Dear Graduate Students and their Advisors, Mentors, Instructors and Supervisors,
As you well know, the last two weeks have been extraordinary and required rapid decisions and execution of those decisions by the Clarkson community. Every member of the Clarkson community and every aspect of Clarkson activities has been impacted. I am proud of how our graduate students have collectively and individually risen to face these challenges.
Graduate students face unique challenges in making the transition to and coping with the new conditions. Graduate Advisors, Mentors, Instructors and Supervisors need to be aware of and sensitive to this and have realistic, sensitive, and fair expectations. Graduate students live off-campus, often in small apartments and on a tight budget, and may not have internet or a home computer; few will have a dedicated office space at home. Many graduate students have families, including dependent children and elderly relatives. Many of our international graduate students are from places that are currently ravaged by COVID-19, and are preoccupied with concerns about family members back home. Graduate students face significant financial and logistic challenges at accessing physical and mental health care. Given all the uncertainty and disruption, graduate students are naturally stressed about their degree progress, and what their future opportunities may be. This on top of the typical stresses of graduate study, well-known to be one of the most stressful activities a person will experience in life.
Here, I would like to provide some
norms and expectations of graduate students and their advisors, mentors, instructors
and supervisors, and some resources for graduate students to turn to when in
need.
Graduate
Research: Graduate students, like faculty members, are expected to
continue to make progress on their research. This is an opportunity for
literature reviews, data analysis, writing and editing thesis chapters etc. Graduate advisers and supervisors must be
realistic in their expectations, and provide the resources needed to do
off-campus work. Graduate students are not required to have their own
computer or internet connection at home – if it is needed to do work, the
adviser should provide it if the graduate student doesn’t have it. OIT can help
with this. Graduate advisers and supervisors may not expect or request that
graduate students leave home or violate social distancing protocols merely to
get access to wifi or other research needs.
Graduate students and their advisers/supervisors need to discuss what the research goals and expectations for progress will be. These need to be clear, realistic, flexible, and sensitive to the other challenges that graduate students are facing. Graduate students who are TAs must devote additional time to mastering the art of online teaching. Graduate students who are taking courses will be dealing with additional learning challenges.
Graduate student home environments may not be very conducive to writing or data analysis. Research advisers must take these challenges into account when assigning goals or evaluating research progress.
Research advisors/supervisors can expect and should have periodic zoom meetings and updates on research goals and research progress – once a week is reasonable. But it is not reasonable to expect students working from home to be available and responsive to advisers 24 hours and seven days a week. Graduate students, like all people, need time to themselves for their other activities in life. Graduate students and their advisers should agree on “work hours” and restrict communication to those times and with reasonable expectations of response intervals. Frequent phoning, texting, and emails can be stressful, and absolutely should be avoided outside the expected work hours.
Graduate Teaching: Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) continue to be paid. Instructors need to be very clear on work assignments and expectations of. GTAs are learning new skills, and being asked to work from home environments that may not be conducive to online teaching. GTAs should communicate clearly to the instructors about concerns they have and challenges they face. Instructors should do the same. Both Instructors and GTAs should solicit feedback from students, and be flexible in teaching activities to meet student needs. This is a crash course in online education for instructors, GTAs, and students, and everyone should be flexible, understanding, and supportive – and work collectively to deliver and improve the quality or instruction.
Instructors must be realistic in their expectations, and provide the resources needed to do off-campus teaching. GTAs are not required to have their own computer or internet connection at home – if it is needed to do work, the adviser should provide it if the graduate student doesn’t have it. OIT can help with this. Instructors may not expect or request that graduate students leave home or violate social distancing protocols merely to get access to wifi or other teaching needs.
But it is not reasonable to expect students working from home to be available and responsive to instructors or students 24 hours and seven days a week. Graduate students, like all people, need time to themselves for their other activities in life. GTAs should agree on “work hours” and restrict communication to those times and with reasonable expectations of response intervals. Frequent phoning, texting, and emails can be stressful, and absolutely should be avoided outside the expected work hours.
Graduate Coursework: Graduate course instructors (GCIs) must be sensitive to the other stresses and work demands that graduate students are facing at this time. GCIs may consider adjusting course objectives, activities, and due dates to take into account the other challenges that graduate students are facing. It will be reasonable and appropriate to offer options of I (incomplete) grades for graduate students who find themselves behind due to health issues or the many challenges that they face this semester. The stress on students can be reduced by offering that as an option.
Resources and Recourse:
Graduate students and faculty members need to be aware of the resources available to graduate students who are struggling. Graduate students also need to know who they can contact if they have concerns that are not addressed by speaking to their advisor, supervisor, or instructor.
Financial Questions / Insecurity Concerns: We ask students who have questions relating to food or other insecurity needs to contact the Dean of Students Office by phone at 315-268-6620 or by email at deanofstudents@clarkson.edu. This office can facilitate appropriate referrals as needed.
Mental Health & Wellness: The Counseling Center staff remains available to support students. To speak with a counselor or to arrange an appointment, please call 315-268-6633 or email shac@clarkson.edu.
Medical Care: Students and families needing or seeking medical care should contact their own provider or call an Urgent Care facility (https://www.stlawrencehealthsystem.org/potsdam-urgent-care) or Canton Potsdam Hospital (https://www.stlawrencehealthsystem.org/). All health care facilities are asking that you call before going in person.
Student Services: Student support services are transitioning to remote-based appointments. We ask that you contact the office directly to schedule an appointment (i.e. Career Center, International Center, Graduate Coordinators, etc.).
Recourse: If a graduate student has a concern related to their advisor, supervisor, or other Clarkson faculty or staff member, and that concern hasn’t been or cannot be adequately addressed by speaking with the faculty or staff member, a graduate student has several people they can turn to.
(a) The Graduate Student Association representatives. They will listen, and take the concerns to the appropriate administrator. You may email gsa@clarkson.edu
(b) The Dean of the Graduate School (Kerop Janoyan kjanoyan@clarkson.edu ) , Graduate Program Director, Department Chair, or the deans and directors (Dean of Engineering – William Jemison, wjemison@clarkson.edu; Arts & Sciences – Tom Langen, tlangen@clarkson.edu; Business – Augustine Lado, alado@clarkson.edu; Institute for STEM Education – Peter Turner, pturner@clarkson.edu; Institute for a Sustainable Environment – Susan Powers, spowers@clarkson.edu). Each of these individuals is expected to be available and address graduate students’ concerns. A graduate student should contact the person they feel most comfortable communicating with.
(c) The Dean of Students, deanofstudents@clarkson.edu . His duties encompass graduate students, and he can contact the appropriate faculty or administrator.
(d) Graduate Student Association Advisor, Jeff Taylor AVP for Student Affairs & International Relations (jdtaylor@clarkson.edu).
(e) Chief Inclusion Officer, Jennifer Ball (jball@clarkson.edu, 315-268-3785).
Robyn Hannigan,
Provost
