For Students
Dear Students,
Though it has been so since 1992, I was today-years-old when I learned that April is recognized as Stress Awareness Month. The timing seems quite apt for college students, as we enter into the final month of the semester, heading toward final exams. My guess is that I don’t need to convince you of how stressful college life can be. If I include my own four years of college, I have been in higher education for forty years. It seems like each year stress levels get higher and higher, with stressors coming from both within and outside the academic world. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our work lives and our personal lives. Climate change poses an existential challenge. Every year the divisiveness that characterizes our political discourse seems to intensify, making it harder and harder to talk across our differences. Economic uncertainties abound. Technological advances offer both challenges and opportunities.
And then there are all the pressures of being a college student, whether they be academic, financial, social, familial, or others.
It may not always be obvious, but I want to assure you that your faculty are aware of the stressfulness of your lives. They may show their concern, their compassion, and their support in different ways. And they may not always show it in the most obvious fashion. But make no mistake, we all want you to succeed during your time at Brandeis. And by that I don’t only mean academic success, but success in the broadest sense, success in living a fulfilling, satisfying life that is filled with learning but also with joy, with friendship, with love, and with meaning.
Not all of us are very good at asking for help when we need it. I am certainly not all that good at it. But it’s important to remember that seeking help is not a sign of weakness. It is, in fact, a sign of strength and resilience. There are lots of resources out there for you, starting with your professors, but extending well beyond them to include Academic Services, which provides advising and other academic support, the Brandeis Counseling Center, where you can find mental health support in a variety of different forms, the Center for Spiritual Life, which houses our chaplaincies and religious organizations, the Dean of Students Office, which provides resources to cultivate a community of care and a sense of belonging, the Gender and Sexuality Center, which provides support for women and members of the LGBTQ+ community, and the Intercultural Center, which provides a nurturing and inclusive haven for historically minoritized communities.
Please remember to take care of yourselves and one another, too. Take the breaks you need from your schoolwork. Make sure you remember to eat—and not just the junk food that’s so tempting! Exercise is important, but it doesn’t just have to be an intensive 45-minute cardio workout or a session with the weights. Go for walks—the weather is starting to warm up and spring in New England is a wonderful time to be outdoors. Put your headphones on, play your favorite music, and dance like no one is watching. Take the train into Boston and spend some time at one of its many wonderful art museums. Go catch a Red Sox game at Fenway (though that may actually raise your stress level a bit).
Wishing you all a successful end of the semester.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey
URCC News
The URCC can help you get involved in an academic research project or creative project through opportunities such as paid research assistants, research grants and fellowships, and research for course credit. Start exploring your options now! Connect with Brandeis faculty and funding sources in the ForagerOne Brandeis research opportunities database.
Save the Date! Thursday, May 2, 2024 from Noon to 5 PM
Come see your fellow students display their research and creative work in presentations, posters, exhibits and more!
Presenter Deadlines
Submit your abstract by Monday, April 15 at 5:00PM
Posters due for Printing by Wednesday, April 24 at 5:00 PM - The submission will be available at a later time. If you are presenting a poster and have questions, please contact urcc@brandeis.edu.
Powerpoint Presentations submitted by Monday, April 29 - The submission will be available at a later time.
Are you an undergraduate who wants to learn how to get involved in a faculty-mentored research or creative project at Brandeis?Have you recently started or will soon begin work on a research or creative project?
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Students interested in research can now contact a URCC Peer Research Mentor for advice.
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Peer Research Mentors can advise you on funding applications and preparing a talk or poster for the URCC Symposium.
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Interested students can sign up for the URCC Friday mailing to receive timely updates and updates on future workshops.
The Jerome A. Schiff Undergraduate Fellowships supports full-year student research, creative, or pedagogical projects with mentorship from Brandeis research faculty. The application for 2024-2025 awards opens in early March, with a deadline of 6 PM ET on April 10, 2024.
Academic News
Complete some of your courses over the summer through Brandeis Summer School. Brandeis Summer 2024 classes will be offered in multiple modalities: Traditional On-Campus classes in Waltham, Online via live Zoom sessions, and Online Asynchronous courses. See Summer Session dates as registration information on the Brandeis Summer School website.
Additional information can be found on the Registrar's website under Registration Information for Undergraduate and Graduate Students.
Student Support
February 27, 2024
The Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC) is now offer a drop-in support group for supporting undergraduate and graduate students who are in recovery. The group will meet on Fridays from 12:00-1:00 PM in the Brandeis Counseling Center beginning March 1, 2024. To sign up - or if you simply have a question - please email the student contact, Robbie at robertgold@brandeis.edu or email BCC staff member Addie at awyman@brandeis.edu.
March 4, 2024
The Library's Research Excellence Prize recognizes students who apply sophisticated information literacy skills to the selection, evaluation, and synthesis of sources for a
research project. The Library has prizes in nine different categories:
- Community-engaged research, offered in partnership with the Samuels ’63 Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation (COMPACT). Community-engaged research typically addresses the questions, issues, and/or needs of a community partner — whether at the local, state, regional, national, or global level.
- Student research related to racism and anti-racism. This award is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Dissertations are not eligible for this award.
Climate change-related research. This award is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Dissertations are not eligible for this award. - Research completed in a University Writing Seminar (UWS).
- Research completed by an undergraduate student outside of UWS.
- Research completed for an undergraduate senior thesis.
- Research completed by a graduate student. Dissertations are not eligible for this award.
- Research that makes use of materials in the Brandeis University Archives & Special Collections. This award is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Dissertations are not eligible for this award.
- Digital research project. Examples include research presented through data visualization, mapping, story maps, digital storytelling tools, or multimedia. Both standalone digital projects and those that accompany a research paper will be considered.
The application deadline is May 14, 2024.
February 1, 2024
Sign up for a 30-minute, one-on-one financial literacy session!
Student Financial Services can answer questions about budgeting, managing debt, understanding your paycheck, W-2’s, and more. Use their online tool to book an appointment today!
Student Projects & Research
February 16, 2024
Jonathan Anjaria, Associate Professor of Anthropology and GSAS’s Faculty Director of Professional Development, and Moriah King, PhD student in Anthropology, published the essay “Enabling Community-Engaged and Public-Facing PhDs'' in the American Council of Learned Societies report Preparing Publicly Engaged Scholars, which came out on February 1, 2024.
February 12, 2024
Joseph Weisberg is a third-year PhD student in History. His research focuses on eighteenth-century Sephardic merchant Aaron Lopez and his descendants in order to trace their intergenerational legacies of Judaism and slavery from colonial Newport to Confederate South Carolina. He joined Geeking Out With…to talk about his passion for his research and how it has taken shape over the past few years.
February 7, 2024
Brandeis' newest undergraduate academic journal, Simpliciter is slated for publication this spring semester, following months of planning and work by its dedicated editorial team.