Fall Semester 2014
Academic Orientation Seminar for All New Graduate Students
& Co-terminal Students & New Teaching Assistant Seminar
Schedule at a Glance
DATE
Wednesday, August 13
8:30am to 12:00pm
Thursday, August 14
8:30am to 2:30pm
Friday, August 15
8:30 am to 12:30pm
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
Location
All International Teaching Assistants
who are not US citizens or
Permanent Residents
Location: Heffner Alumni House
All International Teaching Assistants
who are not US citizens or
Permanent Residents
Location: Darrin Communications
Center (DCC) 345
PROGRAM
International TA Training
SPEAK TEST
Current Rensselaer students may take
the SPEAK test during the summer.
Please contact Jeannie Steigler, ESL
Coordinator at 276-6820 or
e-mail at steigj2@rpi.edu
All New Teaching Assistants
Location: Darrin Communications
Center (DCC) Room 308
All New Teaching Assistants
Location: See individual schedules
provided at Friday’s registration
All New Teaching Assistants
Location: See individual schedules
provided at Friday’s registration
Teaching Assistant Training
Wednesday, August 20
All New Students & New Teaching
Assistants
Thursday, August 21
8:30am to 12:00pm
All New Students
Location: Darrin Communications
Center (DCC) 308
Available for Individual Department
Orientations –
Check with your department.
General Academic Orientation
1:00pm to 5:00pm
All New Students & New Teaching
Assistants
Monday, August 18
9:00am to 11:00am
Tuesday, August 19*
9:00am to 12:00pm
or
Archer Center- Presentation
Skill Development
Teaching Assistant Training –
*Half-day session, see note below.
1:00 to 4:00pm
Available for Individual Department
Orientations
Check with your department.
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Friday, August 22
8:30am to 11:30am
International Student Orientation
All New International & Exchange
Students – Check with the ISSS Office
for location.
1:00pm to 5:00pm
All New Students & New Teaching
Assistants
Available for Individual Department
Orientations
Check with your department.
5:30pm to 7:30pm
Community Welcome Festival
Location TBA, check events calendar.
Saturday, August 23
New International Students
Contact ISSS Office for any planned
Events.
Monday, August 25
All students
Classes begin
*For Tuesday, August 19 you will be assigned to either a morning session or an afternoon
session. Your room will be the same as for Monday’s Archer Center session, assigned at
check-in.
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Fall Semester 2014
Academic Orientation Seminar for All New Graduate Students
& Co-terminal Students
August 21, Thursday – DCC 308
8:00 AM
Check-in
9:00 – 9:15 AM
Welcoming Remarks & Introductions
9:15 AM –12:00 PM
Presentations from Health Center; Registrar’s Office; Center
for Communication Practices; Career Development Center;
Human Resources for Harassment Prevention; and Office of
Technology Commercialization.

You will need to register for the program online at RPI Student Information System.
Register for ADMN 6700.

You must attend the program in its entirety, and also complete the online sections accessed
at RPI Learning Management System. More details will follow regarding the required online
portion.

The Academic Orientation appears on your transcript as a zero-credit required course, and
receives a Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory grade.

