INSTAAR Grad. Student Guide

Graduate Student Survival Guide

Fall 2009 (still pertinent)

Welcome to the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. This page was created in an effort to take the edge off being the new kid on the block. We are thrilled to have you join the Institute and would like to make your tenure at INSTAAR be the best it can be.

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Browse by scrolling or choose from the list below:

INSTAAR: A brief Overview
Introduction :: Directorate :: INSTAAR Themes:: Partnering Departments

Graduate Student Responsibilities
Seminar Attendance :: Volunteering in the Information Center:: Representation on the Directorate :: UCB Training Requirements

Getting Started
Graduate Research Assistant :: Office Space :: Phone :: Email :: Buff OneCard :: Mailbox :: Keys :: After Hours Building Access

Additional Information
Sending Mail :: Recieving Mail :: INSTAAR Email LIsts :: Fax Machine :: Copier Machine :: INSTAAR Directory :: Using the Plotter :: Thesis Binding :: Purchasing and Travel :: Reserving rooms, projectors, phones :: Parking :: Transportation ::Complaints

INSTAAR: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION TO INSTAAR
The Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) develops scientific knowledge of physical and biogeochemical environmental processes at local, regional and global scales, and applies this knowledge to improve society's awareness and understanding of natural and anthropogenic environmental change. The world's high-altitude and high-latitude regions are the Institute's traditional focus due to their sensitivity to environmental change. INSTAAR has increasingly broadened its geographic focus in a wide range of interdisciplinary studies of Quaternary and modern environments, research into geochronology, human and ecosystem ecology, hydrology, oceanography, landscape evolution, biogeochemistry, and climate. INSTAAR's national and international research leadership in these areas is augmented by exceptional strength in graduate education as well as the exposure of undergraduates to the research process, and by outreach to the public both locally and nationally.

THE DIRECTORATE
The Institute is governed by a Directorate composed of the following voting members: Director, Associate Director, Director of the Mountain Research Station, Fellows, Teaching Faculty, Research Faculty (Research Scientists: RS II and above; Research Professors). The Administrative Officer, the Assistant to the Director, Emeriti, Librarian, Managing Editor of Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, Systems Administrator, Web Master, and one representative each from the Graduate Students, Professional Scientists, and Post-Doctoral Fellows (RS-I) serve as non-voting members. The Directorate is responsible for designing, initiating, and carrying out the research and educational programs of the Institute, for ensuring continuity in the nature of the scientific tasks and in the resources for conducting them, and for coordinating the work with the relevant external organizations.

INSTAAR IS DIVIDED UP INTO THREE THEMES
Each area has a representative who attends monthly Executive Committee meetings:

Ecosystem Science
Geophysics
Past Global Change

INSTAAR has faculty from seven different departments:

Anthropology
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Environmental Studies
Geography
Geological Sciences

GRADUATE STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

SEMINAR ATTENDANCE
INSTAAR offers two seminar series: Monday Noon Seminars and Graduate Student Seminars. Your attendance is highly recommended at both.

Monday Noon Seminar: A primary means of interaction for professional scientists is through seminars, both attending and presenting public talks. INSTAAR offers a weekly brown bag seminar series, where students have the opportunity to hear state of the science lectures from local and international speakers on a wide variety of topics. Attending the seminar series and interacting with speakers is an integral part of the INSTAAR graduate education. Monday Noon Seminars, as can be inferred, are held on Mondays at 12:00 noon in RL-3, room 620.

Graduate Student Seminar: The graduate student seminars are an informal gathering of graduate students, faculty and researchers to listen to talks given by fellow graduate students. Many of the talks will be about the progress of their theses, but every graduate student will be encouraged to give some sort of talk each year and will be able to pick the topic and the length of their talk. This is a wonderful opportunity to practice giving talks and gain experience as a presenter.

