Welcome to the start of the Spring 2021 semester. I hope you were able to enjoy the Winter Break.

Earlier this week, President Paxson shared that the University will be returning to a Level 1 status on November 18, which includes an all-remote mode for classes, while maintaining research activity and library operations at their current level.

As a reminder, you received an email on Monday, Nov. 9, that asked you to submit information about your plans to depart from or remain in Providence between semesters.

Thank you again for your continued good work in keeping the Brown community healthy and safe. We are writing with some reminders about where to find campus policies and resources, and information on academic deadlines for the Spring.

We hope that you are safe and healthy. This message contains important updates and provides details on some essential actions required of you so that the University can successfully prepare for the end of Fall 2020 and the start of Spring 2021.

The Graduate School, in collaboration with the Office of the Registrar and University Libraries, is making campus spaces available for graduate students serving as TAs and Teaching Fellows.

We hope you are well as we approach the fall semester. As part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the health and safety of the Brown University community, we write to outline important steps that you must take in order to remain enrolled for the fall semester.

Thank you again for your patience with the new two-stage pre-registration process.

Brown University Graduate School looks forward welcoming you to campus.

We are excited to welcome you for classes this Fall. We are writing to share with you detailed information about the course pre-registration process and the virtual shopping period for this upcoming semester.

Representatives from the Graduate School and the Office of the Provost recently met with leaders of the Graduate Student Council, Nabrit Black Graduate Student Association, and academic departments to discuss issues related to race and identity in the Brown community.

The 2020 Joukowsky Family Foundation Outstanding Dissertation Awards will be awarded to Madeline Bourque Kearin, Lu Lu, Erika Valdivieso and Hyeyoung Shin.

Each year the Graduate Student Council selects recipients for the Wilson-DeBlois and Bates-Clapp awards as a way to honor and thank staff members who have made outstanding contributions to graduate education at Brown. Marlina Duncan, Associate Dean of Diversity Initiatives and Assistant Vice President for Academic Diversity, receives the Wilson-DeBlois award. Carrie Nordlund,

One of the many ways graduate students connect to the broader Brown community is through teaching. The Excellence in Teaching Award acknowledges graduate students whose passion for teaching is recognized by their peers.

Lucas Baisch will receive the Master’s Award for professional excellence, Aakash Jhaveri will be recognized for his academic accomplishments, and Manuel Jiménez is honored for engaged citizenship and community service.

As the spring semester comes to a close, we wanted to write to express our continued commitment to support your health, safety, and personal and educational growth. As a community, we have joined together in virtual forums over the last two months to sustain connections and make new ones, and we have engaged in ongoing teaching and learning across time zones and geographic boundaries.

I hope you are well in this particularly challenging period. I first want to express my appreciation for your extraordinary efforts this semester. The move to remote teaching, research and learning has demanded of us all determination, ingenuity, and flexibility.

In her role, Jen Kim provides linguistic, cultural, and programmatic support for international and multilingual graduate students. Working remotely, her focus has been on individual consultations and workshops.

Eight doctoral students were recently awarded the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship.

The 2020 cohort of Open Graduate Education students have chosen discipline pairings that range from Anthropology and Music to Computer Science and Philosophy.

Kate is originally from Shanghai, China. She attended Wake Forest University and received her bachelor’s degree in mathematical business.

The Graduate School is pleased to announce the 2020 Summer Proctorships, an important new opportunity for enhanced summer funding. Please see the information below.

A Message from the University Library to Graduate Programs and Students: Access to Scholarly Resources during Campus Closure

Ben is from Hunan province in China and received his bachelor's degree in Physics from Tsinghua University in Beijing.

“During my time at Brown, I was very excited to be on a campus with such great diversity. I met many outstanding people who shaped my views and thoughts to the world dramatically,” says Liu.

Our community is facing challenges unlike any we have seen before as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last few weeks, graduate students, faculty and staff have shown incredible resilience as research labs have had to ramp down, instruction has moved online, and scholarship has been forced to find new ways to continue under substantial constraints.

Communication to Doctoral Students from Provost & Dean of the Graduate School.

Long before the spring semester transitioned to remote learning, doctoral student Victoria Almansa-Villatoro had developed and implemented Brown’s first online Egyptology course for undergraduates.

As Initiative to Maximize Student Development (IMSD) manager, Taveras is responsible for helping to create and foster an inclusive community within the program, Brown's doctoral STEM programs, and external partners.

Danielle is currently a Senior Specialist in the division of World Wide Patient Safety at Bristol Myers Squibb in Jersey City, NJ. She has a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Hamilton College with minors in Women’s Studies and Italian. She is also a licensed nurse and holds an advanced degree in public health.

Laura Perille ’15 PhD completed her doctoral degree in history and is now the Associate Director for the Office of Fellowships, Awards, and Resources at Georgetown University.

Gerardo Reyes is a first-year doctoral student in the Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry program.