There is no cost to register or attend.
General Information for All New Graduate Students
Travel, Housing, and Employment Verification
Travel to Rensselaer
The Institute is located in the City of Troy in New York State. Troy is about twenty minutes by car
from the city of Albany. Albany is about one hour from New York City by plane or 3 hours by bus,
train or car.
The Rensselaer Graduate Community at City Station
This Rensselaer graduate student housing option is located off campus and is provided through an
affiliation with a private developer. It is exclusively for Rensselaer graduate students, and above,
(post doctoral fellows and visiting scholars also are eligible,) who are single, have families, or are
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married. The housing community is located one block from the southwestern edge of campus. The
facility consists of three neighboring buildings - City Station West and City Station East (for
singles) and City Station South (for families and married Rensselaer students).
Singles Housing
The units in City Station West and City Station East are fully furnished; two, three and four bedroom
units, each with a private bedroom and private bathroom for each resident, in-room internet and
cable at no extra cost; free shuttle service to and from RPI; 24-hour security monitoring; common
study and gathering areas; dishwashers; air conditioning; an on-site exercise facility; free parking;
and street level restaurants and retail stores. Family and married units in City Station South
provide the same amenities, but are unfurnished, offer one, two, or three bedroom single-family
units, and residents have free access to the City Station East exercise facility.
Full details on City Station West, City Station East and City Station South are provided here:
http://gradoffice.rpi.edu/update.do?catcenterkey=32. You may also contact Dennis Gornic,
Associate Dean, in the Office of Graduate Education at dgornic@rpi.edu.
Family and Married Student Housing
Please note that Rensselaer-affiliated housing family and married student housing is provided only
through City Station South. Contact Dennis Gornic, dgornic@rpi.edu, for information on RPI family
and married housing, or visit http://gradoffice.rpi.edu/update.do?catcenterkey=32
On-campus - Rensselaer single graduate students also have on campus residence opportunities.
(City Station is considered an off-campus facility). To learn about the availability of on-campus
housing units contact Residence Education at (518) 276-6284 or res_life@rpi.edu. Information is
also available at Residential Education.
Students may also search the off camp[us database http://rpi.jumpoffcampus.com/, which
provides access to available apartments near campus. Note that City Station is Rensselaer-affiliated
housing so it is not listed in the off-campus housing database.
Employment Verification
If you will be a Teaching Assistant or Research Assistant, please note that you are considered by the
United States government to be an employee of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. As such,
Rensselaer (as an employer) is required to examine original documents needed to authorize your
employment. You will find the Employment Verification System (EVS) information at: RPI Human
Resources
Please make sure you arrive on campus with the necessary EVS documentation.
Page 4 of 8
For New Teaching Assistants Only
TA Training Seminar – (ADMN 6800)

All new TAs must attend the training program in its entirety.

Previous experience at another university does not waive the training seminar requirement.

Registration is required – one registration covers all sessions. There is no cost to register or
attend. The TA Training Seminar appears on your transcript as a zero-credit required
course, and receives a Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) grade.

Please register for the course online through the SIS - (ADMN 6800, TA Training Seminar,).
Once you have logged in you can find the course through the Class Search (Subject –
Administrative Courses; Course Number – ADMN-6800/CRN-27512) or through the
Register Add/Drop page.

PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER UNLESS YOU HAVE RECEIVED AN AWARD LETTER FROM
YOUR DEPARTMENT CONFIRMING YOUR TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIP
Seminar Assignment - The Six-Minute Presentation
Prior to arriving for the training seminar, please draft a presentation using the following
information as a guide.
Program Description
On Friday, the first day of TA training, we provide a short preparatory Q and A session on the
presentation assignment. On Monday, you will give your presentation and receive input from your
fellow group members. On Tuesday, you will repeat your presentation to the same group
incorporating your facilitator’s and your group’s suggestions for improvement.
Evaluation metrics are composition, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and nonverbal
components - eye contact, physical movements, composure and self-confidence. Your group is, in
essence, a practice audience that will provide an objective perspective of your presentation. Each
member helps evaluate the other, so everyone engages in the process as both a presenter and an
evaluator.
Topic Selection and Presentation Format



Select a topic from a sophomore level within your discipline.
Students in your group represent various disciplines, so please develop your talk
accordingly.
Develop your presentation in the style of a TEDtalk, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_
retrieved 2012), here are a few of the many examples you will find at these sites:
Building Blocks that Blink Beep and Teach
Where Good Ideas Come From by Steve Johnson
Richard St. John's 8 Secrets of Success
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The length of your talk must be BETWEEN FIVE and SIX MINUTES. Time does not permit longer
talks, so please practice and time your talk in advance.
Your presentation should contain:



Images to punctuate your message,
Very little printed text,
A flowing, well-rehearsed narrative.
Power Point works very well for this assignment. You are not expected to reproduce the
technological or content quality of a TED Talk, but rather to synchronize your narrative to a visual
montage, in the TED Talk presentation style. By using more than one means of message
conveyance, you are giving your audience more than one means of comprehending and recalling
your topic. Please avoid formulas and complex graphs, use words and images instead.
A desktop computer will be provided for portable storage devices or internet connection, or you
may bring your own laptop. Any questions please email me at dgornic@rpi.edu.

