivity.

Learning Objectives:

  • Graduate students will recognize the importance of creating a structured environment for success and methods for accomplishing what they intend to accomplish.  
  • Graduate students will be able to identify and apply techniques to improve the management of time including the Eisenhower Matrix, time blocking, and backwards design.  
  • Graduate students will recognize and plan to use concepts that assist them in achieving their own best performance including Ultradian rhythms and intentionality.
Please email access@andrew.cmu.edu if an accommodation is needed for you to be able to fully participate in this session.  This event is sponsored by the Student Academic Success Center.

Tie Dye
1:00-3:00pm
CFA Lawn (No rain location)

Join GSA to make a one of a kind tie dye shirt! All supplies will be provided! No registration required.

Poppin' with Appreciation!
3:30-4:30pm
Merson Courtyard (Rainsite: Kirr Commons)

The Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion is excited to celebrate graduate students during Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week. We’ll have popcorn, cotton candy, and floats to get you in the mood for next week’s annual Spring Carnival! Families are welcome. This event is co-sponsored with support from Chartwells.

We also have a ticket offer for Graduate Students!  Visit Pittsburgh Humanities Festival events for details. We have a limited number of tickets available.

  • Register here for a ticket to Sarah Thornton on Thursday, April 4, 7:30pm.  

Thursday, April 4, 2024

Grab & Go Snacks with The HUB
10:30am-4:30pm
Warner Hall, Lower Level

The HUB will be offering grab & go snacks during our open hours in honor and appreciation of our graduate students. No registration required.

Meet, Greet, & Eat hosted by the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs 
12:30-2:30pm
Connan Room, Cohen University Center (CUC)

Please RSVP to this event - Space is limited!

Please stop by for an informal meet and greet hosted by the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs. We will be joined by members of CMU and GSA leadership and colleagues as we gather together to celebrate our graduate students. Appetizers of many kinds will be served, and opportunities to converse, provide feedback, and build community will also be central to this event. A photo booth will be available to capture the celebration! We hope you will join us! 

Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) Reps Social (for GSA Reps and GSA Committee Members Only)
6:00-8:00pm
Tartan's Pavilion
 
GSA Reps and GSA Committee Members! Thank you so much for all your hard work this year in your own departments, the campus, and the greater community. Join GSA Exec for dinner, snacks, and the company of your fellow graduate student leaders. Invitations have been sent to reps and committee members.

Friday, April 5, 2024

Battling Burnout
10:00-11:00am
Pake Room (CUC)
 
Join CaPS for a conversation about burnout, which will address and answer questions like: What is burnout? How do I know if I'm burnt out? How do I manage it, and can I prevent it?
 
Coffee, Cookies, and Tea with SLICE
1:00-3:00pm
Cohon Center, Kirr Commons (Black Chairs)
 
Join us near the upper-level SLICE office for a Friday treat by picking up your choice of coffee, tea, and/or cookie favorites! We look forward to personally thanking you for all of your contributions, dedication, and participation in CMU student organizations and beyond this year! Be sure to enter our giveaway when you stop by! See you there! No registration required.
 
Sponsored by SLICE 
Playground & Pizza
4:30-6:30pm
Children's School Playground (behind Margaret Morrison)

Join the Partner & Family Advocates Group and the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs for a family-friendly playground meetup to conclude Graduate & Professional Student Appreciation Week! This is a casual event for conversation, community-building, and playtime for the kids. Pizza and beverages will be available for children and their caregivers. 

Registration is required for this event. There will be limited free parking in the MMC lot.

Note that this is a weather-dependent event; should inclement weather require us to change location or cancel this event, we will notify you via the email address you include on the registration form.

FITNESS CLASSES & ATHLETICS OFFERINGS

Fitness Classes & Athletics Offerings

FREE fitness classes for CMU graduate students are being offered by the Athletics department throughout the week. Check out the full schedule of Group X classes here, noting that registration is required for all classes.

The Athletics department is also offering three classes just for graduate students during Graduate & Professional Student Appreciation Week!

 

 

Tuesday, April 2
3:00-4:00pm

Hip Hop in the CUC in Keeler Fitness Studio with Shira. Please register here.

Wednesday, April 3
5:30-6:15pm

Hip Hop in Tepper Fitness Center Noll Studio with Shira. Please register here.
Friday, April 5
1:00-2:00pm

Yoga in Tepper Fitness Center Noll Studio with Eviana. Please register here.

DINING DEALS & GIVEAWAYS

Dining Services celebrates Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week (April 1 - April 5) with campus-wide discounts and free treats! Just make sure to bring your graduate student ID to participate.

ALL WEEK:

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 - FRIDAY, APRIL 5

  • Hunan Express: Free spring rolls with dinner purchased 4:30 - 8 p.m. [April 3 - 5th].

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 - FRIDAY, APRIL 5