VOLUNTEERING IN THE READING ROOM / INFORMATION CENTER
Students are encouraged to volunteer for one hour working in the Information Center during their time at INSTAAR. This helps the library keep up with demand despite its part-time staff. Feel free to chat with Shelly Sommer (RL 1 Room 253, across from the Information Center, phone number 2-1867) to set up a time. Any student that volunteers gets a thesis copy bound for free!

REPRESENTATION ON THE DIRECTORATE
The graduate students have one or two elected representatives on the Directorate. The chosen representative(s) attends all of the Directorate meetings, and while they are not voting members of the directorate, they are considered the “voice” of the graduate students. They will be asked to report any important information from the directorate meeting on to the other graduate students, and vice versa.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
As a graduate student, you are considered an employee of the University of Colorado and thus expected to fulfill University training requirements.

Environmental Health and Safety Training: If you work in a lab, especially with chemicals, you must complete certain Environmental Health and Safety training courses. Speak with your lab proctor to determine what courses will be required for you, and visit http://ehs.colorado.edu/Training/training.html for training courses and schedules.

Discrimination and Harassment Training: In order to create a positive learning, working and living environment, the University of Colorado wants to provide an atmosphere free of discrimination and harassment based upon race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, religion, creed, sexual orientation, disability, and veteran status. In an effort to create such an environment, University of Colorado at Boulder (UCB) staff and student employees are required to attend a discrimination and harassment workshop within their first 30 days of employment.Training courses are offered twice a month. For more information on the training or to find a schedule of training times, visit http://www.colorado.edu/odh/training.html#training

GETTING STARTED

GETTING YOUR GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT (GRA) APPOINTMENT STARTED
In order to get your GRA appointment properly arranged, you and your faculty advisor/supervisor must fill out an “INSTAAR Request for Personnel Action for New Employees” form, more commonly known as the “Yellow” form. Your advisor/supervisor should be able to show you where these can be found. Please make sure to fill out as much information on the form as possible, such as office number, email address, key requests, etc. (See below for advice on how to obtain this information.)

In order to process this form, it must contain your faculty advisor or supervisor’s signature.

Also note that if any of your personal information, such as address or phone number, change during your time at INSTAAR, you will want to log on to your https://my.cu.edu/ account and go to the tab labeled, “My.Self Service” to update your information.

Once your yellow form is completely filled out, it is time to meet with your Accounting Technician. Your Accounting Technician will be the person who will handle the financial side of things for you while you are at INSTAAR. They will be able to guide you through travel, purchasing, and any payroll questions you have. In your initial meeting with your Account Tech, he or she will get you set up in the system. They will get you your hiring paperwork including your W4, I-9, and direct deposit forms which you will need to bring over to RL-3 (your I-9 will go to room 369 and your W4 and direct deposit form will go to the 6th floor reception area). You will need to bring two forms of ID (including one picture ID and one document proving your eligibility to work in the US, such as a birth certificate or social security card) for your I-9 (which will be certified face-to-face in RL-3). You will also need to bring a voided check to submit with the Direct Deposit form because all CU employees are required to sign up for direct deposit. If you do not have a check or checking account, you will need to bring a memo from your financial institution with the information for the account where your money will be deposited.

OFFICE SPACE
Your faculty advisor should have a space available for you close to the time of your arrival. However, if you have any space inquiries don’t hesitate to speak to either your faculty advisor or to the Associate Director who is in charge of INSTAAR’s office space arrangements.

Write your office number down on the yellow form prior to submitting it to you Accounting Technician.

PHONE
There will most likely be an existing telephone and telephone line hooked up in your office when you arrive, but in the event that there is not, contact either your faculty advisor or the Assistant to the Director who acts as INSTAAR’s phone liaison.

If your position requires you to make long distance phone calls, you will need a long distance calling code. Have your faculty advisor contact the Assistant to the Director and he or she will be able to make the arrangements for you to get a code. The code you are issued is specific to you as an individual and is not to be shared. It is also the code that will allow you to make long distance faxes.

If possible, write your phone number down on the yellow form prior to submitting it to your Accounting Technician.

