Hi everyone!
I am your assigned mentor for the iCubed study at UMBC. I just wanted to touch base with you before school started, and give you four things that you should do before the semester begins.
We will be having an information session on MONDAY, AUGUST 27 at 4:00 pm in Physics Room 101 (Lecture Hall 6). This is DIFFERENT from the location on the flyer that you received in the mail, due to a renovation delay!
At this session, you’ll get a chance to meet me, meet each other, and learn a little bit more about the iCubed study.
Here are the things that I’d like you to do before this meeting:
1. Vote for our first Group Meeting times! Please follow this link to a Doodle poll, fill in your FIRST NAME and LAST INITIAL in the box for “Your name,” and select ANY of the days and times that work with your schedule. Why? Because there are nearly 80 students in our group and having YOU help me select the days and times to meet is far more efficient than having me look up all of your schedules. It also allows you to take into account work and other commitments that you have beyond your class schedule.
2. If you haven’t already, accept the invitation to join the myUMBC Group “iCubed: Mentoring by a Professional Advisor.” You should have a message in your UMBC email account with the invitation link, OR you can log into myUMBC, and look under the “Activity” section for an invite (that’s the lightning bolt icon up at the top, to the left of your name). Why? Announcements from iCubed and select information from other campus resources are fed to this Group page. It just might help you find a new club, get help with a class, or land an internship in your field!
3. Be prepared to check your UMBC email account regularly. UMBC considers this your “official” email address, so critical communications – about classes, grades, housing, finances, etc. – will go to this account. Why? We have no way of knowing if xxsoccerstar35xx@mail.com really belongs to you, and there may be some information that I need to discuss that cannot be released without your permission (your grades, for example). Your UMBC email is connected to the rest of your UMBC account, so I know that it’s you on the other end!
4. Set up the Google Calendar feature that is connected your UMBC email account. Why? I’ll be sending you invites to group sessions and individual meetings throughout the year. Having a Google calendar will let you plug them right into your calendar, and it’s easy to have it feed reminders to your UMBC email account (or your smart phone). Also, I keep a web-based appointment calendar. If you want to come in to talk to me about something, I’ll send you a link to my availability, and you can schedule an appointment without a lot of phone- or email-tag! One note of caution – make sure that your calendar’s Time Zone is set to Eastern. Otherwise you’ll be hours late or early all the time!
I look forward to seeing you on Monday!
Michelle
