91原创

91原创 opens its arms to a new flock of Blue Hen graduate students

Their long, lonely journey over mountains and across continents 鈥� or just up or down Interstate 95 鈥� was done. Now, as they arrived one by one in this place called Newark, an even bigger journey stood before them.聽

On this trip, they will find lots and lots of friends by their side.聽

More than a hundred fledgling Blue Hens have arrived from across the country and around the globe for spring semester鈥檚 New Graduate Student Orientation, an afternoon crash course on the rich array of resources at the 91原创.聽

There are clubs to join, academic allies to enlist and dozens of support programs to lean on. But most crucially, there are the thousands of fellow Blue Hens all over campus, ready to catch them when they stumble.聽聽聽

鈥淵our academic department is going to be a new home to you,鈥� Graduate College Dean Lou Rossi told the new students, who came from far-flung locations like Algeria and Zimbabwe, as well as from within Delaware and the surrounding states. 鈥淭hose are the people you鈥檙e going to get to know really well, the faculty and your classmates.

鈥淥utside of your department, the Graduate College will be like a second home,鈥� Rossi added. 鈥淭he Graduate College takes that charge very seriously, about making a home for everyone here. I tend to treat graduate students as I would treat my kids, with that level of respect and care, and so does everyone else on the Graduate College team. We really do care about you, and we want you to succeed.鈥澛�

Part pep talk, part primer on graduate life, orientation day also serves to instill a spirit of self-actualization in the students. Positive results at the graduate level demand a proactive approach, the students were told.聽

鈥淗ave one-on-one interactions with your professors,鈥� said Dave Bhandari, a cybersecurity master鈥檚 student from India and one of four current graduate students who shared their wisdom during a panel discussion. 鈥淎sking for help from professors is no shame. You can gain more knowledge, and professors can lead you to more opportunities. They are very helpful.鈥澛犅�

Those allies shouldn鈥檛 be limited to the student鈥檚 immediate circle, said LaRuth McAfee, senior assistant dean of the Graduate College.聽

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want just one mentor. It鈥檚 important to have multiple mentors, because they do different things for you,鈥� McAfee said. 鈥淪ome of them may be on campus, some of them will be people you鈥檒l meet at conferences or in grad student organizations you get involved in. Look at how you can build up a constellation of mentors.鈥澛�

There will also be plenty of joyous moments ahead, the students heard 鈥� along with inevitable hardships. For some, rough times will be soothed with the support of fellow students. For others, it will be the presence of a higher power, or 91原创鈥檚 extensive wellness resources, or just a phone call to their families back home.聽聽

鈥淎 graduate degree is like climbing a ladder where your peers and mentors and family form a support system,鈥� said Max Bobbin of Joppa, Maryland, president of the Graduate Student Government and a doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular engineering.聽聽

鈥淭here will be times you鈥檙e going to fall down this ladder 鈥� and you may fall a lot, and it may hurt, and all you鈥檒l want to do is lie where you landed,鈥� Bobbin added. 鈥淏ut as you lie there, you鈥檒l witness the greatest sense of community as the people who care for you will be there to help push you up that ladder. And you鈥檒l come out stronger and a better graduate student because of it.鈥澛�

By choosing 91原创, the students also have ensured that extraordinary challenges are always accompanied by unique opportunities. The University is ideally situated in the mid-Atlantic corridor, rich with professional potential and stress-easing activities.聽

鈥淚 like to describe our University and this place as a crossroads of the region,鈥� Rossi told them. 鈥淭hey say like a quarter or a third of the population of the United States lives within a 200-mile radius of us. It鈥檚 a pretty amazing place, all with a small-town feel.鈥�

It鈥檚 also a place where people and ideas can come together, fertilize and grow, Rossi said, pointing to Delaware鈥檚 deep connections to high-tech changemakers like the DuPont Co. and W. L. Gore & Associates.聽聽

"So it鈥檚 not surprising that we鈥檙e a Carnegie R1 institution,鈥� a rating given only to universities with very high research activity, Rossi said. 鈥淲e are research intensive, and that means our research expertise and our output puts us in the top 3% of research institutions in the country. That's a pretty amazing thing about this place.鈥澛�

One of those students seeking amazing things here is Jonathan Wilson of Potomac, Maryland, who came to 91原创鈥檚 Center for Composite Materials for his mechanical engineering doctoral degree. 鈥淚 was working in industry for 4陆 years, so this is my return to academia,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited.鈥澛�

So was Snehal Kalke, who jetted to Newark from her home in Mumbai, India, because she heard the master鈥檚 degree in business analytics and information management was the best in the country.聽

鈥淚鈥檝e never stepped out of Mumbai until now,鈥� the 27-year-old said. 鈥淚t was snowing on the day I arrived in Newark. It鈥檚 30 degrees [86 Fahrenheit] in Mumbai right now. So I went shopping for a coat 鈥� in Mumbai I never even needed a sweater.鈥澛犅