EMAIL
A Colorado email address is generally assigned to you once you are enrolled at the University of Colorado. If you were an undergraduate student at CU, your old email address is usually reinstated for you once you return for graduate school.

If you have any difficulties accessing your email or have any questions concerning your account, please see the Assistant to the Director.

If possible, write your email address on the yellow form prior to submitting it to your Accounting Technician.

BUFFONECARD
During your new student orientation, you will be given the opportunity to get your Buff OneCard. You will need your Buff One to get keys, gain after hour building access and to obtain your eco pass through CU.

If you do not already have a Buff OneCard, or you need to replace a lost or stolen card, go to room 182 in Willard Hall. You will need to bring a government issued picture ID, such as a driver’s license or passport to verify your identity and it is very helpful to know your student or employee ID number. Generally, students receive their first Buff One Card for free, but if you are replacing your old one, you may need to pay between $5 and $25 depending on the circumstances.

Note: The Buff OneCard office is located in Willard Hall which can be found behind the Regent Building on the Northeast side of Broadway and Regent.

MAILBOX
Once all of the information has been processed and you are added into the system, the Accounting Technician will pass a copy of the yellow form to the Administrative Assistant in the front office. If requested on the yellow form, the Administrative Assistant will create a mailbox for you in the hallway outside of room 267.

If a mailbox was not requested at the time of hire and you find that you need one later down the road, speak with the front office Administrative Assistant to have him or her set one up for you.

KEYS
As with the mailboxes, there is a section on the yellow form to request keys. Once the Accounting Technician has passed a copy of the yellow form to the Administrative Assistant, he or she will prepare a Key Record card to issue you keys. He or she will require your Buff OneCard in order to complete the Key Record card.

Your Faculty Advisor’s signature is required on the yellow form before keys are issued. In the event that your advisor is absent, an email from your advisor will suffice.

If you are being issued a key for a lab other than your Faculty Advisor’s, you must obtain a signature from the person in charge of that lab.

Make sure you are requesting all of the keys you require at one time.

Take your Buff OneCard and your Key Record card to Access Services on the main campus. Located in the main east entrance to the Stadium (room 1B11), Access Services will make you the requested keys.

Please note that it takes 24 to 48 hours for your Buff One to become active after it is issued. Therefore, if you have just received your Buff OneCard, you may want to hold off on taking your Key Record card to Access Services for a day or two.

Once you have received your key, return the bottom copy of the Key Reccord card to the Administrative Assistant.

AFTER HOURS BUILDING ACCESS
Gaining after hours building access is fairly simple. Bring your Buff One card to either the Administrative Assistant or the Systems Administrator and they will be able to grant you access. You should address any issues with getting in to the building after hours with either of them as well.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

SENDING MAIL
To send a piece of mail to another on-campus location, write the recipient’s name, their campus box number, and their department on the envelope and place it in the box labeled, “Campus Mail” in the copy room, room 246A.

To send a piece of mail to an off-campus location, address the envelope as you would for any other piece of mail. Instead of placing a stamp in the upper right-hand corner of the envelope, write the speedtype to which you would like to charge the postage cost. (A speedtype is a number representing an account. Speak to your Faculty Advisor about what account you should use and when it is appropriate for you to use it.) You can then place the envelope in the box labeled, “Domestic & Foreign Mail.” Please do not place any postage on the envelope before placing it in the mail bin.

If you would like to send a personal letter, or you are sending a stamped piece of mail, there are blue USPS drop boxes on the southeast corner of RL-1.

Mailing services generally picks mail up between 11am and 1pm.

RECIEVING MAIL
When using UPS or FedEx, please have mail sent to:
Your Name
INSTAAR
1560 30th Street
Boulder, CO 80303

When using USPS, please have mail sent to:
Your Name
INSTAAR
1560 30th St., 450 UCB
University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, CO 80309-0450

It is important to make sure that you include your name on all mail and packages that will be sent to INSTAAR as it can be quite time consuming to find the rightful owner of a package when there is no name attached to it.

Mailing services generally drops off mail between 11am and 1pm. It is usually distributed to mailboxes by 3pm.