You will have three short online assignments following the seminar. These will extend
over the entire semester, but will be spaced apart to allow for completion at a
protracted pace. You will receive an “S” grade for completing all the assignments. You
will receive a “U” grade for not completing, which will result in a ‘hold’ on your
registration.
For international TAs - A note on Language Testing
Most new teaching assistants for whom English is a second language must take the SPEAK Test of
oral proficiency to assess oral communication skills. Please note that previous TA experience at
another university does not necessarily waive this requirement. The test takes approximately 20
minutes. Please contact Jeannie Steigler, Associate Director & ESL Coordinator, Advising &
Learning Assistance Center, at (518) 276-6820 or e-mail steigj2@rpi.edu.
TA & Orientation Program Contacts
Office of Graduate Education
Trina Beaudoin, Administrative Assistant to the Vice Provost & Dean of Graduate Education,
beaudp@rpi.edu, 518-276-8433
Graduate Orientation
Connie Grega, Assistant Director, gregac@rpi.edu
TA Training
Dennis Gornic, Associate Dean, dgornic@rpi.edu.
International Services for Students and Scholars
518-276-6561
English as a Second Language
Jeannie Steigler, Associate Director & ESL Coordinator, Advising & Learning Assistance Center,
(518) 276-6820 or e-mail steigj2@rpi.edu
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SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE – Preliminary, (dates and times will not change); your presentation
room assignment will be provided at check-in.
TEACHING ASSISTANT TRAINING PROGRAM FALL 2014
Attendance is mandatory for all new TAs
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13
INTERNATIONAL TAs ONLY
Heffner Alumni House
(Domestic TAs, Please skip to Friday, August 15)
8:30 AM
Registration and language testing sign-up
Beverages & pastries will be provided
9:00 - 9:10 AM
Welcoming Comments
Mr. Dennis Gornic, Associate Dean,
Graduate Student Ombudsman
The Office of Graduate Education
9:10 - 10:00 AM
Transitioning Issues and Activities
Ms. Christine Allard, Associate Director
Archer Center for Student Leadership Development
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
“Teaching Rensselaer Undergraduates”
Ms. Jeannie Steigler, Associate Director
& Coordinator of English as a Second Language Program (ESL) Advising & Learning
Assistance Center
THURSDAY, AUGUST 14
INTERNATIONAL TAs ONLY
8:30 AM – 2:30 PM
LANGUAGE TESTING
Room TBA
Individual student testing – your test time will be assigned at Wednesday check-in.
Individual testing times are approximately 20 minutes long.
Please arrive at DCC 345 ten minutes prior to your testing time. Test results can take 1 to 5
days. You will be notified by email when your scores are ready.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 15
ALL NEW TAs
8:30 AM
ALL NEW INTERNATIONAL & DOMESTIC TAs
DCC Room 308
Registration - Beverages & pastries will be provided
9:00 - 9:15 AM
Welcoming Comments, Program Overview
Dr. Stanley Dunn, Vice Provost & Dean
The Office of Graduate Education
9:15 -10:00 AM
Harassment Prevention and First Responder Awareness
Mr. Larry Hardy, Director
Mr. Will Fahey, Manager, Professional Development
Rensselaer Division of Human Resources
10:00 - 10:45 AM
Academic Integrity, TA Training Exercises
10:50 - 11:00 AM
Ms. Christine Allard, Associate Director,
Archer Center for Student Leadership Development
Introduction to Archer Center services and
preview of Monday’s presentation skill development workshop.
MONDAY, AUGUST 18
9:00 – 11:00 AM
Presentation Skill Development Workshops
Archer Center for Student Leadership Development
Room TBA
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 19
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
Room TBA
(You will be assigned to either a 9 AM to 12PM session, or a 1 to 4 PM session)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20
DEPARTMENTAL ORIENTATIONS
PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR DEPARTMENT
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21
8:00 AM – 12 PM
NEW GRADUATE STUDENT ACADEMIC ORIENTATION
Registration. Beverages and a light snack will be provided.
MANDATORY FOR ALL NEW GRADUATE STUDENTS
DCC Room 308
FRIDAY, AUGUST 22
8:30 – 11:30 AM
INTERNATIONAL ORIENTATION
International Services for Students and Scholars
Location TBA
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