Packages delivered to INSTAAR can be found under the mailboxes. If a package has arrived for you, you will find an orange strip of paper in your mailbox that reads, “Package Below.”

INSTAAR EMAIL LISTS
As an employee at INSTAAR, you will be added to INSTAAR’s group email lists. There are several different lists to which you could be attached, depending on your position. For example, as a graduate student, you would be added to the INSTAAR wide list (which goes out to everyone involved with INSTAAR), INSTAAR Local list (which goes out to everyone located in RL-1 and RL-3), and the INSTAAR Grad list (which goes out to all of INSTAAR’s graduate students).

If you are a member of any of these lists, you will be able to both send and receive emails to and from all other members of the lists. It is a wonderful way to stay informed about opportunities and notifications that may pertain to you.

If you would like to be added or removed to any specific lists, please contact the Systems Administrator or the front office Administrative Assistant.

FAX MACHINE
There are two INSTAAR fax machines available for general use; one in RL-1, and one in RL-3. The fax in RL-1 is located in the copy/break room, room 246A. The copier in RL-3 is located in the kitchen, room 278.

Fax Numbers:
RL-1: (303) 492-6388
RL-3 (303) 735-8180

On-campus and local faxes are free to both send and receive.

Long distance faxes require a long-distance code. Please contact your faculty advisor/supervisor to obtain a long-distance code if you do not already have one, but need one.

There are directions on how to use the fax machine posted directly above or next to it.

If you have any issues sending a fax, please do not hesitate to contact the Administrative Assistant in room 265, or call at 2-6387.

Paper for the fax machine is supplied by the front office. If the fax machine is ever in need of paper, please see the Administrative Assistant in the front office for more.

COPIER MACHINE
There are two INSTAAR copy machines available for general use; one in RL-1, and one in RL-3. The copier in RL-1 is located in the copy/break room, room 246A. The copier in RL-3 is located in the kitchen, room 278.

The copier requires a copier code for access. The opening screen will prompt you to type in your Department ID and Password. Your Department ID is the speedtype you wish to use minus the first “1.” For example, if your speedtype is 12955555, you would enter 2955555. Type in your Department ID and press the “ID” button, located below and to the left of the numbers, to log in. There is no password.

Please consult your Faculty Advisor to determine which speedtype you should use for your copies.

If you are having difficulties getting your speedtype to work, please see or call the administrative assistant in room 265 (at phone number 2-6387) for help.

Copies are $0.05 per copy and will be charged to the speedtype at the end of the month.

Paper for the copier is supplied by the front office. If the copier is ever in need of paper, please see the Administrative Assistant in the front office for more.

INSTAAR DIRECTORY
As an employee at INSTAAR, you will also be added to the INSTAAR directory. Your information for the directory is obtained from your yellow form, including your office and phone numbers.

The front office administrative assistant is responsible for keeping the directory current, so if you would ever like to update/change your information, please notify him or her of your changes. You may also contact the administrative assistant if you would like a copy of the directory for yourself.

USING THE PLOTTER
The Systems Administrator is responsible for using the plotter to create large posters. Please contact him or her if you are interested in printing a poster.

For more information, please refer to http://instaar.colorado.edu/other/computing_super.html

THESIS BINDING
Thesis binding: The best deal for thesis binding is to bring copies to the Information Center (RL 1, Room 281). They are sent out with the rest of our library binding at cost ($8.35 per volume as of May 2009).

Please submit a print or digital copy of your thesis or dissertation to the Information Center. These are important parts of our archival collection, and future students will use them. INSTAAR will pay to have an Information Center copy bound.

PURCHASING AND TRAVEL
Purchasing: There are several different ways to make purchases at the University including with a procurement card or with a purchase order. Your accounting technician will be your guide with any purchase that you make as to assure that you abide by all University rules and regulations. Please consult with your accounting technician about your options when needing to make a purchase.

Travel: Your accounting technician will also be your contact when booking travel. He or she will most likely be the one to fill out your Travel Authorization Form prior to your departure, and your Travel Voucher at your return. As with general purchasing, there are many rules and regulations surrounding travel at the University, so it is quite important that you speak with your accounting technician prior to booking any travel.

RESERVING CONFERENCE/MEETING ROOMS, PROJECTORS, LASER POINTERS, AND CONFERENCE CALL PHONES
There are three conference rooms in INSTAAR available for use.

RL-1, Room 269: This is the largest of INSTAAR’s meeting rooms. There are two tables and roughly 50 chairs in the room that can be arranged in a number of different ways. The room has a white-erase board, a projector screen, a TV with VCR and DVD player, and conference phone capabilities.

RL-1, Room 233 (Mort Turner Room): This room holds one large table with ten chairs around it. There is a chalkboard and a projector screen. It is ideal for small group meetings.

RL-3, Room 248: When completely opened up, this room can house seven tables and fit approximately 35 people. There is a partition in the middle of room, so that when closed, it can work as two smaller meeting areas. There are white boards and projector screens on either end of the room, or one in each of rooms if it is closed off

If you need to reserve a conference/meeting room, projector, laser pointer, or conference call phone, please contact the administrative assistant in room 265. Advance notice is appreciated.

The administrative assistant will be able to open the doors for you and/or give you the items that you will require on the date of your request.

PARKING
Unfortunately there is no free parking on East Campus. However, you have a couple of options if you would like to park a vehicle on east campus:

Purchase a Parking Permit: Visit http://www.colorado.edu/parking/parking/ and click on the Student Parking link for information on the different types of permits available for students. You may also click on the link for Online Services to purchase a permit on line.

Park at a parking meter: There are parking meters located in the parking lots south of RL-1 and RL-3, as well as running along Marine Street to the north side of RL-1 and RL-3. Meters and Parking Pay Stations run from 7:30am to 5:00pm and cost $1.50/hour. Generally there is a 4 hour time limit for them, so you would not be able to park in the same spot for the entire work day. After 5pm, most campus meter and Pay Station parking is free.

Temporary Parking Passes: You can purchase temporary parking passes through parking services. You can get a permit for a day, a week, or an entire month. Visit parking services at their location on Regent Drive to purchase the temporary parking passes.

To find more information on parking options, visit http://www.colorado.edu/parking/parking/

TRANSPORTATION
There is much to offer in the way of transportation around Boulder, and the University of Colorado makes it even cheaper and easier to get around.

RTD Buses: Students and employees of the University of Colorado receive buss passes allowing free bus transportation around Front Range area RTD routes. Busses can take you almost anywhere you need to go around Boulder and surrounding areas and there is even a bus route devoted to transporting passengers between East Campus and Main Campus (the Stampede Bus – picks up on Marine St. in front of RL-3).

Bicycles: Boulder is also a wonderful place to own a bike. Both environmentally friendly and inexpensive, Boulder and the University of Colorado campus makes it very easy to get around. If you intend to get around campus on your bike, you must first register it with the University of Colorado. It is a one time charge of $10 and that lasts for as long as you have the bike. Visit http://www.colorado.edu/parking/commuting/bike for more information.

CU also helps coordinate van and carpools for people making a commute to the University. For more information, visit http://www.colorado.edu/parking/commuting/carpool

For more information on transportation, please visit http://www.colorado.edu/parking/commuting

COMPLAINTS
Should you find yourself in a situation in which you would like to file a complaint, there are several options. When deciding with whom to meet, first consider who would be the most appropriate resource and schedule an appointment. Following are some options of people you may wish to contact:

o Meet with your supervisor
o Meet with your Graduate Student Representative
o Meet with your Department Graduate Advisor
o Meet with the Director of INSTAAR
o Meet with the one of the various resources on campus (Judicial Affairs, Office of Harassment and Discrimination, CUPD, etc.) Visit http://www.colorado.edu/ralphie/ and look under Health and Safety or Miscellaneous Services to find contact information for your desired service.